I'm Late!

  Earlier today, I was out sitting by the little Frog Pond when a sudden blip of red crossed over my shoe.  When I looked, nothing was there.  Well, now!  Am I seeing things?  Perhaps I had been in the sun a bit too long.  My time outdoors has been limited for some time now but surely a half hour of sunshine is good for healing.  I looked again.  Nope.  Nothing.  What was that?

  A few moments later, another flash of red but this time, it was under the plum tree.  Aha!  I know what you are and I am elated to see you in the small gardens!  A Cow Killer Ant or Velvet Ant was making her rounds in the gardens.  Scurrying, scurrying!  I had to giggle!  Ok, Mrs. Velvet Ant, you remind me of a certain story rabbit.  "I'm late, I'm late!  For a very important date!  No time to say hello, goodbye, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"  The Disney version of "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll started playing itself out in my memory.  My little Velvet Ant was doing a good job portraying the White Rabbit's hurried antics.

  I find that I am delving into memories and fantasies on a greater basis as I have this extra time on my hands.  With everything pulled out from under me, I have to resort to something to keep the mind occupied.  Going from the full days (4 am to 5 pm) of hard work landscaping the place to full days of zilch, is mind-boggling to say the least.  I am bored.  There is at least one more week...maybe more depending on my progress...of this idleness.  I am limited to "light-duty" jobs like picking the scuppernongs or making jelly.  Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for the ability to do what I am allowed but that does not make it any less boring for someone who is normally as busy as a bee...or wasp, in today's case.

  Yes, the Velvet Ant or Cow Killer Ant is actually the female of a type of wasp.  She has no wings and greatly resembles a huge, furry ant.  The male actually looks just like what we know as a wasp.  He is more docile but she is as busy as a bee!  Scurrying, scurrying!  I'm late!  I'm late!!!  I'm late!! ...While I sit...bored.

Beauty Can Be Misleading!

   When I was a kid, play toys and games were hard to come by.  More oft than not, we had to "make" our fun.  Instead of being tied to an electronic gizmo like kids today, we were told to go outside and play after the chores were done. (Yes!  This was way back in the day when kids had chores!  Those odd things that molded our character and made us have good work ethics.) Anyway, usually, the playtime outside involved some type critter.  It was not beyond Mom to find my brother and me (we were the two youngest of five kids) playing with some wild animal or reptile or insect.  There was the time that we brought baby foxes home after finding them in a den in the woods.  Sadly, we were made to go return our puppies to their home and it is a wonder that we did not get attacked by the mom fox.  And there was another time when baby rabbits were our play friends.  That time, the mom rabbit was keeping a careful eye on her brood.  She was there with us.  Baby birds were always a happy find but Mom drew the line when she caught us playing with a moccasin.  Insects, on the other hand, were neat little toys,  With a stern warning of "Do not get stung" ringing in our ears, we would catch all sorts of critters and pretend they were the occupants of our dirt village.  Often, tiger beetles became our residents but if those could not be found, we relented and caught several velvet ants.  Yep, both of those can inflict stings (or bites in the case of the beetle).  How we never were on the receiving end of this viciousness, remains a secret.

  Today, I was out emptying some remnants into the compost pile when I found a beautiful velvet ant bustling about the place.  She darted here and there in search of some untold treasure.  Actually, she was probably hunting for a bumblebee hole but that is a different tale.  As she darted around, I tried to photograph her.  This is difficult to do with her speed!  Later, I put the photograph on social media and received all sorts of comments of stings.  My goodness!  Obviously, the velvet ant (also known as a cow killer ant) has a rather devastating effect on humans.  I had no idea it would be so bad but tales of excruciating pain abound. 

  I pondered if there was some mystical, magical reason why I have never been stung.  Perhaps, these critters felt no fear from my intrusion or perhaps I was just lucky.  I have gone barefoot my entire life but now I am having second thoughts that I might step on one of the wasps.  (Yes, velvet ants are actually female wasps.)  I am not sure that at my age I need to experience such foretold pain.  Thankfully, I have grown passed the stage of wanting to catch the velvet ants so maybe I will be spared the agony.  After hearing all of the stories of extreme pain, I figure those wasps can just go about their merry way with no interruption from me.  Whew!

Hey!!! Watch your step!

 With the old dog, Mr. PJ, being down in his hips, our hikes about the hillside are a mite slow these days.  I don't mind as I am a mite slow myself with the hurt knee.  He and I both hobble and bobble but we get where we are going all the same.  There is one thing good about these snail-paced hikes, I have plenty of time to look at things along the way.

  This afternoon, I was almost mesmerized by a cow-killer ant.  She scurried about the ground hunting for the perfect spot to dig.  This wasp (yes, not an ant at all) was trying to find a bumblebee nest so she could lay her eggs.  Her little parasitic babies would hatch and feed upon the bee babies.  Not fun for the bumblebees but with all of her hustle and bustle about the place, I had an entertaining ten minutes.  

  A few steps further and I literally almost stepped on my next find.  A pond hawk blended so well with the green grass that I almost did not see him in time.  Feeling terrible that I almost murdered a dragonfly, I had to apologize and stop to admire his beauty.

  It occurred to me that for the past few months, I have been running helter-skelter and not really seeing anything around me.  This moseying might be just what I needed.  So, I started really looking at what was underfoot.  Ants, centipedes, grass spiders, beetles and some weird looking bug that sort of glared at me were all within a ten foot circle.  I enjoyed my mini yard safari!   All the while, Mr. PJ sat and stared into the woods.  He does that a lot lately.  The bugs did not interest him in the least.

Run, Run, Hither and Thither

  It is that time of year again when the bugs seem to take over the place.  If they are not smacking you in the head, they are climbing up your leg.  Living on the Bayou, it is a never-ending battle just to keep ahead of the invasions. Last summer, there seemed to be an enormous amount of velvet ants and this summer is starting out much the same.  The velvet ants are better known in the Deep South as cow-killer ants.  Both are misnomers as...first of all, they do not kill cows and secondly, they are not even ants. These critters are actually wasps. The females are, however, fuzzy which makes them soft and velvety looking...just don't try to pet one as then you may fully believe that cow-killer name. These things can pack a wallop of a sting.

  This afternoon saw me out photographing a velvet ant female.  The ones that run hither and thither about the yard and are bright red and black are females.  Most folks do not recognize the males so they sort of lump the sexes together thinking they look alike.  Nope, the male looks like a wasp.  The female's erratic running serves a purpose other than making her a hard photography target.  She is hunting for other ground wasp nests.  The female is a fearless predator who is on a mission.  She lays her eggs in the nests of other ground wasps.  When her egg hatches, it not only feeds upon the paralyzed insect that the original nest builder placed there as food for its little ones, it feeds on the host wasp larva.  There is no pride when it comes to a velvet ant larva. They eat just about anything.  

  Back to that purported cow-killing sting.  No, it does not kill you but it allegedly hurts like crazy.  I cannot attest to this as I have never been stung by one.  Growing up on the farm, my siblings and I used to catch the females and, later when I had kids, I let them catch the insects.  None of us were ever on the receiving end of any vicious stings.  Obviously, the critters did not wish to expend the energy as they were more interested in escaping our hands.  The beauties had more important things to attend. 

  I do think these critters are some of the prettier insects that are plaguing the place.  I just hope the old dog does not accidentally step on one so I carefully shooed this one back into the garden where the old dog rarely goes.  There she can be free to live as she wishes.

More than usual

  Perhaps it is due to our lack of winter this past year or perhaps there is a different reason but I have come across more than the usual number of Cow Killers this summer.  Cow Killers are what Pop always called the Red Velvet Ants that could be found racing around the fields in the late summer.  He would give us a stern warning to leave the critters be as their sting could "nigh on kill a cow".  Not really but, to be honest, they do pack a wallop.  I have only been stung once and that was quite enough!  That sting was due purely to my bumbling and was not entirely the Cow Killer's fault.  I was weeding and inadvertently grabbed the critter.  I became aware of her presence only when she had enough of my clumsiness and gave me a lovely sting.  It hurt.  It did not kill me (maybe only because I am not a bovine.)  I was recently reading an article that stated that the Red Velvet Ants were presenting a problem in some towns and folks were wanting help in eradicating them. "Dozens of local people have been stung and this has got to stop!" was the claim of one person that was interviewed.  Ha!  What next? This bit of  Red Velvet Ants terrorizing the neighborhoods is a tad ridiculous as my kids played with the bugs when they were kids...as did I.  All the critter wanted to do was escape to continue her mad dash in search of a suitable nesting site.

  The Cow Killer or Red Velvet Ant is not even an ant.  It is a bee. To be more correct, it is a female bee.  The male is rarely seen as it is far more inconspicuous than the brightly colored female.  Plus, the male has wings whereas the female is bound to the earth.  She runs about willynilly in search of a a hole in the ground that indicates a nesting site of a bumblebee or digger wasp.  She will then lay her egg in  the underground hive.  When the egg hatches the larva feeds upon the other bee larva.  Mama Cow Killer does not have to hunt to feed her little ones.  She merely lets them be parasites on their neighbors.

  While out and about the hillside this week, I have noticed that there are hundreds of these Red Velvet Ants running about the place. (They are so quick that it is difficult to get a decent photograph of them!)  If our winter is warm again this year, I can only imagine how many will be found next summer.  In the meantime, I better start wearing shoes as I roam about the place.  Although I think these critters are beautiful and I have no desire to kill them, I sure do not relish another sting!  

Salt Marsh Asters, Briars and Cow Killers!

The Salt Marsh Asters are in bloom now, which is nice since they brighten up the marshes around the Bayou. These can range in color anywhere from white to purple and although they are very small flowers, they are highly visible against the drab marsh grass. These wiry plants have unusual stems that sort of zigzag back and forth. Maybe this has something to do with growing in the marsh and having to fight for space. It is also one of the few plants that thrive in salt water. Their roots can be completely submerged in the briny water and they will still grow and bloom. The one in this picture was actually growing in about two feet of water, right on the edge of the marsh. The Salt Marsh Aster..one overlooked tidbit of beauty that seems to have no other purpose than to make us smile. Priceless!

Today, I tackled the blackberry vines. These brambles had multiplied to the point that they were taking over the entire garden space that should have been shared with squash and beans. I cut, slashed and ripped my way through a huge mass of them. And they cut, slashed and ripped their way through me! I came out looking like I had just tangled with a bobcat! I admit that I am foolish for not wearing protective clothing and gloves when I do something like this but then again, it was like an inferno out there. Yes, yes it is Fall..but we still had temps in the nineties today. Getting dressed in something other than a cool, cotton shirt and jeans just seemed to be asking for a heat stroke. After trimming back one side of the row, I had to dig out about twenty new vines that were growing in the garden away from the original row. This time, I did use my head.."Son, I need you to dig "a" plant for me." Little did he know that these plants have teeth! Still, he dug them all and even continued on to dig the rows for my Fall garden. The berries he removed had such nice rootstock that I hated to put them on the trash pile. For the time being, they are being stowed in the edge of the pond in hopes of finding a new home. Perhaps some kind soul will adopt these briars and give them space in their garden. If not, I suppose another row is in the making and this entails digging in posts and putting up a new fence. This summer, I picked three or four gallons of blackberries everyday off of the existing vines..what am I to do with another row?? Berries, berries everywhere! I keep threatening to start selling jams and jellies and I suppose these berries would be a good place to start!

While digging trimming the vines, I came across a Cow Killer! This bug is actually the Red Velvet Ant..and on that note, it is not an ant at all but rather a wasp that looks like an ant. A great, big ant wearing velvet clothing in the brightest of reds or oranges. It is the female that is often seen crawling around on the ground..the males have wings so they don't stick around long. She runs around looking for an underground nest of any other insect and then proceeds to lay her egg on the larva found there. This larva will play unwitting host to her larva and will also serve as its dinner. I often wondered about the "Cow Killer" moniker that has been attached to this beautiful creature. Could it really kill a cow? Should I get rid of this beastly bug? If so, how?? Yes, it can pack a wallop with its sting but it turns out that no where in history is there a record of a cow being taken down by our winsome wasp. Whew..that is a relief as I have seen dozens of them scurrying about our yard this summer. Not that I have herds of cows munching grass in my yard, but it is good to know this fact just in case I ever do! It is also a relief that these do not cause any damage to speak of in any way so I will not be inclined to exterminate it. But if anyone feels the need, the recommended method of disposal..a foot with a sturdy shoe! My bug shall live!