Garden Visitor

On Women and Their Relationships with Insects

I read this on Observations of a Middle Aged Woman. This lady is hilarious!

. . .Just as women have a special, fond relationship with anything on four legs (excepting pigs and goats, in most cases), we have a very wary, live-and-let-live-as-long-as-you-don't-come-anywhere-near-me relationship with the multi-legged.

I don't consider myself to be at all squeamish. . . .But before anything that is Bigger Than It Ought To Be, or anything that moves faster than it has the right to, I am reduced to a helpless, screaming ninny.

Read the whole article here. The one that really had me laughing out loud was On Menapause Day, which is really all about her memories of the joys of womanhood, from young teen on up. This lady has got a great sense of humor!

"¡Las primeras mariposas han llegado!"

It is official! The first monarchs have arrived in Mexico! I know you were all waiting with baited breath for this news.

Monarchs!

I never thought about meeting monarchs here in Austin, but apparently, they fly right over this area in their fall migration. They seem to like the little creek behind the house. The first night, I'm sure I saw 100 of them down there! But it was muddy and I did not go too close. It was cool to see them hanging on the trees resting, undoubtedly talking about the miles they had covered that day, and wondering how much further it was to Mexico.

Just in case you were wondering. . .

The monarchs were flying over Oklahoma City this week . . . I don't remember ever seeing this many at once, but it was cool to watch them go by on their way to Mexico. Maybe someday, I can see the monarchs roosting in Mexico or California. (Put it on the list!)

Presenting, (ahem) the Queen

Yep, that's her, the mother of all those bees I told you about earlier. She's in the lower center of the above picture. She's a little bigger than the others, so you can see that her wings don't even cover her back.

Bees bees and more bees (edited)

My friend Nancy discovered bees in her garage in the drywall. She had seen a few bees fly in and out, and had sprayed where they went in. She could sometimes hear them buzzing in the wall out there, but she had no idea how big the problem was until she wanted to paint the garage. No way was she doing that until the bees were removed!

After finding out how much an exterminator would cost, she called some beekeepers who were very happy to rid her of the problem, since a queen honeybee is worth quite a lot. She had to clear that side of the garage, and as she removed a box from a shelf, she felt her hand vibrating. When she looked at her hand, it was covered with bees!! It seems they had an entrance into the wall from a hole in the inside wall as well, right behind that box!
So the beekeepers came in beesuits and smoked those bees to make them sleepy, then they vacuumed them out of there.
What a lot of bees that was! The hive was about 4" thick, and layered with honeycomb. I think everyone is truly happy now.

I am especially happy it was not my garage!

Monarchs!

Yesterday, I was leaving for work and noticed this monarch visiting my butterfly bush. He was so beautiful, I just couldn't stop watching him! Unlike the other butterfly from a few weeks ago, the monarch was happy to slowly fluttter his wings, almost like he was showing off his wing pattern or something! It reminded me of watching monarchs passing over Oklahoma as they migrated one fall a few years back.

If it makes you just dying to read about monarch migration, try this article about the miracle of monarch migration or this one about a lady who rescues monarchs.

Then if, like me, you think you just must follow the monarch's migration this fall, you can check here every Friday for the weekly update.

Flying things I Like

Today I found this large butterfly enjoying my butterfly bush. When his wings were opened wide, he was as big as the palm of my hand! But he was fluttering so fast, I couldn't get a shot of him with open wings, even though, believe it or not, I made 35 tries! I loved watching him. The bees shared the blossoms with the butterfly, and no one seemed disturbed, as there was plenty for all. Then suddenly, in the quiet, I heard a humming sound. I looked up, and what should I see but a beautiful little hummingbird! He was not any bigger than the butterfly, and he hovered over the bush several times before he disappeared. It reminded me of hummingbirds in the mountains, and it made me smile. But I was not quick enough with my camera and he was gone in a blink of an eye.

Let the record show

Let the record show that I do not fierecely hate all flying insects. Yesterday, there were bees quietly pollinating the flowers in my garden, minding their own business, staying out of houses, not moving unexpectedly in my direction. The bees are a little fearsome because of the large black abdomen(is that whole thing a stinger?), but they seemed intent on the flowers.

The wasps, however, are always making sudden turns in their hovering. They seem just as interested in going in the house. They build nests in grills and right by doors. Besides, in all the stories, aren't the bees good guys? Whoever heard of a good wasp? Well, maybe there were the ones in AntZ, but that was intended to be fantasy, not reality.

The tale continues. . .

Tonight I went to the dead apple pile, armed with plastic bags and wasp spray. I was hoping that I had timed my venture with a sleepy time for wasps. At first, I only saw a few. I took the nearby apples and began to spray wasps who came too near.

Sprayed wasps definitely die. But their brothers do not.

I heard waspy sounds from inside the plastic bag on the ground. Then it was that I knew that I had picked up wasp-bearing apples unaware! I sprayed the bag.

Thoroughly, just to be sure. But then I didn't want to touch it. I got a new bag and tried to proceed with a little more caution, spraying as I went. One bold wasp was spared the spray, and came at me head on! Honest! Heading for my nose! I took a dive away just in time, as he was 3" from my nose.

Enough, I said! Let there be dead apples that rot and kill the grass! Let others boldly go where I fear to go! I came in and reported to the one who fears no flying insect.

In the house, as I held my final bag of a paltry few apples, I heard the unmistakable sound of wasp wing against Walmart plastic! Wasp in my bag! Wasp in my bag! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To the garbage! To the garbage! In the bag! Tie up the black bag! As I return to the house, I still hear the more distant sound of wasp wing on plastic. I don't feel so good about going in the garage, knowing a wasp in a bag can likely find a way out. And when he does, he is not likely to be a very happy camper. But as Scarlett O'Hara would say, "I'll think about that tomorrow!".

More on Wasps

I have a vague memory of Papa and the Bees, but I'm not sure if I remember the incident or remember hearing the story, it being one of those family folk tales, oft repeated over the years.

For Michelle, I am happy that there was only a single bee. Bees should not be in houses. Period.

There is another wasp tale in the making perhaps. I fear the wasps are building a nest on the inside of our storm door. On two occasions, I have seen wasps appear to enter the house on top of the storm door. But they do not appear on the other side.

The first time, I saw one go over the door, and the open house door was right behind him. I ws sure he was inside. I went to bed wondering where in the house the wasp was hiding. But that was days ago, and I think he must not have actually gone in, or else, he is of a particularly mean variety, and he is waiting until he thinks I forgot.

A couple days ago, I was speaking through the storm door with a political candidate on a hot day. He saw a wasp go over the door and I instantly closed the door in his face (sorry!) I came out the garage, knowing that said wasp was trapped between the storm door and the door. Armed with wasp killer, I approached the door. The political candidate opened the door, but the wasp was nowhere to be seen. He said he had probably gone down into a hollow part of the door. This is a fearsome thought, but I think it is a job for a Man, and not a political candidate sort of man, but a Husband. I'm a little wary of the front door for now.

When does the first freeze occur?

Of Wasps and Apples

I had to do a nasty task today. It was the Dreaded Apple Colony in the back yard. I am not sure why if it's not my tree, I still have to clean up the apples. You might remember from previous years very high counts of apples picked from the grass. I have not picked any at all this year. Unfortunately, the ground under the tree is simply crowded with dead apples.
Some are completely brown and flattened by the Slash and Burn Boys who come every week to mow grass and anything else in their path. Others are still quite yellow, perhaps having dropped only today or yesteday. All in all, it is a disgusting task, unless the apples have just fallen. My hands are covered with grocery bags, I hold my breath, I stoop down low and begin scraping apple corpses off the grass. Yuk!!! I notice a wasp or two, enjoying breakfast in some of the apples. I go for the unchosen apples.

Unfortunately, I soon realize that the wasps are having a doggone Festival of Apple Eating here! They must have advertised far and wide to get this many wasps! The only good thing is they seem disinterested in everything but apples. They seem nearly drunk, if that is possible!

However, I do not trust even potentially drunk wasps, especially in the large numbers I see gathered under the apple tree! Also, I recently read an article about a swarm of bees who attacked a girl in a car. I get a little nervous just thinking about that many bees in one place. So as I picked apples among wasps, I got a mental image of the wasps having a change of attitude, and coming after me! So I guess the apple problem will have to just wait for another time.