an iron fist in a velvet ant

 It's mantis season again!

Despite the fact that we crush the egg sacs of these large invasive insects they still proliferate, especially in the fall, and especially on the front porch.  They feast on the many insects drawn to our porch lights, and I am always a bit fearful, stepping out in the dark of the early morning to feed Claudia.  There might be a bug-eyed, serrated-armed, six-inch behemoth hanging over my head!

I found another scary insect in the garden this week, but I was actually pretty thrilled.  I've been looking for "cow killers" since I heard that they were pretty active in the fall, and I'd never seen one.  A cow killer is a velvet ant, and they get their unsettling moniker from the rumor that their stings are so painful that they can easily kill a cow.  Well, that's unsubstantiated, but they are rated as having the fourth worst insect sting on the planet.

A velvet ant isn't an ant at all, but a type of wasp that resembles an ant.  Males have wings, but females are wingless.  Up close, you can see the fuzz that gives them their name:

I wasn't a bit worried taking these shots, although I did squirm a bit when watching this video about velvet ant stings (jump ahead to 9:55 to get to the sting).  I'll just have to be careful where I put my hands when I'm working there!  This velvet ant female will wander, looking for a ground bee/wasp nest.  She'll lay a single egg, which a bee larva will consume.  Then it will incubate inside its body, parasitizing it.  They're pretty interesting insects!  

Although I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for velvet ants, I'm actually more worried about the goldfinches.  They are decimating my sunflowers!  See this female under the flower head in the middle?  By this time of year, they've totally lost their fear of humans.

I want to split the seeds with them 50/50 (or even 75/25 in their favor), so I tape newspaper over some of the heads until the seeds mature.  Then I can cut them down and harvest for next year.

Happy to see monarch butterfly caterpillars...

...and black eastern swallowtail caterpillars...

...in the garden this week!  This bodes well for lots of butterflies next year.  We still have quite a few fluttering around, although several of them look a bit worse for wear, with torn wings and faded colors.

Our hummingbirds are still here...

...but with overnight temperatures dipping into the 40s (!!!!!) this week, I expect that they'll be heading south soon.  For now, they're absolutely devouring the flower nectar.  

This is "summer's last gasp" for crickets and cicadas.  I've found three types of tree crickets in the past few weeks!

I grew up being more familiar with the brown crickets that you'd find under overturned rocks, but tree crickets are just as common.  You're probably really familiar with their chirp, although you don't necessarily see them!  

Geese are flying overhead...another sign of fall...

...and even Claudia seems more active, actually bringing us a vole this week!  I think it's the first time in months that she's roused herself from the porch.

terrible cell phone pic

And so...many...turkeys.  This is their really active time.

The corn will be ready in a couple of weeks, too!  This ear was partially eaten by crows, but when the husk was peeled back, I saw what the rest will look like.  I'll even turn the dried stalks into decorative bundles for the porch.  

Pumpkins are coming along and I expect to start harvesting them in about three weeks.  

In line with everything else right now, our apples are ripe...really ripe. 

Although we had a fair amount of rain and moderate temperatures this year, we just don't have many apples.  I don't expect to get more than 10 pounds from the entire tree.  We have a lot of blue jays that peck holes, which are rapidly filled with and expanded by yellow jackets.  I cleared all the lower branches of apples this morning, and got a grand total of two pounds.  Just enough for a small apple crisp in an 8" x 8" pan.  We'll take the ladder out this week and get the rest.  Better luck next year!  

Dahlias really come into their own in the fall.  My favorite ones are blooming...

Pick them and more will grow.  I love putting them in late-summer bouquets!  The other colors I selected...orange, white, and purple...are great for fall too.

It's just a really wonderful time of year.  Honestly, mid-September until Christmas is just the best, although the kittens don't like it when we close up the windows for the year.  They spend quite a bit of time in front of our dining room screen door, "taking the air" like Victorian dandies. 

For their benefit...and for fresh air circulation in the house...I still open the windows for about an hour in the morning, no matter what the outside temperature.  The only time I leave the windows closed is when the humidity is near 100%.  The floor actually becomes slick with moisture and it's pretty unpleasant.  Thankfully, I think that season is nearly over.  Welcome, fall!!!

From 2022

Have a great week!

Stitch and Itch

Things are changing around here!  Leaves, anyway.

I love, love, love this time of year.  Nights and mornings are comfortably in the 40s, and then we climb by 30 degrees during the day.  Windows open and the fresh breeze comes in.  There are pumpkins and changing leaves, but also plenty of flowers in the garden.  This means insects!  Lots of spotted cucumber beetles that, in the chill of the night, burrow deep into dahlia blossoms.

Unfortunately, I haven't been out much.  I'm entering week #3 of the Infernal Itch.  My bites have all scabbed over, and itch terribly in the process of healing.  Thankfully, days aren't bad, but nights are still pretty miserable.  I did some reading and discovered that our natural anti-inflammatory hormone, cortisol, is highest in the morning and lowest at night.  For going on three weeks now, I haven't been able to sleep through the night and have to get up multiple times to reapply lotion.  I'm already a light sleeper, and it's sometimes hard to fall asleep after an itch session.  Interrupted sleep has definitely taken a toll, but on the positive side, co-owning a business means that I have some daytime flexibility, and someone to help pick up the slack a bit.  Also, being awake for hours at night has some benefits...I read fourteen books last month!  With some assistance...

These wild kittens keep me on my toes, too.

choosing an obvious place...behind my computer...to wrestle

Barnabas, too, requires a snuggle during his naptime

We didn't have much of an apple harvest this year...

...between the dry weather and the flock of blue jays that seemed to sample each and every apple.  Plenty to make a few batches of cinnamon apple baked oatmeal, at least!  And I've been doing a little bit of fall baking.  One thing I love to do is make browned butter.  It gives a rich, nutty flavor to baked goods...and it's so easy to make!

Browning butter is simply whisking it over heat for a few minutes to create a reaction with the sugars and proteins.  It bubbles for a while...

browning too quickly around the edges...had to turn it down!

...and quickly turns a deep, dark amber.  Immediately remove it from heat and transfer it into a glass container to stop the cooking.  It doesn't take more than a few seconds to go from browned butter to burnt butter!

I put this into the refrigerator to re-solidify, and then folded it into my coconut oatmeal cookie dough batter.  Perfection!

Knitting is a great activity for a grumpy insomniac.  My favorite socks, knitted a few years ago in South Carolina, accidentally got ruined in the wash.  They fit so beautifully and were so missed...

...that I decided to knit another pair. I love brown and pink together, so I tried this combination.  

The contrast just wasn't strong enough.  I frogged the pink section and knitted a few sample swatches.  This is a pattern that begs for strong variegated yarn!  A swatch was a good idea.  The colors below were fine, but there was just too much drape in the yarn.

Ah, now THIS is a strong selection!  Festive for the season, too.

It goes well with the tan and I'm excited to see how it turns out!

Back on antihistamines tonight and here's hoping for some better-quality sleep, although Calliope will miss our occasional afternoon couch sessions.

Have a great week!  

red snake keepsake

It seems like we've got a lot of creatures here who are "making hay while the sun shines."  Grasshoppers are still whirring in the undergrowth or crouching motionless, torpid in the hot sun.

It's a great comfort when I consider the tangled mess that I've cultivated out back, knowing that at least I've created a massive food source for so many little creatures.

My little jungle is still producing pumpkins...

...and amazingly, dahlias...although I didn't prune, stake, or feed them.

The dinnerplate dahlias have collapsed under the weight of their massive heads, but they can still be salvaged.

The smaller dahlias have such a tight, tidy petal formation.  It's very appealing!

So lovely!

In the dark of the early morning, I hear barred owls calling, "Who cooks for you?  Who cooks for yooouuu?"  A few hours into daylight, the turkeys add their chorus.  Our back field is a popular hang-out spot, and we've also noticed them on a side slope.  We counted close to 40 turkeys - in one day! - last week.

After a summer of silence, we've started hearing coyotes yowling at night. Yes, the season is marching on!  Sunrises are suddenly more saturated with color...

...and the deepening reds of our apples is a reminder that we should pick, pick, pick before it's too late.

I'm bringing the season inside, with little touches like tiny felt pumpkins...

...and wreaths made from my garden flowers, dried.

We are starting to see a bit more color in the leaves, although the weather isn't really cooperating (still in the 80s this week).  It is really starting to feel like fall, and I'm contemplating several cold-weather projects, like this brilliant embroidery piece by artist Yumiko Higuchi.

photo courtesy of Yumiko Higuchi

Todd and I are both looking forward to a peaceful and productive October.

Have a great week!