squirmy wormies

It's prime season for insects!  It's been too hot (and I've been too busy) to get out with my camera much, but I've seen some great specimens close to home.

soldier beetle...a great pollinator!

scorpionfly...this is a female and she doesn't have the cool scorpion tail that males have!

big group of aphids on the milkweed!

sweat bees

honey bees...look at those beautiful wings!

We have a new resident on the front porch.

chinese mantis

He's getting bigger and bigger...

...molting regularly.

There are plenty of moths around our porch lights to feed an army of mantises, so he's picked a good place to hang out!

It's not too late in the season for baby birds...

red-winged blackbird babies in our front pond

...and new flowers are blooming, like this milkweed.

Lots came up in the garden this year and I love it!

In the woods, blackberries are ripening...

...and woodland hydrangeas are starting to flower.

We're mostly INSIDE, though, with these lazy cats.

Barnabas

Frances

Pepita is doing really well with cat introductions.

All the cats are making an effort...even Calliope!

Pepita is having some adventures...

daily pond walks

fierce feats of strength

intense Daddy snuggles

...but she's spending a lot of time like this, unfortunately:

The vet couldn't fit her in for almost three weeks after the adoption, and when they finally saw her, they determined that she was crawling with parasites (despite frequent wormings).  Right now, she has giardia and hookworm.  Because she'd just had a flea treatment, we can't even give her the hookworm medicine for another week.  She's getting two doses of antibiotics daily for the giardia, but reinfection is SO easy.  I have to bleach her crate daily.  Water and food dishes have to be treated with boiling water daily.  Her bedding (including car blanket) has to be washed every other day, and so do all of her toys.  The floors have to be mopped daily and the carpets have to be vacuumed.  When she goes potty, we have to pick up everything and treat the location with diatomaceous earth (to kill the hookworms/giardia parasites that would otherwise worm their way into the soil and instantly reinfect her).  We have to wash our hands CONSTANTLY, because humans can catch giardia (although it's unlikely).  In short, everything has to be spotlessly clean and she cannot go around other dogs, because she'd infect them. 

We had to reschedule her puppy class and we're sad that we can't do our planned socialization around town.  Hopefully she'll get a clean bill of health at her next vet visit in two weeks, because I've read horror stories about puppies having giardia for MONTHS and needing constant antibiotics (and constant cleaning to prevent reinfection).  It's daunting but we're really hoping for the best.  The good news is that she's cheerful and active and shows no signs of being infected...that's a good sign!  We really want to expand her house boundaries but every room she goes into has to be deep-cleaned daily, so she's going to have to wait for the vet's go-ahead.  

Thankfully, giardia transmission from dogs to cats is rare.

Off to do MORE cleaning before work.  Have a great week!  

see no weevil

 It's already August!  It must be...the naked ladies are blooming. 

Hydrangeas, too.

The garden is finally springing to life.

Corn is getting tall...

...with kernels as tiny and pearly as baby teeth.

from a blown-over stalk

But now that it's closer to getting ripe, the birds have become interested.  I've found several stripped ears.

The only safeguard is to wind tape loosely around the tips.  That way, the birds can't tug down the husk.  Fingers crossed that it works!  

I harvested our first watermelon, which had seemed to stop growing in size and sounded hollow when I thumped it, telltale signs of ripeness.   But...

...whomp whomp.

Todd said that there was a surprising amount of edible sweet flesh here, so it wasn't a total loss.  Oh, well, trial and error!  Up to 15 robust tomato plants, too, and still no ripe tomatoes.  We're going to be swimming in them in a couple of weeks!  More trial and error...next year I'll start them inside, under lights, so that they'll be fairly sizable when they go in the ground, late May.  I'd like to have tomatoes before the frost next year! :)  

Plenty of wildlife around here lately.  So many turkeys and poults!

Snakes, like this harmless Eastern Milk, help keep down our rodents.

This green heron is having a tasty meal in the front pond!

I was really excited to find a summer fishfly on the porch.  They only live for a few days in this adult form...they spend most of their lives (2-3 years!) in the larval stage.

Another interesting find...this looper moth caterpillar.  They're nondescript brown striped caterpillars who disguise themselves by plucking debris from flower heads and attaching it to their backs.  They certainly look intimidating!  I've found several this week.

using the dark bits from the flower center....

...and this one is using immature petals from the exterior.

Having just finished The Last of Us, this next discovery was especially noteworthy.  Entomophthora, which means insect destroyer, is a fungus that attacks the brains of flies.  It causes them to climb, climb, climb, so that the fungal spores, when ready, can more easily and widely disperse.  It's easy to see when a fly is infected.  The fungus is sprouting everywhere!  

Speaking of flies, check out this bristly bottom!

This is juiniopsis adusta...a bristle fly.

They're sometimes used as biological pest control, because they parasitize some harmful moth caterpillars.  I just like watching them bustle!

More fun insect bums!  :)

This Asian oak weevil was hanging out on the corn last week.

They're pretty destructive to oaks and chestnuts, but at least our corn is safe!  I'm loving the wide variety of insects around here this year.

Nice end-of-summer days...

I'm loving it.   Have a great week!  

feline work shirk

A wonderful sign of fall...our apples are starting to darken up.

This continues to draw deer, but I'm happy that they're satisfied with eating fallen apples and don't venture into the mammalian smorgasbord that is the flower garden.  A few apples and then a mad dash to the hedge.

They're becoming fairly comfortable with us watching their antics, and don't seem too annoyed...

...except by the biting flies that proliferate in late summer.

Another late-summer proliferator...the cleome.  These tall, spiky pink flowers were a bit of a surprise.  I'd forgotten how bold they were when I sprinkled a few seedlings around the garden...they're now the dominant force there.

They're a bit wild and unruly, so I'll be more careful next year.  They're annuals, but are rabid re-seeders.  I've collected a huge bag of seeds already and if I'm diligent, can probably quadruple the amount I currently have.  I could seed a whole field with these guys!

Eriophyid mites have infected another group of coneflowers...

...but otherwise, things are calm in the garden.  I'm seeing delightful signs that summer - my least favorite season - is nearing an end.

Autumn Joy sedum is starting to bloom.

My pure white Little Lime hydrangea is starting to get a tinge of fall color.

And a great fall bloomer, ironweed, is coming up everywhere in untamed meadows beyond the fences.  If you see a splash of purple looming in the roadside weeds and fields, it's probably ironweed.

It's actually a member of the sunflower family and named ironweed for the tough stem.  These tall fall visitors are great for butterflies and bees.  The tiny flowers look like little asters when opened...

...and thistles when closed.

They make great fillers in bouquets, although I had to be careful when picking these from along an overgrown fence line.  Todd found a hornet's nest out by the white barn, and hornets are busily entering and exiting the nest all day long!

They're great pollinators and die off when the weather gets cool, so normally we'd just leave the nest alone, but I'm not sure we'll be able to mow in the vicinity of the nest if it's occupied.  We're still deciding what to do.

Speaking of barnyard companions, Claudia is keeping an eye on us.  Sometimes she's in the tree...

..or keeping careful watch from the vicinity of our outdoor activities.

She proudly delivered another dead vole this weekend, proving herself to be both a cuddly, joyful cat and a great worker, too.  We love having her around!

Our other cats are somewhat less motivated to work.

That's okay...we'll still keep them around.  :)

Have a great week!