242/365 - Hint of Fall

The rains fell today, bringing the first hint of cooler weather. The sedum around the pond has just started to turn pink and is attracting butterflies.



I'm looking forward to more cool temperatures.

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295/365 - Little Buggers

I am sure everyone in Central Illinois will appreciate my post about the swarms of Asian beetles that have emerged as a result of the warm weather. They are crawling everywhere!
My friend (and back door neighbor), Kellie, started renovations on their house today. I thought - great - they get to work in nice weather. But when the workers removed their sliding glass door, Kellie informed me that all those bugs migrated inside. She ended up Dust-Busting them up. (yuck)

So, here is my artsy rendering of one of the guys crawling up the window screen. Yes, it looks like a lady bug. But it is not.


In un-related events, Brian stayed home from school today due to a slight fever, sore throat and headache. I think he's fine now.

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268/365 - Too Buggy

Because of the cool, wet summer, we have a bumper crop of soybean aphids, aka, gnats / tsetse flies / dang bugs. You know it's bad when the local news starts to report on these annoying swarms of minuscule bugs.

Case in point - the truck was freshly washed before I drove Erica to horse riding lessons, maybe 15 miles round trip. After this short trip, the windshield was covered with bug snot. Check out the side view mirror:


Hope the bugs die off soon.

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247/365 - Somebody's Watching Me

I didn't see the two praying mantis (or is it mantii?) buried in the foliage of the Sedum as I was taking pictures of the bees. I was secretly hoping the monarch butterfly would return to the flowers, but she never came back.



September brings the change of the season, apparent with the emergence of fall flowers and cooler days. I hope we'll find other hidden surprises, like the eyes watching me from the leaves.

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