Harbinger

I've had an issue with Pilchard lately. She's been going into the basement to poop when she wants to register some discontent with the litter boxes. I never know, precisely, what that discontent is and the fact that I don't have to do laundry as often as I used to, thanks to Patt and Pam helping me out in May and June means I don't find the poop for many days.

Over the weekend, I went into the basement to do a load of clothes and saw a dark line by the washer. You need to scrub the area where the cat pees or poops to remove the smell and I was irritated at having yet another spot to clean. I grabbed a paper towel and went to pick up the piece only to find out it wasn't poop. Viola. It was a wooly bear.

I used to see these caterpillars in a lot of places this time of year. It wasn't uncommon to see 4-5 in a week. Now, it's rare to see even one in a year. I chanced across one in Wisconsin while doing an inspection.

I was thrilled to see this one. Having one in my basement is very special. But he wasn't going to survive down there. So I took him outside and put him in the remnants of the pansies. It tickled when he crawled across my hand.

It's interesting that the Wisconsin wooly bear's stripes are roughly the same width, while my wooly bear is distinctly more brown. Folklore would say that the Madison area, where I was doing inspections, is going to have a winter similar to last year while my house will have a mild winter. I've seen projections which say a warmer but snowier winter. Mild, I don't mind. Less heating costs. Snowier? Well, I'm on the fence about that. It would mean more shoveling, something my joints wouldn't appreciate. We'll just have to see.

I wonder if the lack of wooly bears is akin to the lack of monarchs. I'm disappointed that, with all the milkweed I let grow in my yard, I don't have any chrysalises. You'd think, if they can find food, they'd leave their eggs. I try to provide an attractive ecosystem for moths and butterflies even if it makes the yard look unkempt.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

A Visit From A Friend, Sort Of

I was cleaning up the kitchen on Sunday and found this little guy.

This is the Chinese lady bug. They were imported some years ago to supplement the American lady bugs we have because we didn't have enough to eat aphids and other nasty pests on our crops. Lacking natural predators in the US, the Chinese lady bug populations have exploded, while American lady bugs have remained fairly stable. I couldn't find any articles online detailing whether the influx of Chinese lady bugs has helped with the aphid problem.

These little guys have more black spots and a more orange back. They are also better acclimatized to colder weather so you'll see them active long after American lady bugs have gone into crevasses to overwinter. This version also bites. That gives lady bugs, in general, a bad name. The red ones, the American lady bug, does not bite. It's kind of fun to have one crawling across your hand in the summer.

Because of the benefits of having lady bugs in your garden, they are believed to be lucky and to kill one is akin to breaking a mirror. If you hold one and make a wish, whichever direction it flies indicates which direction your wish will come from. Finding a lady bug inside during the winter, when the bugs are supposed to be hibernating, was considered a 'good omen'. Nowadays, we know that just means the inside of your house is toasty warm and the insect thinks it's spring. Still, a 'good omen' is something we can all use.

Rather than kill the bug, I deposited it on the geranium in the front window. There probably aren't aphids on the plant, but perhaps it will overwinter. I figure it can't hurt. 

Beverage:  Darjeeling tea

Deb