I've been thinking that it's been a long time since I've seen an ant
in the kitchen, so long that it must surely be ok now to put
ant-accessible food back out on the shelves rather than keeping it in
the refregerator, when lo and behold I see a little black ant
crawling around the sink edge. I mop it up and wash it down the drain
(my soul will burn in hell) and smirk that of course it isn't time to
leave food out. (Have found a larger black ant in the bathroom
recently but other than these two haven't seen any to speak of.

I have lunch outside on this beautiful day. A fly lands on the pork
fat I scraped off of my sandwich. I moosh it around with my fork,
gently. It stopped moving altogether. I lift it out with my napkin,
using surface tension. It is lifeless on the table. Did the pork fat
kill it? What does that say about Hormel pork roast? I laugh. It is
probable that my mooshing it caused it to drown in the fat juices but
I I like the other explanation better.

(And yes, I have felt chest pains after eating this pork (not today
but a few days ago) but my doctor says I'm ok so if I die, it's his
fault.)

I think it is safe to try life without air conditioning but we'll see.

First thing today I see the mom deer eating near the bird bath.
Probably eat at least one geranium flower, the rest are ok. I didn't
have to reprimand it as it moved on around the corner. I then watched
from the kitchen window. Fawn #1 was eating dead weeds in the
"garden" and as mom walked by, bounded out, tail wagging and attacked
her belly for some milk. Fawn #2 bounded over as well and the two
were stuck to her, tails wagging. Mom didn't stay still very long and
soon after I lost track of them. But, it's nice to see them so
regularly.

Hmm. It's only 71 out now, at about 11:30 pm. Very few bugs inside the window.

So, this is a function of heat? The more heat there is, the more bugs? Weird.

I watch the mom deer eat to her heart's content in the "garden", the
area where a fence remains but other than the raspberries and the
mint I've planted, there isn't anything I care about. I took some
pics, saw the hummingbird but don't know if the pics of it came out,
probably not. Then when I check back on the deer, I see it eating my
raspberries. I bang on the window and it looks at me. I talk to it.
It goes back to eating the raspberries. I open the window and talk to
the deer again. Say hello to it. I don't know if it recognized me. It
went back to eating the raspberries. I clap my hands. It stops but
begins again. I clap my hands again. It finally bounds away. I see a
fawn head in the other direction further back. Nice to see the
fawn(s) still.

Awhile later, they are still camping out a little further back, like
they have for years.

Thunderstorm dropped the temperature 20 degrees but it is still quite humid.

I've had the windows closed for two nights now, with the a/c on cuz
it's so hot and humid. As soon as it gets dark the inside of the
window gets swarmed with all kinds of little bugs that are getting in
through the screen or whatever edges I haven't sealed. It's
disgusting. These guys must get in when the window is open too. That
many little bugs get in? Jeez. And most of them will die when they
can't get out the next day, cooking inbetween the window and the
screen. That many every night? And those that get in when the window
is open end up, I guess, flitting around the bright lights inside. I
hardly ever see them the next day or their bodies. Makes you want to
keep the window closed from now on.

I'd tried taking pictures but none of them show the bugs at all. It
really is disgusting.

One encouraging thing though is that they all disappear the next day. Maybe one or two moths can't get out but I don't see any small bugs. I'm guessing they see the sun rise and fly off towards it. Or do they hang around for the next night? (If so, most die cuz it is so hot out and they don't get any water or food.)

I don't look forward to opening the windows...

A cicada? seen on the screen last night. Is this a June bug?



The temp yesterday. The readings are NOT reliable...

Today, ~110 in the shade!

No butterflies at the butterfly garden O&R gave people seeds for.
Little flies, yes. Butterflies? No. Not yet at least. Some nice
pretty flowers, all miniature but nice. Might take more time for it
to appeal to the butterflies.

Wow, Senator Morahan really wants to be re-elected. He's sent out an
e-mail warning us to be careful about the heat. Funny how politicians
advertise how they pretend to care about the general public when they
need to be re-elected, when they are threatened with losing!

Sorry. I'm not impressed.

Gazillions of little bugs against the window last night. It was too
hot to have it open and I had the a/c on but you could see them light
up the outside of the window as they reflected in the light. Hundreds
of them. All of these little guys get through the screen, that's
discouraging. I don't know how I can do any better at trying to keep
them out.

You might be able to see some of them here:
http://us.f13.yahoofs.com/bc/43e90c12m3cb1ecef/bc/movies/P8010002.MOV?BCiiO0EBvzFtdHVS

Got up to 95, 105 on the thermometer in the shade by the kitchen window.

A hummingbird chirped twice nearby as I was taking pictures of the
agastache (aka anise hyssop) and all the white butterflies twittering
about it. I couldn't get a good shot of the hummingbird but I am glad
I was able to get close to one. All the others fly away as soon as I
appear.

Pic of the white butterflies (potato moths?) that are going nuts at the agastache
despite the heat.

Also, saw this milkweed like seed coming out of what I think is comfrey. Cool.

Will possibly upload some white butterflies-at-the-agastache movie(s)
to my Yahoo briefcase. (Search elsewhere on my blog for the URL.)

First daddy long legs seen in the house today since I sealed all the
screen edges (in May/June). I'm glad that has worked so well.
Usually, I get a bug a day that I escort out and see something large,
a moth usually, flying around inside at night. Haven't seen anything
to speak of since I sealed things off. Hallelujah. Sealing off the
spaces where the pipes come out of the wall in the bathroom helped as
well. I usually get spiders in the bathtub. Haven't seen ANY this
year. Ok, one small one the other day but it's MUCH better than it
ever has been.

Of course as soon as I said that, I find an ant in the kitchen
checking out the one piece of cat food that isn't in the bowl, so I
escort him outside. As I do that I noticed a nice brown wolf spider
so I decide to relocate him too. Might as well relocate the little
black spider I saw in the bathroom too.

Done. He rolled up into a little ball once I shook him into the cup I
use to relocate insects found in the house. Cute. Playing dead.

About 4 pm, I see a deer walk into my back yard. I watch as it heads
to the side yard. As it approaches the plants on my table I bang on
the glass and off it sprints into the bushes and then looks around.
It then walks over to my landlady's back yard. It looks into the
bushes there, looking for/at something. A second or two later out
bounds a little fawn and it begins to suckle her mother. Aww. I take
a movie and might post it but it is pretty far away so isn't very
sharp. So, the older deer I've seen with the fawns is Mom. I think
the fawns were staying in the thicket of bushes between my landlady's
house and our next door neighbor's. Cool.

I posted some good pics of that big orange bug seen a few days ago.
Much better pictures than the earlier ones. Apparently, this bug
didn't like having his picture taken. As soon as the first flash went
off, he roused himself and started to amble off of the door pane.

third try to post this

(Blogger wouldn't post my e-mailed posts for two days. Now it works. Good)

Sunday 7/30
I see the two fawns as I drive in. One is kinda curious so I try to appraoch it after I've parked. It gets bored I guess and goes back to eating. (What's that called in human psychology. Avoidance?) Anyway, it is nice to see them on a regular basis. I hope I can approach one of them at some point. It'd be nice to gain their trust considering their probable fate of being hit by a car at some point.

Saturday 7/29

First daddy long legs seen in the house today since I sealed all the
screen edges (in May/June). I'm glad that has worked so well.
Usually, I get a bug a day that I escort out and see something large,
a moth usually, flying around inside at night. Haven't seen anything
to speak of since I sealed things off. Hallelujah. Sealing off the
spaces where the pipes come out of the wall in the bathroom helped as
well. I usually get spiders in the bathtub. Haven't seen ANY this
year. Ok, one small one the other day but it's MUCH better than it
ever has been.

Of course as soon as I said that, I find an ant in the kitchen
checking out the one piece of cat food that isn't in the bowl, so I
escort him outside. As I do that I noticed a nice brown wolf spider
so I decide to relocate him too. Might as well relocate the little
black spider I saw in the bathroom too.

Done. He rolled up into a little ball once I shook him into the cup I
use to relocate insects found in the house. Cute. Playing dead.

About 4 pm, I see a deer walk into my back yard. I watch as it heads
to the side yard. As it approaches the plants on my table I bang on
the glass and off it sprints into the bushes and then looks around.
It then walks over to my landlady's back yard. It looks into the
bushes there, looking for/at something. A second or two later out
bounds a little fawn and it begins to suckle her mother. Aww. I take
a movie and might post it but it is pretty far away so isn't very
sharp. So, the older deer I've seen with the fawns is Mom. I think
the fawns were staying in the thicket of bushes between my landlady's
house and our next door neighbor's. Cool.

I posted some good pics of that big orange bug seen a few days ago.
Much better pictures than the earlier ones. Apparently, this bug
didn't like having his picture taken. As soon as the first flash went
off, he roused himself and started to amble off of the door pane.