Musings

After lunch, I did the usual dull-minded wander across the parking lot to my destination-vehicle, and reached down to grab the door handle, and, whoa!, something moved in my peripheral vision! I suppose if I were an Ancient One, I might wonder if a visitation from this Green Insect Being were an omen, a sign, a portent.

If so, of what? I wait….

Portent, that’s an interesting word. Its meaning, back in the sixteenth century when it began to be used (according to the Apple Dictionary), it was from the Latin verb portendere and noun portentum, meaning omen or token. As used early on in English, however, it meant an exceptional or wonderful person or thing. The dictionary’s example: what portent can be greater than a pious notary? [Cracked me up!]

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on In which a GIB appears

A garden spider is guarding our tomatoes. We did manage to harvest a bunch of the golden pear tomatoes (which, I understand, are a variety of cherry tomato) without disturbing her (males are tiny in comparison).

WikiPee says garden spiders are Argiope aurantia, and they’re native to the New World. It also says their webs are 2-8 feet off the ground. This one was just above the ground, however, and in a very protected place.

These spiders are large (or at least the females are) and make large webs, so they’re fun to photograph.

I don’t know what the deal is with the zig-zag white line through the middle of the web, which has the fancy name of stabilimentum (plural: stabilimenta), apparently because somebody thought it reinforced the web, although the function continues to be debated.

* Apologies to Sir Walter Scott, but this web is not tangled….

Posted at 11:40 AM | Comments Off on Untangled web*

The pumpkin vine that’s been creeping across our driveway has withdrawn, apparently from various maladies. This leaf is weighed down with many bugs, including what looks like a variety of ladybug and a yellow-green, spiny-looking insect. I think part of the rest of the plant was laid low by some kind of wilt, which I guess could be caused by either a bacteria or a fungi. Sadly, this plant never set any fruit (i.e., pumpkins), and we don’t really know why.

We’re left with the typical farmer response: try again next year.

The Botanist observed that if you are working in your garden, particularly when the plants are still moist in the morning, you can transfer infection from one plant to another down the rows. This was a single plant, however, and how it became infected will remain a mystery.

Posted at 5:31 PM | 1 Comment »

I forgot to mention that yesterday when we went out for our test-drive at dusk to road-check the new radio, on the way back we saw this pair out in the field just north of us. I suspect these are the ones we’ve been seeing and hearing, although they were quiet last night. Most of the night was windy, and the weather’s changing today, with rain coming in the afternoon (meteorologists claim).

Points to Radio Man for getting the lawn mowed ahead of the precip!

Posted at 2:05 PM | 1 Comment »

This sign usually brings a smile to my face. Lake Clara Meer most often looks kinda gunky and unpleasant for swimming, although the fisherfolk seem to find it sufficiently appetizing to toss in their lines.

Now, however, the big story I read about is the fish die-off that the lollygaggers and other park visitors noted on Sunday. We didn’t walk there yesterday, so we missed it.

Not today.

Yup, the reports are correct. It’s a mess, but the windrows of belly-ups are localized. The smell, however, is not. The lake’s emitting a lovely odor reminiscent of a Third-World fish market lacking refrigeration and running water.

Sure enough, the DNR arrived in force to do whatever they do in such a situation. The die-off has been attributed to an algal bloom. We’ve been seeing worse algae that I saw today for over a month, although I’m certain low oxygen is a notable factor. What I’ve seen recently that’s new is a bunch of teeny fishies that I first saw on Saturday.

Frankly, I’m also surprised by the quantity of dead feesh, overpopulation seems an important factor here. But, I’m no lacustrine specialist.

The stunner in all this: most of the dead—and the lazy-swimming survivors—were panfish and carp and catfish (not that I know my feesh species); however, I did spot one eel—I assume an American Eel (Anguilla rostrata), those critters who do their spawning in the Atlantic.

Posted at 12:01 PM | Comments Off on News from Piedmont Park

We stepped out to do some errands this afternoon, and discovered we had a visitor on our walkway. He (I think) must not have liked our concrete, as he was gone when we returned.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Daytime luna moth

At first, this green heron (?*) flew away, but then s/he looped back, and seemed overwhelmed with curiosity. Perhaps s/he’d never seen a camera before?

* Thought it might have been a least bittern for a moment, but upon reflection, I think not. It may be a subadult, with some juvenile plumage. I’m the wrong person to address this….

Posted at 10:10 AM | 3 Comments »

Sticking with the critter theme of the last few days, meet Kong, as in King Kong. My temporary charge.

I’m told he’s a Dalmatian dwarf hamster, but you can’t prove it by me.

Posted at 9:24 PM | Comments Off on Cute! So cute!

What’s with the wildlife the last few days? I swear this cardinal was posing!

Posted at 9:08 PM | Comments Off on Redbird inspection

I basked in warm fuzziness toward wild critters all day—until I saw this!

Posted at 7:00 PM | 5 Comments »