Bugs in My Backyard-Leptoglossus

A bug dropped at my feet today. At first I thought a fuchsia blossom, frilly and red, fell off my shoulder. When I bent for a closer look, I saw a bug with pretty markings.

A frantic run for the camera and another run for a live battery meant the bug had time to tuck in its underwings and resolve to a muted coloration.

According to Insects of the Pacific Northwest by Peter and Judy Haggard, this is a Leptoglossus occidentalis or Western conifer seed bug.  While you rarely see them, they are not rare but are hanging out high above your head, feasting on fir nuts. 

This is probably a good thing because they emit a stinky odor when disturbed. Luckily, this one didn't mind having his picture taken.

The Douglas firs don't overhang the deck, so where did he come from? Did he wiggle out of a crow's mouth to plop on my deck? Maybe he wanted to grab some of our basil leaves for a little al fresco pesto.

Isn't it fun to think of the millions of little lives going on all around that you are completely unaware of?

Letting Nature Alone

Perhaps you are one of those people who think raccoons are cute, masked entertainers who wash their food in streams. Little furry bundles who need our help. You are deceived. 

Raccoons are predators. They eat animals. Any small animals they can get their agile paws on. They will fight dogs and cats. They will pull all the plants out of your pond and eat the fish.

This raccoon is in our yard. It is eating a small animal, a rather dried-out animal.

They also shed a parasite in their scat, a nasty parasite that requires heat to kill. Lots of heat, like boiling water or a propane torch. Raccoons like to set up latrines. Latrines that must then be cleaned up and the area sterilized by humans who object to nasty parasites in the soil. 

We know. We have been there. Although, one of the clean-up crew greatly enjoyed the torch and would have liked more things to set on fire sterilize.

Having had a snack, the raccoon is climbing up, up, up a Douglas fir for a lovely little nap.

If you have raccoons in your area, let them forage as the wild animals they are. Do not leave food or water out. Do not leave your doors open. They will come in. We know. We have been there.

Beware the Ladybug, the Jaws that Bite

There was really only one ladybug, but Photoshop does some fun things.

The nursery rhyme should go like this:

Ladybird, ladybird,
ow ow ow,
What the heck are you biting me for?
Fly away anywhere

Yes, ladybugs bite and it hurts. I was amazed and disheartened the first time this happened to me. How could these lovely little bugs inflict such pain? And to what purpose? Do I look like an aphid?

When this one landed on me, I was prepared and she did bite. She is most likely a Cycloneda sanguinea. Just like her babies, she is a voracious aphid eater. You can watch these efficient predators slurping up the aphids on YouTube.


We have a never-ending clean-out the basement project. One day while bringing things up to disinfect in the sun my leg began to sting. I thought is was from the seed heads of the tall grass.

Back in the basement my leg really hurt. As I brushed it off I saw it wasn't grass, but a daddy long-legs. I didn't know they could bite people. As a child I let them run from hand to hand. This was before I developed a screaming fear of spiders. Daddy long legs, not spiders, although they look darn close.

Just how many legs are there?. 

Lessons learned:

New experiences happen all the time.
It's a jungle out there.

Winter-Blah

Winter is not so bad here in the Pacific Northwest. No great snow fall or extreme temperatures. I rather like it.

It is spring that sucks. It starts somewhere in early February when the red flowering currant and cherries start to bloom and lasts until the 4th of July. During that time there will be rain and gray. It feels like it has been raining for weeks. 

Indian plum

Lichen and moss

Oregon grape

Red flowering currant

When I was at Queen Mary Tea Room it was gray, then sunny, then pouring. A woman said to the little girl with her, "The rain is what makes it so green and all the flowers bloom. That is why it is so pretty here."

Winter officially ends this weekend, though people have been extolling spring for weeks. Yes, lots of things are blooming and it is pretty but does it have to go on forever?