Martha, When I was at Mothapalooza, I figured repellant was a must. We had been warned about ticks. But when we got off the van to go wandering through a field, I was the only person that put mosquito/tick spray on. Made me wonder whether the other people were annoyed with me. I felt good about my decision since I did not get any ticks while my cohorts had to have ticks removed from their bodies numerous times during the outing. On the way back to base, the van driver commented how he had had no ticks. Soon after, the woman behind him picked a tick off him. On a related note, I often release moths at my son's Boy Scout meetings in the summer. Some of the boys really like the moths. We meet in a shelter house. Two meetings ago, I show up to find the mom of a new scout spraying DEET on some of the kids. I swung wide since I don't know what a fog of DEET would do to the moths. Then I noticed she had a can of RAID flying insect killer on a table. We had a chat about how my moths would not appreciate that but she told me if any bees/wasps showed up, the RAID was going to get used. Fortunately, the RAID stayed on the table. I found the situation odd considering how so many parents are paranoid about chemicals their children come in contact with but nobody said a thing about this woman being prepared to spray a bunch of boys with insecticide. I'm wondering whether she will send her son to camp with a can of RAID.

We've had very few mosquitoes this year, which is perfectly fine by me. I never have very many ladybugs, and really wish there were more. The only time i ever see them is in the fall. Our cabbage butterflies have just started too (also fine by me), and i haven't noticed a lot of moths or butterflies either, but that's not unusual here either. We have a lot of birds and bats around. I've noticed a lot of bees lately too. We always have a fair number, but the population seems to have increased in the past week or so. I have had sawfly larvae on my roses too, and aphids on the apple tree, and there are ants like you wouldn't believe. Or maybe you would! :> Marg, what kind of bird is that? The ones we have around here now are young ones too. This morning, the female hummingbird baby kept displaying in front of me - i think the message was "Fill the bird feeder, woman!" LOL

I had one of those bugs show up in my house this fall. It looked just like the photo above in the thread. First time I've had that. Very few pine trees around my neighborhood. One in yards on either side of me but none in a position to do damage to anything on our property. One tree is hidden behind our large Maple tree and it was planted way too close, so the tree is half dead anyway. I can't see it and don't have to look at it, but when I go by that side of the property, which isn't often, I've seen broken branches in the winter. Isn't it odd, that pine trees grow in the coldest parts of the country where there are ice storms but they are so vulnerable to breakage. Sorry to hear about the tree problems ladies. It's so expensive to have tree work done. Our son, just took down a 15ft Amelanchier tree for us with a chain saw and ropes. It was multiple trunk and the diameter of one was not more than 3 or 4 inches. It was having some kind of disease process going on for years. That was as large a tree as I would feel comfortable for him to do himself though. He didn't have to climb in the tree or anything. Lots of trees in general are having issues. Glad I don't have an Ash tree to worry about. It makes me think I should keep planting new trees to always have a few coming along. Placement is not easy though if you suspect a tree might be coming down in the future.

I'm so glad to have found this thread! We've had a Luna hanging out on the porch for two days, he clings to the window screen of one window. I was sad to think I had missed him the first night my DH saw him cause I was already in bed, but he has hung around. I wondered if he was a) newly hatched and just resting while he unfurled, b) waiting for a female to be attracted to our lights at night, or c) near the end of his lifespan. I checked on him about an hour or two ago and he was straight chillin and in very good shape, but just how he was fluttering against the windows and now the tips of his wings are a bit raggedy. I wonder if he was trying to escape a predator. I turned off the porch light and the lamp just inside the window, although not the rest of the lights in the house, so hopefully fewer other insects will bother him. In any case, I have always loved these beautiful creatures and have seen a few in my life in this area, but never here at this house. We do have sumacs and black walnut trees in the yard and I am slowly rehabbing the property that was much neglected before we bought in. I'm making it as wildlife friendly as possible- lots of natives and pollinator friendly flowers. The Dude Abides: