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 »
23-VIII-2008 or Seen On T-shirt
This is not a great day for writing for me, as the loyal readers may or may not remember. I leave you with this phrase I saw on a t-shirt today: Life is like a jalapeno pepper. What you do today can burn your ass tomorrow. Go »Addendum
Yeah, I know. I didn't forget. Go »10-VIII-2007 or An Unhappy Call (No Reply)
Well, I'm on my way to kickball, when my mother calls me. She never calls me, so I know right away this is going to be bad. Apparently, the night before, my dad was driving down the road, towing the dunk tank (yes, my dad was towing around a county fair style dunk tank..it's Go »9-VIII-2007 or Going to the Kickball!
I am ready to go!! :) I really think we might win one tonight. If not, I'll still get to go to the bar and drink my sorrows away! Go »27-VIII-2007 or Where Is My Mind?
Waaaaaaaaaay out in the water see it swimming I think I'm not going to get this R5 card in the recent auction, but I can't help putting all my R$ into it! Hopefully everyone will put the big money into The Who, and I will steal it, but... :( I am woefully lacking in R$. 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.