25-VI-2019 or The Spotted Menace!
by Aaron Shurtleff on June 25, 2019
...
Ok, you got me.
Lately, my life has been pretty busy, and I'll tell you all why. Spotted lanternfly! (Don't wait for a link. You know I can't do it right, and that was when it was fresh in my mind and not years ago and far away! Google!) I don't want to get boring and buggy up in the hizzy (as the kids no longer say, if they ever really did), but it's a fairly recent introduction from Asia (probably China...it's always China) that was first found in Pennsylvania in 2014. It's been spreading out from there, but it just hit Maryland recently. Well, technically, we had a tiny population last winter, but we were hoping it we could deal with it. We missed a couple... The eggs are laid (lain? layed? pooped out!) and covered with a protective coating that makes it look like a smudge of dirt, so it's easy to miss them.
Whatever. The TL;DR version of the story is that they are nasty and gross, and they are a major pest of many different crops, but particularly grapes and tree fruits and hops. So, if you like beer or wine, you should be very unhappy!! Grr!
But, that's my life right now. That and try to keep my employees focused on work and not PLAYING AROUND ON THE INTERWEBZ!!!
Oh, man, I haven't done one of these in so long, I forget what goes into them. Do I do songs of the day/week/moment? I think so...
SoNg Of ThE dAy Let's say it's "Bad guy" by Billie Eilish, whose name I didn't know how to pronounce until my employees corrected me. It's a bit weird, but...it's pretty catchy. Trigger warning: Nosebleeds! And not the holy-geez-look-at-that-buxom-girl anime style nosebleeds!
Anywho, back to work! I got a few things to finish up before my big meeting tomorrow afternoon, and I got a sexual harassment training in the morning. No, not to train me how to sexually harass, ya nutjobs!
Be good. Be kind. Be kinda good.
Two Replies to 25-VI-2019 or The Spotted Menace!
Aaron Shurtleff | June 26, 2019
It is a quite handsome little insect, and we do have people telling us all the time how pretty it is. But, it doesn't matter how pretty it is if it starts eating everything in sight and getting out of hand!
Honeydew!
MiracleASSassin
Aaron Shurtleff uses this area as a dumping ground for his random thoughts... Read more »
2-VIII-2007 or I Don't Have an Aunt Flo...
but I had issues! Unfortunately, last week went to Hades, thanks to an unscheduled visit from Uncle Intestinal Discomfort. I was pinned to my bathroom from Wednesday night into Saturday morning, with no internet access, so I was unable to even try to make a showing in the GOO finals. Go »24-IV-2008 or Fallen Angel
I have a post to write, but I'm not sure I can get to it in its entirety before the end of work, so I might just be holding this space for a while. Think of it as an announcement that something is coming later tonight (after kickball). It actually, in some ways, involves kickball. Go »8-II-2010 or *sigh*
Short one today. Looking at my GOO record, I found that the first GOO I ever guessed correctly was Ray Charles. That is also the first GOO that Russ Wilhelm guessed correctly, or at least that's what I am led to believe by looking at the GOO. Go »18-VIII-2006 or Are you doing that on purpose?
I keep reading Adrirants, but she's posting them and disabling replies! How can the peanut gallery comment? Maybe that's the point... Go »8-I-2007 or Mid-week Madness!!!
I have just two things to say, and I will say them loud and proud! 1) I honestly would love to see U. Florida win tonight in the BCS championships. Go »
Scott Hardie | June 26, 2019
The spotted lanternfly is not boring. I don't know anything else about that subject or anybody else who knows about that. I always want to know more about weird stuff I've never heard of, especially if it's in my own national backyard. :-)
I looked it up. I have no doubt that it's an invasive species and a pest, but I could imagine it being considered pretty, like a monarch butterfly, when it's at its most colorful.