I honestly don't know what these little critters are... Only one other person I showed this pic to had seen them before, and she just called them cotton bugs. As for loving insects...eh, not really. Some things don't bother me. I just like them because they're easy to get pictures of. Plus they always look neat because the camera picks up so much more detail than you normally see!
And a new pic. I'll try to get something better later. I was just outside shooting away. This was done with the new camera, full telephoto, no tripod. 100% crop.