The spider appears to be an orb weaver....

The first pic did not have an insect in it (that I could see).

Thanks webkat5. The insect is there in the pic but when using Firefox, you need to click on the image to see it in its entirety. With Internet Explorer, the whole image comes up. The insect is on the leaf to the middle right of the picture.
Thanks
Gopal

An interesting insect with blue and red stripes

I believe it is a Red-striped Leafhopper.
Kristy :)

That's a good image of the Red-banded Leafhopper. They are very small!

Thanks, Kristy and rhizo_1
We are educating ourselves on the myriad residents of our prairie - it's fun!
Gopal