Since Son is remodeling the shed, he had to do a good bit of cleaning before he started work. Stuff had been shoved in there for the past ten years and instantly became lost. He discarded 90% of the junk but a few items have to stay put right where they were tossed...at least for another couple of weeks. Some old outdoor Christmas decorations were leaned against the side of the shed with good intentions of donating them. Well, things happen and those things cause changes in plans.
A pair of wrens decided that their nest needed to be decorated for Christmas so they built it in the midst of the figures. I have adamantly refused to move the decorations. They will stay until the little ones fledge. The eggs hatched two days ago and the mama and papa birds are busy creatures. While I was out working in the gardens, it was nice to see the birds helping me find pests. Then, it was a thrill to hear the little ones begging for their turn to be fed. At one point, those hungry tweets were overpowered by terrified shrieks. Oh, my! I dropped everything except my trowel and raced to the shed. A rather large, dirty yellow cat was attempting to raid the nest! Ok, that was it, you nasty beast! My trowel went sailing toward the feral cat. Of course, my aim was way off and the plastic shovel hit the porch rail but the noise was enough to send the cat off in a hasty retreat.
I checked on the babies and they were fine. They had hunkered down in the nest and the parent birds raised enough ruckus to draw my attention in plenty of time. Now, however, I am worried that the cat will be back. This feral cat has terrorized the place for too long. He attacks Ms. Nycto, the Bayou Princes Cat, marks the territory by spraying (and stinking up) the steps and is now trying to make a meal out of the baby birds. I am thinking a trap may just be purchased real soon. This thing has got to go.
Late summer and on into fall, finds that the Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers are in their decline. Usually, this is the time of year that their lives come to an end and the continuation of their existence depends purely on the egg cases deposited in the sand. Come springtime, those egg cases will split open and thirty or so tiny grasshoppers will dig their way out of a hole in the ground. That is when the popular (yeah, right) dance begins. Dubbed the "Grasshopper Stomp" by my kids so many years ago, the dance remains the only surefire way to eliminate masses of the grasshoppers in a single blow. Very few insecticides work. The only "sprays" that do kill the critters are straight gasoline and a concoction made up of hot sauce. The gas kills them in their tracks while the hot sauce melts their exoskeletons. Neither is a preferred method so the Stomp is repeated on a daily basis during the months of April and May. Then, throughout the summer, individual critters are smashed. Why do we try to eradicate these critters? They are destructive, to say the least. The Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers are not picky eaters and will totally strip a garden overnight eating both the plants and the fruit/vegetables thereon. Once the garden is devoid of green, they climb trees, munch the lawn and will even gnaw holes in window screens! For those who do not know, these grasshoppers can reach upwards of four inches in length and appear to have an appetite of an elephant.
All of this is a shame, however, as the critters really are pretty. This is one of those beautiful creatures with an ugly unseen side. If they were not so destructive, the critters could live in peace in my garden. I do not even mind a few missing plants....just not an entire missing garden! The grasshoppers are a myriad of colors with black, red and yellow being the most dominant. The hatchlings are brick red and soft. Once their exoskeletons harden, they become black with red stripes on either side. After the first moult, the grasshoppers obtain their true colors. Yellow joins the red and black on the exoskeletons. The grasshoppers now have wings, albeit useless for flying. The wings are sometimes used as a threatening device and are unfurled to show size. It is then that the bright red inner wings are apparent. The critters will also hiss and spew a foul-smelling liquid if harassed. They are also toxic if eaten.
The critters live up to their name of Lubber. If you look up the definition of "Lubber", you will find it means "a large, clumsy person". These are rather large, clumsy grasshoppers. This lack of speed and agility does at least make them easily caught and smashed. It is just a shame that something so attractive is such a destructive nuisance!
