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Our Daily Thread 8-17-15

Good Morning!

Today’s pics are from Janice. I know what the one below is, but I have no idea what those other bugs are. 😯

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And a Happy Birthday!!! to Chas!!!

🎂  🎇  🎂  🎇  🎂  🎇  🎂

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Anyone have a QoD?

84 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 8-17-15”

  2. Good Morning Everyone, My SENIOR!!!!!! left a bit ago to have breakfast with everyone before school starts this morning. The child that for years I threatened with a bomb to get her moving in the morning has been up since 5:30. I know this because she seems to have thought she was the only one in the house as she was opening and shutting the dryer door.
    Mr. P is up early this morning as well. He starts classes this morning towards becoming a cardio-respiratory therapist. It is what he did in the military but doesn’t have the degree that allows him to do it in the civilian world.
    So I guess you could say Mama is sending both her chir’ ren off to school.

    If I am correct it is also Peter’s first day back to school. Be careful out there.

    Speaking of school. I was shocked to find out this past Saturday that I have a class reunion coming up soon. I was suddenly fast tracked to helping with the party in September after the Homecoming game. We will have another get together New Year’s Eve Downtown. From what I can gather we must have been a fun, partying class, I was out of private school and way too shy. Also the only guy from school—the President of SGA and our class mind you—to ask me out got foiled. We had agreed to go out on Friday night. He was going to call me to tell me what time he would pick me up. He never called. I sat dressed and waiting, but he never called. The next day I discovered that Mother in one of her alcoholic dramas had unplugged the main phone line. I got to school Monday and HE thought I stood HIM up. I explained what had happened but he never asked again.

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  3. Good morning! I can’t see the header picture, but I assume it was the surprise I found on the butterfly weed seed pods (a form of milk weed). All those little bugs congregating and a little spider with “eyes too big for his stomach” looking at all those bugs. My father use to say that expression when we went to a cafeteria. “Don’t let your eyes get bigger than your stomach!”

    Now that reminds me of when son first came home after beginning as a freshman in college. My brother took us out to eat at a cafeteria style restaurant. My son piled up his plate with food. He was under the assumption it was like going through the cafeteria line at school and did not realize each thing he put on his plate had an individual cost. My brother asked him why he got so much food. Son said at school you never knew what would be good so you would get a lot to make sure you found something you could eat on your plate. So it was a learning experience for all of us.

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  4. When Miss Bosley was throwing up the other day, I decided to make tuna salad. I drained two cans of the juice and gave it to her. It seemed to be the right medicine. No more throwing up.

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  5. Son starts training for his teaching position today.

    We had a hymn sing at church last night. That makes for a good Sunday evening service. Just the older folks attended.

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  6. Janice, are you sure it’s a spider at the bottom? Was it moving? It looks to me like the shed skin of one of those insects. (Insects and crustaceans have exoskeletons–external skeletons–and grow by shedding their skin periodically and growing a larger one underneath.) The “legs” of the creature at the bottom look the same as the insects, and the gray stuff in the middle is probably just the colorless shed skin. The legs are even in the same position on the stalk as the two insects farthest right on the bottom. If it is a spider, it would seem to be one that takes advantage of this specific prey by looking a lot like them . . .

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  7. Cheryl, since I only see what is on this phone with my iffy eyesight, it could be what you said. I thought it was a spider. How many legs does it have? Spiders have eight and insects have six. Best way to tell if visible.

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  8. Good morning!

    Those are aphids of some sort.

    Kim, I vote for house #2.

    Yall sure had a lot to say over the weekend. 🙂 🙂 I had a house full and could not join the conversation.

    Wishing everyone a blessed week.

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  9. Janice, I counted legs, but it isn’t clear. There are definitely three legs on the right side of the body, but there are a couple of other appendages as well, as is often true on insects (sucking parts and antennae, for example).

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  11. Cheryl, when they shed their skin would their legs still look that intact after shedding? I am trying to go through a logical examination of what is seen. I will look to see if I already donated all of son’s classification guides. You know, you never need something until you give it away!

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  12. I also thought aphids but wasn’t sure either. If I am remembering correctly they are a “good” insect.

    Janice, Cats throw up all the time. The one at my house threw up this very morning. Disgustingly both dogs are willing to “help” clean it up. This here uppity white woman ain’t cleaning up no cat yak”. Fortunately Mr. P was awake and as I heard her coughing I informed him that his cat was yakkking..

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  13. I know I have posted this before but it seems a good time to post it again:

    “Will you walk into my parlor?” said the spider to the fly;
    “’Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy.
    The way into my parlor is up a winding stair,
    And I have many pretty things to show when you are there.”
    “O no, no,” said the little fly, “to ask me is in vain,
    For who goes up your winding stair can ne’er come down again.”

    “I’m sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high;
    Will you rest upon my little bed?” said the spider to the fly.
    “There are pretty curtains drawn around, the sheets are fine and thin,
    And if you like to rest awhile, I’ll snugly tuck you in.”
    “O no, no,” said the little fly, “for I’ve often heard it said,
    They never, never wake again, who sleep upon your bed.”

    Said the cunning spider to the fly, “Dear friend, what shall I do,
    To prove the warm affection I’ve always felt for you?
    I have within my pantry good store of all that’s nice;
    I’m sure you’re very welcome; will you please to take a slice?”
    “O no, no,” said the little fly, “kind sir, that cannot be;
    I’ve heard what’s in your pantry, and I do not wish to see.”

    “Sweet creature!” said the spider, “You’re witty and you’re wise!
    How handsome are your gauzy wings, how brilliant are your eyes!
    I have a little looking-glass upon my parlor shelf,
    If you’ll step in one moment, dear, you shall behold yourself.”
    “I thank you, gentle sir,” she said, “for what you’re pleased to say,
    And bidding you good-morning now, I’ll call another day.”

    The spider turned him round about, and went into his den,
    For well he knew the silly fly would soon be back again:
    So he wove a subtle web, in a little corner sly,
    And set his table ready to dine upon the fly.
    Then he came out to his door again, and merrily did sing
    “Come hither, hither, pretty fly, with the pearl and silver wing:
    Your robes are green and purple; there’s a crest upon your head;
    Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as lead.”

    Alas, alas! how very soon this silly little fly,
    Hearing his wily flattering words, came slowly flitting by.
    With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew
    Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue;
    Thinking only of her crested head — poor foolish thing! At last,
    Up jumped the cunning spider, and fiercely held her fast.
    He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,
    Within his little parlor; but she ne’er came out again!

    And now, dear little children, who may this story read,
    To idle, silly, flattering words, I pray you ne’er give heed;
    Unto an evil counselor close heart, and ear, and eye,
    And take a lesson from this tale of the Spider and the Fly.

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  14. Good morning everyone.
    I overslept this morning. I awoke at 6:30 and started to get ready for breakfast. Elvera asked if I would like for her to take me out for breakfast for my birthday. I said, “Yes”.
    So we went to the YMCA to work out, then we went to Mikes on Main for breakfast. Then we walked up and back down Main St.. So, I’m running about an hour late on my regular Monday schedule.
    It doesn’t matter.
    I turned 85 at about 2. a.m. I arrived suddenly, my mother was only 19 at the time. My grandmother didn’t know what to do, so she wrapped me in a blanket and waited for the doctor. She got angry when the doctor called me a “little rascal”.
    Leastyways, that’s the way I heard it. I don’t remember any of it.
    But I was a cute kid.
    And that was the last of that. 🙂

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  16. Kim, aphids are definitely not a good insect. They’re one of the most dreaded garden pests.

    Janice, you’d be surprised how well arthropods can shed a perfect replica of themselves. Have you ever seen the shed skin of cicadas? It’s the perfect insect complete in one piece, just a hole in the back where the cicada crawled out, hardened and perfect.

    As a young teenager I had pet crayfish. Periodically they would shed their skin and I would find a lump of wet skin in the corner of the aquarium in the morning. Sometimes part of the antennae didn’t stay attached, but I would pull out that skin and play with it, choose what crayfish posture I wanted to “mold” and I’d shape the skin while it was still wet. It was very fragile, but if I was careful I could move it into any position I wanted (tail curled underneath, claws held out, etc.) Sometimes I had to prop some part with something underneath it so that it would stay in the position I had chosen, but once it dried it held its shape. I had a small collection of the little “sculptures” in various lifelike poses. I threw them all away when we moved out of my childhood home (actually, I broke off all the claws and left them on a shelf in the bedroom for the new owners to find–I assumed the young son would get our bedroom and he might think they were cool). But I’ve sometimes wished I had kept a couple, since they were really pretty cool.

    (I know, by now I must have had to surrender my “girl card,” huh? I really wasn’t a tomboy, I just always liked animals of most sorts, including the ones other girls considered creepy. And the sister who shared my bedroom now has four sons, so I probably gave her good training.)

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  17. Chas, I meant to tell you happy birthday before you could mention it. You share a birthday with my youngest brother (who is 45 today), so I remembered over the weekend that yours was coming up too.

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  19. I found a well worn copy of Simon and Schuster’s Guide to Insects complete with son’s Boy Scout Troop number on the inside cover. The book probably traveled on many campouts in son’s backpack. I did not see the same insects, but since these are probably the immature stage, then maybe I saw the adult stage in one of the photos. I could probably send the photo to the UGA Dept. of Entymology for an ID.

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  21. Ah, Kim, the start of a year of last firsts. Feel free to cry.

    I sat in the desk and cried at my final back to school night!

    When they were around, I’d pretend to throw up my hand to my forehead and sob whenever someone would mention the senior growing up and leaving home the next year. Everyone would laugh, the kid would squirm–but always grin, too. They needed to know we would going through this parting together.

    Even when we both were looking forward to it! 🙂

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  24. Ladybug larvae are black with orange dots down their sides. Abdomen is not smooth. These look like orange aphids. The insect looking at them sort of looks like a mealy bug.

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  25. Around here, fires continue to blaze, but a lot of the evacuations in the immediate area have been stopped and people are returning. Several have had to then leave again. I guess it was quite the rodeo with people being told to evacuate one direction, taking their trailers that way, only to be told to turn around with fire ahead. Turning a trailer on these roads would not be easy, or something i would attempt. Anyway, fires in the wilderness and national forest will be allowed to burn themselves out. Firefighters are trying to save homes as the fires continue to work their way down the canyons.

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  27. Well, Chas, looks like you got bugs for your birthday. Surprise! 🙂 You’re welcome.

    Have a happy one, breakfast out is always a treat.

    Yep, senior year, big changes ahead.

    Our heat wave (they tell us) will break today and I was relieved to see the marine layer and some fog when I woke up this morning instead of the glaring sun. The weekend was brutal, it was so bad yesterday that I was looking forward to Monday just so I could go back to work where it’s air-conditioned.

    But so far the rest of the summer hasn’t been too bad. Of course, September can be bring some of our worst heat.

    There’s a 6:30 p.m. meeting in the park I was planning to cover, but I may pass on it, I doubt anything earth-shattering will come up and I really don’t feel much like working late today.

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  29. I did not count the bugs, Donna.
    I don’t think there are enough for us to make chocolate covered bugs for Chas’ birthday treat. But they would make a cute birthday cake top decor, better than sprinkles, and in fashion with orange being the new black.

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  33. I thought weevils or aphids at first but their mouths don’t look like weevils or aphids. Their fat little abdomens looked like babies though.

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  37. Then the mouse would be gone and I would have to feed the cat.
    And Kim says cats throw up all the time.
    and they climb curtains and other furniture.
    I will keep my pet rock and set out a trap.

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  40. On cats…One of the reasons they throw up is hairballs. You can buy the expensive Hairball Treatment or you can just get a jar of Vaseline Petroleum Jelly and smear a little on their nose a couple of times a month. They will pass the hairball rather than hack it up.

    We cannot do this with Moe because Mr. P doesn’t think I am telling him the truth, but I did it with all of my previous cats before I absolutely had it with Callie Leigh. He also did not believe me that you can’t overdose a dog on benadryl, but he finally came to understand what a good idea that it.

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  41. Since husband loves the tv, I feel certain Miss Bosley would neglect a mouse and stick with tv scratching that gets husband’s attention without fail. Husband would neglect the mouse and so would she. Even cats have priorities. Whatever she sees as important to humans, Miss Bosley gets with it, too. I brought in my writer’s critique group papers on Saturday and she immediately zeroed in on their importance and sat down on them.

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  42. De little buggies be gone buggies. Cotton balls, rubbing alcohol, and a paper towel were my weapons of choice. I gave the seed pods a water bath after the alcohol assault. I could see where the buggies did damage. Those little vampires!

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  43. Miss Bosley enjoys being brushed so that saves from a lot of cat hair problems. I brush her and pull all that hair out of the brush and make it roll up into a tiny cat hair ball. She is curious about that little ball that goes into the trash. 🙂

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  46. From what I hear, the numbers of monarch butterflies is way, way down from a few years ago, to the point of concern. Last year I realized one of the “weeds” growing wild along our street in some quantity was common milkweed. (I’d seen it the year before, but I don’t know if there was a lot of it the year before, and either way I hadn’t identified it.) I was hoping to get photos of monarch caterpillars last year, but never saw any, and only saw adult monarchs a couple of times.

    This year some common milkweed sprouted in our backyard, and a female monarch laid some eggs on it. She or another female also laid eggs on some plants growing along the road. So far I’ve gotten photos of a monarch feeding from milkweed flowers, flying around the milkweed, laying eggs on the milkweed, a monarch egg, a little tiny newly hatched caterpillar, a slightly bigger caterpillar with faint coloring that they get after they shed their skin for the first time (that’s first and second instar if you know the terminology) . . . and also some photos of some large caterpillars (probably fifth instar) farther down the street. I haven’t gotten any photos of the middle stages (third or fourth instar), or of a chyrsalis (or of monarchs mating, for that matter, never more than one monarch at a time), or of a butterfly emerging. But I’d really, really like to get the chrysalis photos, and I think it would be especially cool if it was in our backyard.

    When I look for monarch photos online, obviously most of them were taken by people who “raise” the butterflies, and that’s a good thing to do. But if I can get all the life stages of wild ones in my backyard, I think that would be special. (My milkweed doesn’t have any flowers yet, since this is its first year and they don’t bloom till the second, so the photos of the monarch on milkweed flowers that got posted on here at some point weren’t in my backyard.)

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  47. Still lots of smoke and a lot of helicopter and plane activity. I understand a lot of people are still or now without power. With temps going up and no sign of rain, they anticipate the fires getting worse before they get better. Sounds like it is also still spreading upriver toward the next town.

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  50. We have so many fires going on that I am having a tough time figuring it all out. I hope we don’t have to load up again. This time, with husband out of the area, we will probably just let the animals go and hope for the best. But better, we won’t have a next time.

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  52. Cheryl, When you reach 85, there are serious limits on special things you might do.
    It has been a nice day so far, I got several cards and phone calls from two of my granddaughters.
    And a couple of e-mails. They count.

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  54. Right Peter, Moses was probably just getting his people into the desert.
    A couple of years ago, an ophthalmologist was explaining to Elvera how it is unavoidable for people to lose some eyesight when they get older.
    He said, “everybody does it”. She said, “Moses didn’t”. He didn’t say anything about that.

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  55. It has been a rather busy day, and I just got around to reading the “Spider and the fly”. The story is the same as Eve and the Serpent.
    As I said before, the Bible never says “resist temptation” it says “flee temptation”.
    In other words:
    “Don’t even talk to that guy.”

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  58. Love that Chas’ grandmother got upset when the doctor called him a rascal. My dad used to refer to my children (in jest) occasionally as ‘the brats.’ He always winked. My mom would still have an absolute fit. I would have been upset if I had thought he actually considered them brats. 😀

    My grandson was once upset when my husband jokingly called him a hooligan. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he didn’t like it. 😀

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  62. Reminds me of the cutest baby caps I found online the other day when looking for ‘Twins’ gifts (my friend’s daughter is expecting twins) — one says ‘Copy’ and the other … Wait for it … says ‘Paste’

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  63. I read up on mumsee’s fire. Looks like a good one. They have type 1 and type 2 in identifying management teams in place. Along with those teams come resources. Percentage of containment is also a funding indicater for fire supers sion crews. Unfortunately, the protocol is to “let it burn”, as they can count that toward their local thinning goals. It is so important to have “defensible space” around your home. They usually will not risk personnel if the homeowner has not done their part by having a firebreak and removing ladder fuels. (First hubby was a will and fire guy ). Praying for your safety.

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  69. Mumsee – I’m praying that the fires will be put out soon, for rain, & for protection of all involved (firefighters & those who live where the fires are burning).

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  70. Well, I couldn’t get out of covering the night meeting so I’m off to that shortly — it’s being held outdoors in a park overlooking the ocean but it’s already foggy out and it will probably be a bit chilly. I also will have to race home to write the stories since no outlets there …

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  80. It is now the day after Chas’ birthday.
    🙂

    And it is past my bedtime! I am afraid if I go to sleep I will dream of mutant giant milkweed bug zombies. I thought they were aphids. Oh, dear, what a bad case of mistaken identity. They were basically harmless and now they are definitely harmless.

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  81. It’s still chas’ birthday in California.

    Weird, among the topics that came up at tonight’s meeting that I covered was the decline in monarch butterflies and milkweed plant …

    Along with the rise in local coyotes.

    Holding a meeting in a public park came with its problems, though, including car alarms randomly going off from time to time and not being able to see anything once it got dark.

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  82. We don’t count it that way Donna. If we did, it would be over for Jo almost before it got started here.
    I may post this again. But Chuck called last night. I brought up the subject of the Lunar maps I have. I asked if he wants them. Otherwise, I might take them to the USC Astronomy Dept. Columbia and ask them if they want them. Some day soon, I’m going to die and leave a bunch of stuff for him to sort out.]
    He says he wants them.

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  84. I’m glad to see this blog is going up a little later today.
    It tells me that Aj is either getting some much needed rest, or taking care of his family.
    Praying for you all.
    Good Night

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