Bug Busters

Hey lady!  We heard you've got bugs,  can we join you for lunch?

Florida Sandhill Crane

These birds forage while walking in shallow water or in fields, sometimes probing with their bills. They are omnivorous, eating insects, aquatic plants and animals, rodents, seeds and berries. ...

The Florida subspecies is often seen in residential yards, and these birds seem little afraid of human approach. These visitors will eat shelled corn and commercially purchased bird seed from the ground and from feeders. They may be seen in yards in north-central Florida virtually year-round, often in pairs that may be accompanied by a juvenile. Myakka River State Park, just 50 miles south of Tampa, is a wonderful site to observe them although all around central Florida you may see them in empty farm fields from November to February.

Squash bugs and moles too?  Oh boy ....

Oh, and you can just see the NE garden in the background on the opposite side of our driveway.  This is the spot that gets the most sun so I try to take as most advantage of the spot, while keeping it gardenish looking from the road.  Needs more marigolds.

In more bug news, the doggies contribution of dog hair to protect the baby arugula from the dastardly fuzzy tailed squirrels seems to be working; or at least helping a lot.  The squirrels pass straight through the arugula bed heading for better digging pastures.  Of course, I guess it didn't help that I planned the arugula bed right at the base of the tree holding their nest.

I think this might be a squash baby, must protect from the squash bug I saw on it.  Squash, yumm.  I'm going to try the Dr. Bronners Magic Castile Soap trick that I learned about from Erin.  I think I'll learn from her example and go splurge on a bottle before we have a whole army of the darn things eating our squash and cucumbers and eggplant.

I wonder if this miracle soap will reap me a pickin of veggies like she has?  Or better yet,  improved legs?  If Macy's sent the floor manager over to make sure I didn't try on MBT's can you imagine what they would do if I tried on those squash stompers???

Alrighty then, all finished with my sandwich piled high with greens from the NE garden.  Poor plants, they are being picked to bones by some big bug.