Two Little Green Friends

These pictures were not taken today, not even this week, but this is a good day to share them.

First up is a six-spotted tiger beetle, Cicindela sexguttata. These can be ferocious if you are a small arthropod like a spider, insect nymph, ant, fly, etc. They might bite a human if they are handled, but only defensively. They may have six white spots or more or fewer. Here's another picture of a tiger beetle from 2019.

I have a funny tiger beetle story. Because of their bright metallic green color, they are easily seen. I was riding my bike when I was a kid, and there was one flying toward me. I was moving fast on the bike toward it, right? Suddenly, I had swallowed it! It happened so fast I didn't even react except for the funny feeling afterwards that was sort of gross, although it had to be all in my imagination because it went right down my throat.

You'll have to look harder to find the other little green bug.

Did you find a grasshopper? It's almost perfectly camouflaged. And it's fully grown- the wings extend past the body. I looked closely to be sure it's not a katydid, but it has muscular grasshopper legs.

The humidity level today pretty much made me non-functional except for a few things. I have picked up a small job this summer that will only take a few hours a week, and I need the money. I did that this morning. I took my car in to have a brake job. I had a zoom meeting. And then I had to walk to pick up the car this afternoon. Dang, car repairs are expensive!

We just had that promised line of severe weather. Strong winds, thunderstorm. One lightning strike was very close. Water overwhelming the eave troughs. Things seem to have calmed down now. I don't think any trees broke near me, so that's good.

Miles walked in 2026: 181.8
Just a road walk to get the car.

See Grasshoppers

Little Critters

I've never gotten a picture of one of these butterflies before. This is the American Lady, Vanessa virginiensis. It's on the moss phlox in my rock garden. At the link below there is a Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui, also enjoying the rock garden. The Red Admiral is also a Vanessa, Vanessa atalanta. I just learned that the White Admiral is not in the same genus! Huh. It is in the same family, but not that close a relative. Common names are so problematic!

I'm still fighting the bees- I'd love to have them except not in the house. But I caught one with its pollen baskets full, so that is fun.

And, no pic, but I looked up from my chair this morning to find a squirrel staring in the door at me. I'm glad the door was shut. Last year, a chipmunk kept coming under the flexible screen and running in the house. Not sure I care to have a squirrel doing that!

And I saw my first Monarch butterfly of the year this week, too.

Did the usual stuff, and went shopping, and did errands. Went to four garden centers. I bought one plant. You'll see it soon. Found another one I would like, but they wanted $20 for it. We'll see. I have to think about that.

More weeding, more discovered casualties. C'est la vie.

See A Couple of Critters

Associated Wildlife

Over the past few days I've seen a number of critters hanging out in the garden. One new to me, one ID surprise, and two that I love. There are lots of bees, cabbage butterflies, and small pollenators too.

This is a black swallowtail butterfly. It kept swooping from the flowers to the post and back. The best picture is on the post, and look at its body! This is the first time I've gotten a picture where you could see the spots on the body.

Here is the one that was new to me. These two moths hung out on the sea thrift for a couple of days. Turns out they are the Toadflax Brocade Moth. It is introduced in the United States to try to control common Toadflax, often called Butter-and-Eggs which is a wildflower that I really like, but it is invasive and can be a problem in pastures when it crowds out better grazing plants.

Here is the ID surprise posing on my jeans. I thought maybe this was a different kind of ladybug instead of the horrid Asian Ladybugs (beetles) that are everywhere now. Ha! It's just an Asian one without spots on its wings. I hate those stinky things.

And another welcome visitor. This one tried to commit suicide by jumping in a bucket of water from which it could not get out. I found it floating and looking quite dead, but as soon as I fished it out, it sat up all perky! It was a tiny Gray Tree Frog. I see these around here quite often. In fact, I blogged about one just last summer at Eviction!.

It was overcast in the morning, and was an excellent temperature to work outside. I did mega yard work, including finishing the first mowing (except for some edges where I need to trim bushes to get the mower close). I do have to do something serious about the mower seat, but I may have a plan figured out.

Also did my editing and went to bell choir practice. The last performance of this season is Sunday. Oh, and I stewed a big pot of rhubarb.

Tired, but satisfied with the day.

See Black Swallowtail Butterfly

The Vermin Inspire a Personal Record

 Never in my life (I'm pretty sure) have I deep-cleaned a room twice in one year. However, the mice led me to a complete room cleaning and re-do in February, and the whatever-they-are have caused the cleaning to happen again, just 7 months later. Here is my sports equipment. (Well, OK, not the toaster.)

I took the suggestions of a couple of people and added a spacer between the two layers of mattress and box spring in the car to better distribute the heat. Today there were about 6 hours over 120 degrees inside. I'm hoping those little buggers (literally) baked to death.

I cleaned the whole room, and sprayed with a product made to fight bedbugs (I still don't think that's what I have, but this also kills ticks, fleas, and mites- basically arachnids), and it's stronger than most products. It's only been in the last few years you could buy a home product strong enough to kill bedbugs.

Then I put it all back together again.

If it is some kind of small spider, spiders really don't like peppermint. So there are now cotton balls with peppermint oil in the corners of the room, and it smells like a candy shop. I hope it doesn't drive me out as well as the spiders. Strong odors bother me too.

This was a total shotgun approach, so if there are no more bugs, I won't know what kind they were. But I wasn't going to try one thing, then another, and keep tearing the room apart between each attempt to identify them.

One piece of good news is that I could get the spray and the oil in Scottville, so I didn't have to drive anywhere. I couldn't! To get the bed parts in the car I had to move the seats as far forward as they will go. That made it tight for even shorty me to drive. Thus, another 3-mile walk.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be selling books at the Scottville Fall Festival.

Miles walked in 2024: 431.7

See The Project - Done See There are No Bugs on Me

There Are No Bugs On Me (I Hope)

 What am I up to now?

Well, when I came home in August, I learned that there was some sort of biting nuisance that had taken up residence in my bed. It does not seem to be bedbugs, although I can't rule that out completely. We (Marie and I have been trying to puzzle it out by phone) thought maybe the mites that affect bees were the problem since I have about 100 new dead bees in the house every day, but apparently that kind of mite doesn't bite humans. I have eliminated about all the logical choices except some kind of mite.

Spray that kills arachnids (ticks, lice, mites) did not get rid of them.

Spray that is supposed to kill ants reduced the population to something less awful, but I'm sure if there were ants in my bed I'd see them.

I was thinking I'd freeze all the bed parts this winter, but if it's bedbugs, they have to be below zero degrees F for four days. Unlikely.

However, any of the bedding-type pests can be cooked at 120 degrees.

Meet my new large oven.

With the temperatures hitting the high 80s today, I thought I'd give a closed car a try. It was over 125 degrees for 8 hours. I'm leaving everything in there one more day for another 6-8 hours of cooking tomorrow.

I washed all the bedding, pjs, etc in 140 degree water. I sprayed the room really well, and will clean it all thoroughly tomorrow after the smell subsides a bit.

Hopefully this will work. I'm really tired of waking up with a whole new set of bites (mosly in unpleasant places).

In other news: I walked to the post office. Didn't accomplish much on my usual projects.

Miles walked in 2024: 428.7 miles

See Bees

Next Stop- Maumee River

Tonight I'm parked with Marianne D- trail friend and Girl Scout friend.

We took a little walk beside the Maumee River. It's much prettier in the green months than last winter!

We went to check out two treehouse cabins which can be rented from Toledo Metroparks. Probably not cheap camper lodging, but right along the trail. Location 41.44967, -83.783427.

In the wildlife department, probably as a result of the hot weather, we found a new hatch of water striders. I'd never seen tiny ones before. I wonder if this means there won't be many next year. If the eggs are supposed to overwinter and hatch in the spring will this be a problem, or will these mature quickly and lay more eggs? I don't know!

And it was a fantastic day for me! I found a new stage of a plant I've only seen in Ohio. This is Wingstem. The seed pods are distinctive and attractive.

One more road day, but it will have adventures. Stay tuned.

See Wingstem

Plant Day & a Bug Bonus

You know it's a good day when there is a new-to-me plant. And I have two new ones!

This is Lance-leaved or Panicled Aster, Symphyotrichum lanceolatum. The flowers are small and really similar to Calico Aster, but the shape of the plant and the leaves are not. I may not have been paying enough attention before. It's supposed to be really common, but variable and maybe hybridizes. This tightly panicled shape seemed new to me.

The other new one may also not be brand new. But I certainly noticed it more carefully. This is Persicaria sagittata, Arrow leaved tearthumb. It's one of the knotweeds or smartweeds. Actually a semi-quality plant. Coefficient of Conservatism is 5 (scale 1-10). Supposedly, the arrow-shaped leaves are a bit unusual. Flowers range from white to pink. I may have seen the pink one with less pointed leaves. Note the deep cleft where the leaves join the stems. It's viney and clingy. The flowers don't open much more than what you see here.

Now for some plants that weren't new, but are fun. This is Beechdrops, Epifagus americana. I've shared those before. Here they are in winter.

The alien orchid, Helleborine, Epipactis helleborine, looks like a droopy, sad little mess until August when it perks up and blooms. Here are the seed pods.

Here's a more familiar one. Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, in seed. The first picture shows a seedpod cluster that is turning from green to red and a tiny green cluster, just starting.

Here's one where the color is fully developed, but it's an odd angle. The plant had fallen over and I'm looking down at it.

Lots of lovely fall flowers. We also saw some nice gardens, but I try to limit the pictures a bit. But I can't skip the bonus section.

BONUS SECTION: praying mantis

Do you remember (probably not!) in September of 2009 I told you I caught a fairy? Well, today Marie saw one and said, "What is that!?" And I knew the answer- it was a praying mantis. I got one picture today in flight- very poor- it's the white blob at the top center. The picture in the link is slightly better. They fly somewhat upright- a very distinctive posture. If you ever see one you won't forget it.

But here is the handsome guy between flights. I did some research. Not all mantises develop wings, but the ones that do are usually males. I also learned that only about 80% of males get their heads bitten off after mating.

Conservation Trail, 7.8 miles today from Cattaraugus Creek to Matteson Road.

See What Happens When You Wear Long Pants

Four-Toothed Mason Wasp Again

I showed you this wasp once before, in 2019. I guess I have a local population because here is another one. The females can sting, and the males can jab, but they have no venom.

I tried to find some new piece of information about them, even though I shared quite a bit last time. I did find one source that says this is a female because it has no white at all on its face.

These are not aggressive wasps. She would only sting if you tried to grab or swat her. They are beneficial, pollinating flowers and using a lot of harmful moth caterpillars as incubators (and thus food) for their own babies.

In other news: Loretta and I went to an outdoor church service this morning. Then I did a few things I was supposed to and not some others.

See Halloweenish Horror

Eastern Leaf-footed Bug Nymph

  Our first evening at the campsite in the Adirondacks in August we encountered several of these very strange insects.

The thought briefly crossed my mind that the thickened legs looked like a leaf-footed bug, but I couldn't wrap my head around the very strange warped shape of the body.

Bugguide.net to the rescue! This is indeed a leaf-footed bug. The Eastern Leaf-footed Bug, Acanthocephala terminalis, but it is one of the nymph stages. I looked up some of those stages, and earlier ones are lighter colored, so this is probably a near-adult. The adults are rather plain brown, but they have yellow/orange tips on their antennae. The nymph is much more interesting with that fan-shaped back end trimmed in white pinking. They do not bite.

In other news: I did laundry, I made yogurt, I emptied the trailer. Blah, blah.

See Western Conifer Leaf-footed Bug

Katy-Almost-Did

  I'm pretty sure this is a late instar of a katydid. Om discovered it sharing the paper towel with his toast this morning. I think it came in on a flower I brought in and put in a vase because it was broken.

Another view- after the photo shoot, it was returned to the outdoors to either eat or be eaten.

With prep and travel and the event, I spent 15 hours on the Manistee County Fair. Sold a few books. Now the booth will be turned over to the other authors to staff for the rest of the week.

I took the scenic drive home, even though it was dark in hopes of catching the last of the sunset over Lake Michigan. I did get the absolute last of it!

That's all the news, but I'm surprisingly not tired, and I think I'm going to do one more thing before crashing.

See A Good Day to be Green

Bicolored Sweat Bee

  Best find of the day was this little sweat bee that was trying desperately to climb through the screen and get out of the trailer. I helped him safely leave. You can tell how small he is when you realize that's ordinary window screen.

The last time I showed you sweat bees, it was really hoverflies. This one, however, is a real sweat bee. Today I learned that most sweat bees, family Halictidae, have metalic bodies. This one only had a green thorax, and the color didn't show very well in the pictures I took. It flashed bright lime green in the sunlight. The abdomen is yellow striped.

This is probably Agapostemon virescens, the Bicolored Sweat Bee, because there aren't many that have different colored thorax and abdomen.

I'd really like to show you something on the trailer, and believe me, I worked my tail off. I stayed up half the night (and then couldn't sleep most of the rest of it). Worked all day long. Made really good progress on three projects, but nothing is ready to show you yet. And, I managed to do a little bit of editing.

Shower and bed coming up. I'm beat.

See The Sweat Bee's Secret

Compton Tortoiseshell

  No pictures today, so I'll share one from earlier in the week. I was visited by a Compton Tortoiseshell butterfly, Nymphalis vaualbum. If I've seen one before, I didn't realize it.

It's not out of its range or anything... I just don't know butterflies as well as plants. However, this one flew right past the window and landed on the deck. Hard to miss that!

A pair of wrens were also visiting. I hoped they might nest, but I guess they moved on.

In other news: Today was a great accomplishment! I finished Dead Mule Swamp Singer. I also edited, made yet another frustrating shopping trip, had one meeting, and did a tiny bit on the trailer. We are supposed to get a bad storm tonight, but then several days of good weather in a row. I hope to accomplish a LOT on Sunny.

See Butterflies of the Week

Crane Fly

  This lovely Crane Fly landed on our door today. Yes, they look like a giant mosquito. No, they don't bite.

Family Tipulidae, possibly genus Tipula. These are in Order Diptera, true flies, which means they have two wings they use to fly. Their hindwings are, in some families, adapted to other uses. This one is about 2.5 inches across, including the legs. (The one in the link below was over twice that size!)

I love the iridescent wings, and the spotted antennae.

This one is a male- I can tell because the abdomen is clubbed- just like in dragonflies.

In other news: I made yogurt, I did some volunteer work and had two meetings. I edited, and I wrote a chapter. I worked a tiny bit on the trailer, but then it started raining.

See Awesome Crane Fly