The Beauty Of The Changing Seasons

[Lady Cannafan]

Ne'er a dull moment here. I got out of the car this evening and saw one of these plants in the middle of my Hostas. This is a very invasive species of plant that the DNR here has been unsuccessful in eradicating. It is plugging up streams and parts of our river systems and smaller lakes. I can't think of the name of them at the moment, but the flowers are very pretty on them.

Now as I was taking a picture of this flower, I kept hearing a humming sound. I turned to investigate and saw this on the ground. It is an old paper wasp nest. It did not account for the sound I was hearing.

As I stood up from taking the picture a small yellow jacket bee flew onto my arm and I swatted it away.... Oops....not a good thing to do at this time of year. The bees right now are very agressive and they can attack for no reason whatsoever. I gave a reason. When these bees feel threatened or have been injured they send out a pheromone that is a signal to the other bees to "come to the rescue". They found me.
This is what I was standing in front of and had not seen yet.

They came flying out of this hole by the dozens and headed straight for me. The humming I was hearing was these bees underground. I haven't a clue how deep this hole goes yet, but here's an idea of how big it is and how much dirt they move out of the way next to my large double bladed chop axe:

After getting the "H" out of the area, I went back and threw the axe near the hole so I could take the pic. I was lucky though, didn't get a single sting.
A few years ago I went out back with my truck, parked it to scout around and as I stepped out of the truck my foot went straight into a ground nest. I got stung about half a dozen times on that one. I never went back for my shoe, which got stuck in the hole.

I used to have a hot tub (Oh, I miss that hot tub!). One evening I was enjoying a nice soak under the stars...without a stitch on. I leaned back in a corner with my arms over the sides. All of a sudden it felt like someone hit me with a baseball bat under my arm. I grabbed my arm and a bee fell from it. Then they were everywhere. I flew out of that hot tub and ran into the house naked as a jay bird swatting at bees all the way to the slider door. I got stung countless times. They had managed to build their nest under the lip of the hot tub right into the insulation where my arm was draping over. It's a good thing I'm not allergic to these things.

One more bee story while I'm here.

One afternoon I was standing in the driveway yakking with my former husband and a couple of friends and we saw a very large Hornet's hive hanging from a tree above the drive. I would say it was bigger than a couple of footballs put together. Now the guys were all chatting about how in the heck they are going to get that nest, ladders...chainsaws...yadda yadda. Bald faced hornets are nasty creatures that will take a chunk when they sting. LOL

I went into the house and got my .22 rifle, came out and aimed. One of the guys says "If you shoot that down I'll give ya $50.00"...and they all proceeded to have a good laugh.
I aimed for the branch, shot...and the branch and hive came down.
He paid me my $50.00...reluctantly.

 

[GardenFaerie]

Canna, that plant is Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria). They have outlawed it in the United States, yet I still see it in nurseries down here! I freak out and yell and bitch and usually get nowhere. Eh. What a world.

You definitely have bee karma. In a past life you may have been an exterminator or other vocation where you killed insects, or even bees for that matter! At least in Buddhism, this is a belief.

 

[Lady Cannafan]

LOL, Victoria.

I prefer to think that if I had a past life in this case, that I was a cute and cuddly Winnie the Pooh bear that did a lot of disturbing the bees while digging for the honey.

You could be right, I've had trouble with bees more times than I can remember. A wasp went up the back of my shirt while I was getting laundry out of the dryer in my folks basement when I was a kid. Those things can sting several times without losing their stinger, and it was proven.

 

[GardenFaerie]

Well, it is also part of the concept of rebirth that, we have done it countless times, from beginningless time. Over and over we live as many different things, over and over, it is believed. Also, in that concept is that we've all been each others mothers in past lives. This is why Buddhism is against any sort of violence, or killing of any kind, even insects. A consciousness exists in every living thing, we don't know about plants, but some say even in plants. An energy of existence and life.

I didn't even medicate yet! hahaha. I feel like that kind on Animal House in the bathtub after he smokes his first pot ever. Remember that scene? Haven't we all had that happen at one time or another. For me it was with acid, but I took a LOT of fokin' acid in my day.

Off to watch the shows...sleep tight.

 

[Teddy Edwards]

Good morning everyone from an overcast Greece. (Could it rain? Oh please God it does. Forecast says 25% chance).

Fantastic post, Cannafan. Gave me my first grin of the day. You are something with your axe and your gun. A right Annie Oakley. Can you imagine how bizarre it is for an Englishman to hear you talk of guns? In my 55 years I've only ever seen a gun (close up) once. And that was when I spent a year working in Russia. Anyway, remind me not to get on the wrong side of you.

Have a fab Friday. Mr Teddy x

 

[Lester Freeman]

Absolutely Dittoed.

I loved your post Canna!

Incredible story telling ability, made me feel like I was right there with you!

Those darn Bees!

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Glad you enjoyed it.

So, upon further inspection this morning of the nest and surroundings....I have come to the conclusion that what has happened is the bees had taken over a gopher hole to build the nest in. Sometime in the last day or so a skunk or a possum dug into the hole to get to the honeycomb, which is why there is a partial honeycomb lying in the grass. This, of course, peeved off the bees explaining why they were so aggressive to me. The dirt at the edge of the nest was very freshly dug, so I'm thinking that whatever critter had tried to dig had done so shortly before I arrived home from work.

 

[Teddy Edwards]

Kali spera everyone. I hope the world has been as kind to you as it has to me today.

It's been beautiful - grey, cool, a little rain and the most beautiful light, like the south of France; the reason the impressionists moved there. Mrs Teddy and I went out for lunch to a small village about 5 miles further up the mountain. No chance of meeting the otherwise ubiquitous German tourists and holiday-home Athenians there. On the way back I took a couple of snaps for you. The whole world smelt green and herby. Here's the village we went to - it looks just like where we live, with scattered stone houses with grey slate roofs but hidden there is the village square with artfully arranged terracotta pots, checkered table-cloths and absolutely nobody else.

And on the way back we stopped for a walk. There's not much obvious colour in this parched landscape at this time of year - the plane trees are already turning colour from lack of water - but thistles and seed-heads have their less obvious beauty too:

And by the way, Canna, I meant to say.....you mentioned about 5 pages back that if you won a million you'd like that white house on the hill. Well, if you paid 70,000 USD then you'd probably have been over-charged. But would you really want to live up there in the winter? They can be tough here. But if you ever wanted to rest in Europe, you could do a lot worse than this area of Greece. Property is cheap as chips, cost of living isn't what it was but still reasonable and the people are simply the kindest and most welcoming collective bunch I could imagine. Just stick a bit of $$ somewhere safe (i.e. not a Greek bank), and Bob's your uncle, YASSUS TO GREECE.
to all. Mr Teddy x

 

[Lester Freeman]

Excellent post Teddy!


Some pictures.

The tarantula is a preserved specimen from Ecuador, same place as those butterflies are from. I believe it is among the genus Avicularia, maybe some kind of version of the purpaea because it has purple legs. The one with the primates in the hot bath is from the internet, you may have seen that one before. One of them is a lobster dinner from Maine, we just pull them up out of our traps in the backyard. One of them is a priceless Fang shot. And one is a guess who pic from long ago

 

[GardenFaerie]

Is that a young Lester? We have Tarantula's in our backyard, but they are about the size of a AA battery. I do have photos on my off topic journal in the early pages...I think.

Great photos

 

[Teddy Edwards]

Terrific stuff, RL. My very favourite food and my least favourite animal (no, not the apes) in one post. You just pull 'em up from your own traps? WOW. WOW. and WOW again. You're living like a king.

We had a Tarantula in our cabana on our honeymoon in Belize. Kinda spoilt the mood for the night. But if I'd seen that monster I think it would have spoilt the mood for the fortnight.

Message from Mrs Teddy regarding the chap in the last photo: "Oooooh". (I have no idea what she means).

 

[Lester Freeman]

Thank you GF + Mr and Mrs Teddy.


Hi Cannafan, I hope you are doing well.

 

[Lady Cannafan]

First of all, Kali Spera to you and the Mrs. Teddy...and everyone else too!
Mr. Teddy, another fantastic round of pictures. It's just beautiful there! That bouquet the Mrs. is holding is lovely just as it is.
You did change my mind on the house set in the mountain side when you said the winters were hard. The last place I want to be is a hard winter area for the rest of my years. LOL Would be great for a summer home though! When I win that lottery.......

Lester, what a good looking dude! I agree with Mrs. Teddy. Thanks for the pics. Fang lived up to the name in that picture, looks a bit peeved at you?
I've seen those tarantula's before. Maybe that's why I have such a huge fear of spiders. When they get as big as a dinner plate....well I'm thinking they could have YOU for dinner. {{shudder}}
Loved the hot bath pics with the gang too. They look like they are truly enjoying that as much as I used to enjoy the hot tub. Sooooo relaxing....if you aren't getting attacked by critters.
I'm jealous of the lobster. Sure beats my pasta plate!

I spent yesterday with family, got a couple of pics and need Victoria's help with some seed advice if she or any of you other avid gardners can help. I'll upload in a bit. ;-) Hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday!

 

[Dennise]

Dang Lester.... Your down right handsome.....

 

[Lady Cannafan]

First up some random pics from my Brothers' place yesterday:

This is the view from the West side of his house past a grove of pine trees:

My Catalpa tree came from a cutting of this one. It's huge! All done flowering now, so the seed pods are getting long and splitting open:

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Here's what I need some help with. My SIL gave me seeds from Tiger Lily's and from something that I think she called "Rose of Sharon". What do I do with the seeds? Let them dry and plant next year, or plant them now?

The Tiger Lily:

"Rose of Sharon"?

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Well, I got on the net and tried to find the seeds to see how to process them and could not find that seed type under "Rose of Sharon". I called the SIL and she said she goofed, those seeds are actually "Hollyhocks". That explains it. LOL

She says she just stores the seeds from the Lillies and the Hollyhocks in a dark dry place through the winter and then plants them in the spring. No fuss. Yey!

 

[GardenFaerie]

The Hollyhock seed was harvested at the right time, but it looks like the lily was taken off the plant before it ripened and was viable. Now, it could just be the photo and I could be wrong. I actually never started a lily from seed. I only start using division of the bulbs.

Either way, I would store them in the fridge in a dry paper bag. That way the seed will be vernalized and ready for spring.
Vernalization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Lady Cannafan]

The Hollyhock seed was harvested at the right time, but it looks like the lily was taken off the plant before it ripened and was viable. Now, it could just be the photo and I could be wrong. I actually never started a lily from seed. I only start using division of the bulbs.

Either way, I would store them in the fridge in a dry paper bag. That way the seed will be vernalized and ready for spring.
Vernalization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think you are right on the seeds coming off a bit early. I will do as you suggested.

 

[GardenFaerie]