|
|
|
first spotted lanternfly
Monday, August 5 2024
location: rural Hurley Township, Ulster County, NY
This morning a largish insect whose behavior seemed superficially like a cicada landed on me and I brushed him away. When he then landed on a hydrangea leaf, I took a picture of him and did a Google image search. It turned out that this was a spotted lanternfly, which, like a cicada, is a actually a true bug (that is, a member of the insect order Hemiptera). Spotted lanternfly is yet another invasive organism from Asia, and I've heard horror stories about them swarming over plants in great numbers without experiencing much more than token predation. (Gretchen's ex-girlfriend Barbara reports that they were especially bad in Pittsburgh last year.) I'd never seen one before, and so far all I've ever seen is just that one (which I didn't kill, though Gretchen later gave the order to kill any on sight).
Neville hadn't been going on the afternoon walk in the forest that Charlotte and I take nearly every. But today, surprisingly, he decided to come. We walked the same route I've been taking of late, though we did it backwards, starting on the Stick Trail and then coming home via the Chamomile Headwaters Trail and Farm Road. I lost Charlotte somewhere along the Stick Trail and then I lost Neville somewhere around the place where I took a right off the Stick Trail onto the Chamomile Headwaters Trail. Conditions were hot and humid, though I found that hiking shirtless kept me surprisingly cool as my sweat constantly evaporated in the light breeze.
The dogs still hadn't gotten back from the forest when I drove off to Woodstock to make a dinner date with Gretch, Lynne, and Greg. We dined indoors at the Garden Café to stay out of the oppressive heat. Tonight the Garden had the Latin mushroom tacos, one of my favorite things they make. They also had a potato cauliflower soup, which I ordered a big bow of. I was hoping it would be chonky, but unfortunately it had been blended into a uniform slurry. Our dinner discussion mostly featured Greg talking about one of his therapy clients, a fairly racist gentleman who was, until recently, having an affair. That part of the conversation went on a little long and wasn't really that interesting. (For me, stories from therapy are only about as interesting as stories about dreams.) A much more interesting story concerned some AirBnB guests who had somehow managed to get one of the shower doors to fall onto them, shattering into a million little cubes in the process. The guests (which included a small child) then had to get stitches at a nearby hospital. Lynne and Greg said they'd comp'ed the family the price of their stay in hopes of not getting sued, though apparently it's difficult to prove negligence when it comes to falling parts of a house.
I was ready to leave well before dessert, but we ended up staying long after that, and I felt kind of trapped since we were actually taking Greg out for his birthday (which won't be for a few weeks) because, unexpectedly, we won't be able to attend his birthday party.
I finally was able to break away during a lingering "Jewish goodbye" out in front. When I went down to my Forester parked at the end of Old Forge Road, there was an adult female deer standing near it. I said hello and walked up to her, and she proved surprisingly friendly, nuzzling the palm of my outstretched hand like a dog.
On the drive home, I stopped at the Hurley Ridge Hannaford to buy a twelve pack of "Atomic Torpedo" imperial IPA, which has a strong 9.2% alcohol content. Beers like this were impossible to buy on the East Coast only a couple years ago.
The dogs were home when I got home, and Neville was convered with black dirt that smelled like swamp.
The first spotted lanternfly I'd ever seen, on a hydrangea leaf.
A volunteer mystery squash appeared in our garden and now is spreading across our parking area near the Subaru Forester. Also note the cannabis plant on the tower.
Click to enlarge.
The friendly deer of Woodstock near the Subaru Forester at the parking lot at the end of Old Forge Road.
Click to enlarge.
A close-up of the friendly deer, taken with my crappy Android phone.
Click to enlarge.
For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?240805 feedback
previous | next |
