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!