Message integrated, mission accepted. Am already growing out a meadow for bees and butterflies. Talk to birds that visit. My repulsion of spiders has lessened greatly. Will honor my shared silences. And am sharing your work.
I very much enjoyed your story and all u said is true about me. I tell everyone "I need a personal bat pet that Flys above me all summer to eat all the flying insects, then I need a duck walking along side of me to eat all the ones on the ground" lol. Weirdly, I never was scared of snakes...and 9/10 ppl are. We definitely need them as well. Rats, mice...need them too. I always enjoyed reading how intelligent rats are. They're even learning to drive tiny cars now and I'm sure u heard about the rats with tiny 🎒 backpacks who are SAVING HUMANS FROM COLLAPSED BUILDINGS!?! THEY'RE AMAZING! I am scared of all insects but a handful. I'm good with grasshoppers, bees&butterflies(love love them who doesn't?) ladybugs, praying mantis (yet they really are killers lol I mean they can eat a dang bird!) Lightning bugs love those. I also have this new love for snails. I work for a Greenhouse and recently have been finding tiny and I mean tiny baby snails in the hosta plants. I tell nobody I just get them in the damp foliage outside. Some are so small u can't even see them practically. The cutest darn relative to the octopus I've ever seen ❤️. I don't do spiders...AT ALL AND I NEVER WILL. That is the #1 reason I praise cat birds and barn swallow. They love eating them. Now, I did have a friend who woke up, half of her face was swollen so much that she was almost unrecognizable. The hospital said a spider bit her in her sleep. Right under her eye. So that didn't help my arachnophobia. Centipedes, nope not for me. Anyway, your stories are always awesome. I still would love a bat and a duck assistant however. Even tho I know we need them...I know my friends (bats&birds) need them more for food. SO my love for them makes it OK with me that the insects are here:)
I agree, spiders can be scary. Most of the spiders I see in my garden are small. Some of them sit in webs and the jumping, and crab spiders tend to hang out around flowers. I have not heard about rats rescuing people from collapsed buildings. That is fascinating. Thanks for sharing you thoughts!
Giant wheel bug? A smoothie and a pizza toss! Yum! Love the 8 eyed jumping spyder! Just watched a movie the other night with my husband. A sci-fi called “Life”. Pretty creepy! Had weird dreams after that one! Bugs just doin what bugs do, wanting to stay alive, eat, procreate and pass on the genes to the next gen. (The movie did not end well—for the humans, and it got left open for a part two.).
When they show alien creatures stronger than a human and eating someone from the inside out…I’m glad the entomology creatures I study here are small. Except for the bald face hornet—they can go procreate way far on the other end of my property! It takes hours to get rid of the burn from a sting of one of those A-holes with wings!
My poor tenant a couple years ago walked face first into a large nest one night as he was bringing his laundry into his cottage.
Sadly, I had to call in my exterminator the next morning. That nest was bigger than a football! 😬
We have an Eastern Yellowjacket nest in the ground on the edge of our garden. We are trying to decide what to do. It has not been a problem yet, but it is right in the middle of our yard near the laundry pole. We are tempted to let them be, but many of our friends have stories of being stung by them.
I got hit twice by some European yellow jackets from the ground I was weeding. I pulled out my last weed and pow, pow! Once in the wrist and the other on my cheek bone. That one hurt for hours! Until I smartened up and used a homeopathic remedy of hypericum perforatum—St. John’s wort. It took the sting out in 15 min!
really interesting. I grew up with two brothers, so insects and wiggly critters don't bother me. Your article was quite interesting. I plant to encourage butterflies and bees and if an insect, usually a spider, enters my house I try to catch it and take it back out where it can more readily find food. I'm one of those "we are all connected" people"
I try to take insects back outside if I find them in the house. When I go out and harvest vegetables and fruit I set the basket down outside the door and let it sit there for a little while. I think many insects run for cover during that time. When I bring the vegetables in and wash them I usually encounter more insects. I try to scoop them up and take them back outside, but some of them take flight and disappear.
Hi Diane, Thanks for noticing and commenting on that sentence. I put a lot of thought into the first paragraph. I first encountered that statement in the results of a survey of fear.
Last summer I was given an opportunity to extract a tortoise beetle from a spider’s web before the spider injected it with her/his bug-milkshake-making juice.
I felt slightly bad about tearing the web and taking the spider’s lunch yet — I’d never seen a tortoise beetle before and it was fascinating!
Your writing is like music! I particularly love this piece after working in pest control product manufacturing for years. I have tagged my entomologist friends on it. And yes, they do have a great sense of humor. 🤣
I capture and release bugs in my house and mow around pools of clover for the bees. We are all part of a master plan. Who am I to question the value of every living thing?. Thanks, Bill! Beautifully written, and Mercy, beautifully narrated.
Slowing down and noticing our surroundings is such an asset in this day and age. Im inspired ! My mission this week is to “be” part of where I am and see the micro world around me. Thank you
I think I have both of those inclinations depending on the situation. If the spider is stationary, I move towards it. If it moves quickly or jumps, I tend to keep my distance, but my curiosity still makes me want to get closer.
Message integrated, mission accepted. Am already growing out a meadow for bees and butterflies. Talk to birds that visit. My repulsion of spiders has lessened greatly. Will honor my shared silences. And am sharing your work.
Thank you. I am glad to hear you are supporting insects and honoring silence. I also appreciate you sharing my writing.
Beautiful photography and message. Thank you for sharing this!
I very much enjoyed your story and all u said is true about me. I tell everyone "I need a personal bat pet that Flys above me all summer to eat all the flying insects, then I need a duck walking along side of me to eat all the ones on the ground" lol. Weirdly, I never was scared of snakes...and 9/10 ppl are. We definitely need them as well. Rats, mice...need them too. I always enjoyed reading how intelligent rats are. They're even learning to drive tiny cars now and I'm sure u heard about the rats with tiny 🎒 backpacks who are SAVING HUMANS FROM COLLAPSED BUILDINGS!?! THEY'RE AMAZING! I am scared of all insects but a handful. I'm good with grasshoppers, bees&butterflies(love love them who doesn't?) ladybugs, praying mantis (yet they really are killers lol I mean they can eat a dang bird!) Lightning bugs love those. I also have this new love for snails. I work for a Greenhouse and recently have been finding tiny and I mean tiny baby snails in the hosta plants. I tell nobody I just get them in the damp foliage outside. Some are so small u can't even see them practically. The cutest darn relative to the octopus I've ever seen ❤️. I don't do spiders...AT ALL AND I NEVER WILL. That is the #1 reason I praise cat birds and barn swallow. They love eating them. Now, I did have a friend who woke up, half of her face was swollen so much that she was almost unrecognizable. The hospital said a spider bit her in her sleep. Right under her eye. So that didn't help my arachnophobia. Centipedes, nope not for me. Anyway, your stories are always awesome. I still would love a bat and a duck assistant however. Even tho I know we need them...I know my friends (bats&birds) need them more for food. SO my love for them makes it OK with me that the insects are here:)
I agree, spiders can be scary. Most of the spiders I see in my garden are small. Some of them sit in webs and the jumping, and crab spiders tend to hang out around flowers. I have not heard about rats rescuing people from collapsed buildings. That is fascinating. Thanks for sharing you thoughts!
Hi! Please post a link where I can read more about the 🎒rats and the people they help!
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/24/world/search-and-rescue-rats-apopo-hnk-spc-intl/index.html
Thanks a lot! 🐌
Giant wheel bug? A smoothie and a pizza toss! Yum! Love the 8 eyed jumping spyder! Just watched a movie the other night with my husband. A sci-fi called “Life”. Pretty creepy! Had weird dreams after that one! Bugs just doin what bugs do, wanting to stay alive, eat, procreate and pass on the genes to the next gen. (The movie did not end well—for the humans, and it got left open for a part two.).
When they show alien creatures stronger than a human and eating someone from the inside out…I’m glad the entomology creatures I study here are small. Except for the bald face hornet—they can go procreate way far on the other end of my property! It takes hours to get rid of the burn from a sting of one of those A-holes with wings!
My poor tenant a couple years ago walked face first into a large nest one night as he was bringing his laundry into his cottage.
Sadly, I had to call in my exterminator the next morning. That nest was bigger than a football! 😬
We have an Eastern Yellowjacket nest in the ground on the edge of our garden. We are trying to decide what to do. It has not been a problem yet, but it is right in the middle of our yard near the laundry pole. We are tempted to let them be, but many of our friends have stories of being stung by them.
I got hit twice by some European yellow jackets from the ground I was weeding. I pulled out my last weed and pow, pow! Once in the wrist and the other on my cheek bone. That one hurt for hours! Until I smartened up and used a homeopathic remedy of hypericum perforatum—St. John’s wort. It took the sting out in 15 min!
really interesting. I grew up with two brothers, so insects and wiggly critters don't bother me. Your article was quite interesting. I plant to encourage butterflies and bees and if an insect, usually a spider, enters my house I try to catch it and take it back out where it can more readily find food. I'm one of those "we are all connected" people"
I try to take insects back outside if I find them in the house. When I go out and harvest vegetables and fruit I set the basket down outside the door and let it sit there for a little while. I think many insects run for cover during that time. When I bring the vegetables in and wash them I usually encounter more insects. I try to scoop them up and take them back outside, but some of them take flight and disappear.
I liked, and needed, your ode to silence. Thank you!
What a great lead sentence!
Hi Diane, Thanks for noticing and commenting on that sentence. I put a lot of thought into the first paragraph. I first encountered that statement in the results of a survey of fear.
Last summer I was given an opportunity to extract a tortoise beetle from a spider’s web before the spider injected it with her/his bug-milkshake-making juice.
I felt slightly bad about tearing the web and taking the spider’s lunch yet — I’d never seen a tortoise beetle before and it was fascinating!
Have you seen the movie MY DINNER 🍽️ WITH ANDRE?
Andre speaks about a place called Findhorn in Scotland where the gardeners talk to the insects 🐞 to get cooperation.
I have not seen that movie. You are the second person to mention Findhorn. I am going to look it up.
Your writing is like music! I particularly love this piece after working in pest control product manufacturing for years. I have tagged my entomologist friends on it. And yes, they do have a great sense of humor. 🤣
I love this, I use to paint a lot of wonderful insects, I'm re-inspired!!! Thank you!
You are welcome. I was just admiring a Tomato Hornworm in my garden. They are really beautiful and very well camoflagued.
I capture and release bugs in my house and mow around pools of clover for the bees. We are all part of a master plan. Who am I to question the value of every living thing?. Thanks, Bill! Beautifully written, and Mercy, beautifully narrated.
Slowing down and noticing our surroundings is such an asset in this day and age. Im inspired ! My mission this week is to “be” part of where I am and see the micro world around me. Thank you
I thoroughly enjoyed this post. Thank you so much for opening a door to a whole new world!
Two kinds of people: those who run toward s giant spider, and those who run away. I am the former
I think I have both of those inclinations depending on the situation. If the spider is stationary, I move towards it. If it moves quickly or jumps, I tend to keep my distance, but my curiosity still makes me want to get closer.
Thanks Bill, I'm so excited.