Bugged

[rejectomorph]

Oh, dear. I saw a tiny cricket, no more than a quarter inch long, by my back door. More have probably hatched. They'll be in trouble when the cold returns. That isn't going to be for at least five days, though. There was another small moth flying about tonight, too. Most likely a whole generation of insects will get wiped out later this month. Poor bugs.

There's no sympathy for the black widow I just squashed, though. It took up residence behind a piece of furniture that's too close to the back door a couple of days ago. I didn't want to spray anything in the house, and didn't want to move large objects about, but a few minutes ago I found the spider crawling on the back door, so I seized the opportunity and crushed her with my foot. Any other spider would have gotten a pass from me, and even black widows go unmolested most places outdoors. But venomous arachnids are not welcome inside my house— especially when they're hanging around spots I frequently walk by in the dark. Learn the rules, spiders!

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Cirrus clouds all afternoon, and feral cats basking in the yard. Not fighting, just napping, about 50 feet apart. I wonder if they'll end up getting along with each other?

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RIP: Yesterday, Patrick McGoohan, today Ricardo Montalban.

I'd say Peter Falk should avoid getting into risky situations tomorrow.

Comments

[saltdawg.livejournal.com]

You would be surprised at how hardy insects can be. We've had a cricket (or crickets) living in the vicinity of the number three hold for neigh on a month now, despite several dips down into freezing weather in Louisiana. Lord knows what it has been eating. On a grain ship, one worries about the insects and small birds getting fresh water, and many times crossing the entire crew will pull together to try and keep them (the birds, mostly) alive. The small birds never make it. We've had success with the larger ones though. (There was one racing pidgeon that actually adopted our boat at Giberalta and didn't leave our offerings of food, water and shelter even once we made port. I think one of the stevedores dissapeared him in Africa)

I have a particular fondness for crickets, and have kept them as pets in the past. I had one, Heracules, who was a wild catch, who lived for a year and a half or so. The pet store crickets don't live nearly that long.

Unfortunately, the same holds for the Black Widows. The barge is infested with them. We thought that all the cold and insecticide would have done them all in by now, but there was a warm snap little over a week ago, and they were out in full force. Spinning their creepy little nests of gossamer everywhere.

[rejectomorph]

I recall one cricket who survived in my yard well into winter a few years back. He kept chirping night after night. I think he found some ground warmed by our neighbor's septic system leach lines. A bad cold snap finally got him. Otherwise he might have made it to the next spring.