Terry, I think we met at the Greater Peoria rose show last year---I came with my husband Mike & it was during that horrible downpour. Despite the weather, we had lots of fun that day. We're the couple that lives not too far from Dan. I tried something different this year & stopped spraying. The only thing I've noticed is that I have a lot more wasps and yellow jackets, but the JBs seemed to disappear faster this year. Can't link a cause & effect here yet, since that could be attributable to just about anything, but I'm certainly going to repeat this practice until I know for sure if it works.

aseedisapromise and nil13 - Thank you both. Just minutes ago, I was reading about springtails in Buginfo.com and realized what you just said about it's tail/spring (furcula - I mistakenly called it fulcrum). You are right, it would not be extended as it only extends when it "springs". Based on it's behaviour of jumping when my moving fingers get near it and the similarities to some of the pics, absent any other suggestions, this may be it. Regarding my jades, the ones with the bugs are indoors. Soil is extremely fast draining, very little organic, and 50% perlite. I let it dry out completely and water when the leaves show the need. Right now, it's 16-21 day watering cycle. Also, all my jades (indoors and outdoors) are still actively growing, so I am unable to withhold water for too long. I do not know why they are still growing when it is this hot. I can understand the indoors since they are in temp-regulated A/C but my outside ones are doing great. In fact, I wanted to start a topic on that, maybe I have some extreme-heat-tolerant variety that keeps growing in the heat :-) Vegas is very hot this time of year. We started getting to 100 in end of May and today it is 110. But we actually had a few days of hi-humidity and big summer downpours last week. So as you said, it is possible they came from outside. One last thing, most of what I have read so far about springtails is that they are beneficial and pose no harm to plants, being decomposers and recyclers of organic matter. It is good to know. So, it would only be a nuisance issue (which it has not gotten to that point yet anyway). So most suggestions, including yours, it is best to dry them out even more so they move away. Thanks again.

To be that faded and chipped this early in the year, I would guess this insect was blown off course by one of the hurricanes last year and overwintered in your area. The photos are too blurry to tell in the antennae are moth- or butterfly-like, but overall, it has similarities to the Amymone butterfly. You might want to research Mexican butterflies.

I think the offender is a bumblebee. Today I was working in the garage and a bumblebee came to investigate in a manner similar to the one the other day, but this time it wasn't aggressive and moved slowly. So I got an ID. Late this evening there was a bumblebee flying in and out around the cinder block footing next to the garage. No aggression. The offender may still be something else, but not today. Dunno if I should leave it alone and let it nest? Or flood the area with water? Or use wasp spray (Raid wasp and hornet spray works the best for me on wasps and carpenter bees).