So lovely, bright, and delicate. Despite their dainty appearance, these pretty little creatures are deadly killers. The stuff nightmares are made out of… If you’re a caterpillar that is :)

Ok. So - I was trying to be good. I finally got myself to start working on cleaning my office up a bit. I figured taking out the long overdue recycling would be a good way to start… And then I immediately got distracted and never finished. Can you guess why? Well - There was a bug in the box I was about to throw out. So of course I stopped everything to photograph it! And here we are… 😂

You feel almost nothing at first… Maybe a slight poke or prick, nothing of consequence – you figure you probably just brushed up against a twig or something. Soon you start to feel sluggish, maybe unwell, not at all like yourself. You start to notice a squirming, gnawing feeling internally. It gets worse… And worse… You finally realize what’s going on. You are slowly being eaten from the inside out. While still alive! 😱 And there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

Gone are the days of sunlight until 9 o’clock in the evening and it is definitely getting colder. I even had to bring a couple of my plants inside over the weekend because I was worried about frost! Despite losing the long warm months, there are still a few hardcore insects trying to hang in there.

It’s that time of year again… The days are getting shorter and cooler, the mosquitoes are finally cutting us some slack, the hummingbirds will be migrating soon… And the Yellowjackets are suddenly all over my hummingbird feeders.

I’m thinking paper probably isn’t the sturdiest material to build an umbrella out of right? Well, that’s why they so often build their homes in sheltered areas around our human houses! Yes, I’m talking about the Paper Wasp, or Ol’ Dangle-legs as my partner likes to call them :)

In-between the summer rain showers, I found this lovely creature resting on my garden hose. This is a type of Thread-waisted wasp (taxonomic family = Sphecidae), called the Great Black Wasp, Sphex pensylvanicus.

Got a lot of mint in the garden you don’t know what to do with? Try making mint oil! It’s a great way to safely and organically remove ground-nesting wasp nests.

We’ve all heard the stories right? Of that poor sot who was out mowing the lawn and accidentally ran over a hidden wasp nest… Well, finally I am that poor sot.