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 »
16-IX-2009 or Behind The Scenes (GE)
For those who are not aware, my first character in Gothic Earth is retiring. I believe that Scott is going to keep him around to use for his own undoubtedly nefarious purposes, but essentially, I am done with him. There were many reasons behind it, but there was just a single overriding reason above all others: I found myself unwilling to continue with him. Go »7-IV-2009 or Back In Action
I'm not good at getting in here regularly. It's not that I don't love you all as much as I used to, because I totally do! I just have problems staying focused on stuff lately. Go »20-I-2009 or Aaron misses the point?
Hmm... I thought the historic part had already gone past, but apparently, this is an historic day. I didn't know that swearing in was historic. Go »14-X-2009 or ...Aaaand I'm Back
Short trip, what? Iceland was pretty cool (as in cold as sin), but I had a great time! Reykjavik is a cool little city, but outside of there...nothing. Go »20-IX-2006 or Man, those Samoans sure are a surly bunch.
That was the punchline to a Bloom County comic I read many years ago. It always cracks me up...which makes no sense, really. 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.