Ode to the Bug, um, er...Insect...

Last summer's drought meant more than a lack of moisture. There were no bugs. Really, there were no bugs. So, no bugs, no bats. No insects, no birds...the insect eaters were hungry or migrated to find food.

Much of the color was gone from the spring and summer. Much of the music of the summer was absent.

This year's insect experiences have pointed out that we have to take the irritating with the lovely so
I have been taking stock as insects, bugs, and the other creepies have appeared the past few weeks...in our yard, in the house, along the walks...who did we miss last year and who do we wish we missed this year?

We missed:

dragonflies
butterflies
skeeter eaters (crane flies)
moths
lightning bugs
true bugs
pop beetles in small numbers
June bugs in small numbers
cicadas
grasshoppers hopping out of the grass and weeds and surprising the dogs


We did not miss:

skeeters
roaches
little midges
crickets (This was a hard one, but they are nasty even though their song means summer.)
pop beetles in numbers (esp. the one in the living room we heard night after night, but could not find)
June bugs in large numbers (makers of scary noises at my windows late at night)
grasshoppers eating everything they can find
those crazy things that fly up your nose
flies
gnats

Other creatures we did not miss:

pill bugs
snails


Other creatures present last year that are back in greater numbers:

spiders (just wish they didn't weave their webs across our paths)
earthworms



My friend, Steve (aka the central Texas dog-whisperer) is a photographer too. He took all but two of  these amazing photos of bugs and such. I begged and he let me share them with you...

[Actually, all the amazing photos are Steve's. The last two are mine. While they are just OK, I worked hard to get them and crop them so I am including them.]

 Bee and dandelion

Bee and gaillardia

Bee and spider wort

Butterfly and ?

Butterfly and "beggar's lice" (wild carrot)

Woolly worm (not sure what caterpillar this is)

Butterfly on grass

Same type of butterfly as with the wild carrot - better photo of the insect, but I love "beggar's lice"

Tiny bee or wasp

A true bug on cactus

Bee on sunflower

Spider with prey

Butterfly with an unfamiliar wildflower

Garden spider - master weaver

Grasshoppers

More grasshoppers

OK. I took this photo in my garden. It was almost a "Where's Waldo?" photo as the greens are all the same...

Another of my photos - unknown insect on purple leather flower (clematis)





I should note that I love insects. This obsession began with the children's 9th grade biology insect collection assignment. It continues...



Three crows under the waning gibbous moon

I was never much of a number cruncher.

But there is something in me that needs to count things.

The pups and I got an early start today. We left the house in the dark of pre-dawn, under the dim light of a waning gibbous moon. We hustled down the deserted street at a fast pace as the rain had washed away "the good smells."  No one felt the need to braid their lead or stop short or jerk the walker to and fro.

So, undistracted, I started counting - to mark how early we actually were.

I suppose it will become a game...numbers listed at the end of each post. [Only counting on the way to the park. We often dawdle too much in the park to count everything we see on the way home.]

The humidity was better than it has been the last few days, but still high. The clouds in the east were grey and oppressive, but those facing us on the walk west shown bright white with blue shadows. [This makes no sense for a morning walk, but there is was...brighter in the west.]

On our way back up the street we stopped to talk to the lady of the lovely yard. She mourned the fact that the volunteer sunflower would soon be gone. We talked of shrimp plants and zinnias and she reminded me of all the gardeners I have known who shared plants and waited to see what would sprout.

Some say angels hang out in the library. That may be true. I think they hang out in gardens too.


The morning count:

cars - 17 (passing us)
dogs barking - 1
cats - 1 (stealthily prowling)
people in yard - 1
crows - 3 (perched on the dead tree across from the park)
people in the park - 4 (Dewayne, Sissy, running man and man in white truck...weirdly waiting...)

And all under a waning gibbous moon...

Flags (and tomatoes)

Neighbors' decorations for the 4th

A friend asked me what I write about...

How do I explain that it is this?

And this...

My neighbors' tomatoes turning red

Good Sunday morning...firecracker plants and flags

Storms blew through the area last night cooling things off I had thought. But this morning the humidity condensed on our bodies as soon as we stepped out the door.

Still, we all needed to walk. And so we did.

It is full dark at 5:30. And we noticed our "glow in the dark" leash does shine in the flashlight beam. The lights on the other leash have been blinking for two days -since taking a dip in the creek. The lights grow dim, but continue.

We started our preparations for the walk at 5:00, but packing and feeding, coffee making et al. ate the time. And packing for the pups is as involved as packing for babies - plastic bags, water, flashlight, treats, phone, wallet, keys, and coffee (OK, the coffee is for DH and me). When I walk alone I have even more gear, but DH joined me today so I was less "loaded down."

The deer (we knew they would be there) ran along the ditch that spans the length of the park. One doe stood facing us until we were within about 25 feet before another, hidden in the brush, gave the warning bark and all disappeared.

We took our old "round the park" walk. The park was empty of people on this damp and hazy Sunday morning.

We decided to check the ash seeds (we are not sure when they will mature enough to be harvested) and walked down the dirt road to the meadows. More deer could been seen in the far meadow. This was definitely the right time to see animals, but it was hard to celebrate as we were humidity-weary.

The birds flitted around us as we walked the road, as if they thought this was some Disney movie.

The air smelled of damp and dust with a slight floral overtone - like the back room of an old house.

The mud we expected on the road was absent. The ground is so parched that the rain of last evening was absorbed into the dust and cracks with barely a notice. More rain is forecast for the next few days and the ground is still thirsty for it.

We dragged ourselves back up the hills towards home buoyed by the sight of the line of small American flags along the top of a the chain link fence (of the family of munchkins who humor my bad Spanish).

After releasing the dogs and recovering the cane I left hanging on the gate, I noticed a hummingbird at my firecracker plant. 

Good Sunday morning.


[Cannot catch those hummers with my camera, but I will go back for a flag photo...watch this space.]

A Whirlwind of dragonflies

DH and I headed to the creek for a ramble with the pups. We walked upstream about 100 yards and found that peaceful beauty Texas streams have provided me all my life - gurgling rapids, skeletal falls of trees, buzzing insects.

The mostly full moon was a ghost above us as we frightened the fish with our twelve splashing feet...and we were delighted by the whirlwind of dragonflies along the water.

View down to the creek

Tissue paper moon

Creekside

Looking east as the sun starts to clear the trees

Fallen tree at rapids

[Only as we turned back did we note the "GO BACK" written on the concrete sewer surround higher up on the creek bank]

"We'll be scared" - For my siblings

The park was almost empty save the workers getting trash cans and such ready for the parade. Then a stranger drove in, nodded at us, and parked over by the river.

We decided that we would just wander back down the street and take a few photos at angles we do not normally see.

Then we spied a loose dog sniffing around the ice cream/raspa stand...I hustled the pups up the road. No reason to invite an altercation of this kind either.

We were back home for breakfast before it was too hot...and smiled a bit as the floats passed by on their way to line up for the famous parade...that is all of the parade we will see...other things to do on this red, white and blue day...

Sun rising just over the tree line.

Deserted ball fields in the early morning light.

Tennis ball tree
 (Maclura pomifera, commonly called Osage-orange, hedge-apple, Horse-apple, Bois D'Arc, or Bodark)

Clouds

Our woods

More of our woods

River Bridge

We'll be scared

Weed filled creek bed

Wild gourd vine growing on the side of the creek

Dead trees in the pasture - the drought took a heavy toll

Wild petunias

Gailardia and horse mint surprised us  - still blooming...

Sunflowers face the sunrise

I don't know the name of this one, but it makes me think of my grandmother and old lace..
Looked it up...I don't like the name so I am not going to put it down here...

Silver-leaf nighshade
 (these are everywhere now)

Beautiful little variegated leaf on this weed along the sidewalk

Sun is getting high and will soon break through the clouds.
It is time to head for home.

Grey and still // tracks and cracks

Everything was grey and still -- from the concrete and asphalt and dusty road below to the cloud-cover above.

We heard the whistle in the park that meant Sissy and Dewayne were already there training the labs. We have heard a mockingbird with a surprising facsimile of Dewayne's whistle so we always look to see if the truck is in the park (and retrievers milling around).

The deer left tracks in the grey dust near the places they enter and exit the woods (area of knocked down brush). Scruff and Paddy caught the scent, but we saw and heard no deer this morning...

Deer were here.

 I love these weeds. The are some of the few GREEN things left in the meadow.

The ground is already cracking. No rain.

This is the dirt road in the park. The cracks in the fields are more frightening.

You can see most of the cycle of the clematis - vine, flower and seed head.  We watch these almost every day to see if they are dry enough to harvest.

 More seeds of the clematis very close to being dry enough to pick. I wonder what has happened with all the others as we have seen blooms for a month, but few seeds past the "green spiky ball." Perhaps the deer or birds are eating them. We have managed to pick a very few seeds.












The pecan trees are bearing, but some trees are dropping the tiny pecans. The sidewalk is covered with them. We need more rain to have any kind of a crop this year.

These are native pecans in the park. I think the drought is easier on the native trees than on the hybrids.



While the walk was dull and grey, the progress of the pups is encouraging. Paddy is still a little jealous, but is fine as long as she gets the first treat. She is a fast "sitter" so that first treat is always hers. You can almost see the wheels turning in Scruffy's brain - "Oh, yeah. I am supposed to sit now."

Scruffy slept outside last night and we heard no frantic barking until three joggers ran by this morning.

While he is so excited to walk that he sometimes barks as his collar is changed, he did not bark while on the lead to eat (Paddy is food aggressive and Scruff is reported to be. We have decided to keep both on leads while they eat to avoid any theft or other altercation. The most frightened I have been with Paddy and Oreo was a food fight. Dogs are not as amusing as "Animal House."). He used to bark until I could get outside to release him. Today he and Paddy were both laying down and waiting for me.

Routine? Almost.

No rescue in sight...

We should have walked last night. At 8:30 it was lovely, but the baker had to go to the store for supplies and it was dark before the return home.

Instead there was a late start this morning...and the clouds came and went. The temp was humid, then nice, then unspeakable. And we were left with a miserable walk uphill before the welcome shade of our yard.

 Clouds retreating...

The (ir)responsible pet owner was prepared for anything, except she should have brought two bottles of water for the pets and one for her. The pets shared their bottle in the park and the human gambled on making it home without trouble - only a little discomforting thirst.

This was the kind of day designed for a DH (usually home watching Sunday Morning) hearing a distress cry for rescue and riding up on his ugly green steed. Some people pride themselves on independence and an ability to take care of anything. However, the DH does come in handy. But today DH is training to save the state in case of emergency and we had to quit being babies and walk ourselves home - straight into the sprinkler and then the tubs of water always at the ready in the back.

The rest of the walk, the early cooler part? It was much like any other (the sun snickering behind clouds...waiting until we were far enough away from home to catch us unprepared). We checked out the drying seed heads of wildflowers and listened to creatures in the cool depths of the wood.

The grasshoppers and their ilk are on the move. It is almost impossible to take a step in the the grass without flying insects taking off for a less disturbed spot to eat...and eat...
 

Lichen on mesquite trunk

 Tracks on the road - ??? (OK, the shoe print is mine)

Scrufalufagus in the weeds.