DAY of the HORNET

 

 

 Out chopping away at weeds. Suddenly, the bush  I'm chopping starts to hum and shake.  There it is ,a massive hornets nest, hanging from inside to  down to the ground.  I thought the grey thing was a rock. But I didn't remember a rock being there before. I almost put my hand on it. ( Ewwwww) Hornets are the largest eusocial wasps. They are loud and nasty.

Under this  bush , hidden from view. If you look closely you can see a huge grey mass. The entire bush is a hornets nest. Ewwwww.

Smokey does not seem to worried about hornets.Cats. In the spring, the hornet queen will create the nest. I never saw the nest in the spring, or in the summer, or until now, when it had cooled enough to go out on the hill to chop the underbrush.

Hornets have long stingers  with which they defend their hives and kill. Oh joy, oy rapture. I almost put my hand on the hive  ( ewwwww).

 Each hornet can sting many times, and they do not die after stinging. 
                                                                          They live to sting again and again.

Single hornet stings are not fatal, unless you are allergic.  The most venomous hornet is the Asian giant hornet. Oh yuck. ( I almost put my hand ON the nest....ewwww)

Hornets are very good in rallying all their pals to sting in self defense of the nest. It is incredibly dangerous to humans. There is actually an attack Pheromone that is released when the nest is threatened.Calls the others to attack. I had to be very careful getting a pic of the nest, to show the pest control guy. Was not my favourite thing to do.

Hornets feed on nectar and sweet plants, including sap, rotting trees, honey and sugary foodstuffs provided by humans, apples, plums. Sometimes they will burrow into a sweet fruit to eat. Humans have been known to pluck a fruit with a hornet inside ( ewwwwww...we have lots of fruit ripening).

Hornets also like to eat crickets, bees, locusts and other big bugs. Chewed up and deposited in the hive for the larvae to eat. Ewwwwwwww. Pest control guy can't come over soon enough........

Collage

  "The sun is coming down to earth, and the fields and the waters shout to him golden shouts."
                                                                                              (George Meredith)

           "My heart and I lie small upon the earth like a grain of throbbing sand." (Zitkala-Sa)

                        "Every cat in the area will come round to try out your new fitted cat flp.
 Your own cat will continue to climb onto the window ledge and demand
                                                                     that you get out of bed to let it in." (B. King)

                 "If I take the wings of the dawn, if  dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there they hand will hold of me." (Adapted from Psalm 39)

                   "The sea is calm tonight, the tide is full,the moon lies fair upon the straits,
       for the world, which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams."            (Matthew Arnold)
                                  
                                               "Hitch your wagon to a star." Ralph Waldo Emerson)

        "The only mystery about the cat is why it ever decided to become a domestic animal."
                                                                                                           (Compton MacKenzie)

                  "Cats could have ruled the Universe, but couldn't be bothered ." (P. Gray)

                       "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." (R. W. Emerson)

(Supermoon Aug 2014)

"Go for the moon. If you don't get it, you'll still be heading for a star." (Willis Reed)

      "Among human beings a cat is merely a cat;                  
                            among cats a cat is a prowling shadow in a jungle." (Karel Capek  1890-1938)

           "Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are." (Gretel Ehrlich)

                           

                 "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him...................." ( Voltaire)

DONNA's TWISTED STARs

Spencer approved: 6 ft table runner, complete with floral backing and pearl fringes that dangle for cat paws to bat . Sewn in solitude and possibly some quiet."Solitude gives birth to the original in us, to beauty unfamiliar and perilous." ( Thomas Mann 1875-1955)

 Tea table rectangle with more fringes.
                              Squares made from fat quarters of  autumn hued cotton quilting fabric.In the end it will go across the miles to Donna, a friend I have known for over 30 years. Even though the "World is so wide and each of us so small, yet bound by friendship we are giants." ( Pam Brown)

                     Cut and pieced into twisted stars. Layered and placed "just so", ready to be sewn into neat little packages. Ironed seams then sewed into each section, pressed again, squares evened off.

 With help from Bo; quality control expert.              
                                                        Then time to hand quilt. About  2 weeks worth of thread.And band aids for the fingers to help grab the needle.

Finished product of  runner. The table is about 7 feet long, give or take.Border is done in white table cloth fabric and gold patterned upholstery fabric.  Backing is floral quilt cotton.
                   Fringes are a nice touch. Perfect for cats. Perfect for Donna's cat Simon.

  I think Spencer is tuckered at last.                                 
                                                       All that fringe batting can wear one out.....

AUGUST DAYS

    "Now came still evening on, and twilight gray had in her sober libery all things clad."
                                        (John Milton)
And the last of the sweet peas, disheveled, ready to be torn asunder  for compost. Ready to be chopped up. Sad. But it's time.

       "Silence was pleased; now glowed the firmament with living sapphires. ( Milton)

             And those darn sweet peas. Staring mournfully out from their bed of dirt and mulch, as they are finally chewed up. I must be brave.  But I will miss them.

 "Wherever water flows, or birds fly, wherever day and night meet in twilight, wherever the blue heaven is hung by clouds, or sown with stars......" (William Wordsworth)

                                               

 "All this that love the sun are out of doors, the sky rejoices in the morning's birth.." (Wordsworth)

 "The cry of gulls at daybreak ocean bound, always a wind is slinging in their ears, always they lean to catch a drift of spray, or reef-blown water tossing in a bay, or drift of ebb tide around salty piers." (Harold Vinal)

    And then there are the cats. Those funny things that come to visit and dance around in the morning, and night, wanting to see, wanting to chase snakes, birds and bugs. Or you. Or hid in the compost bag and pat at things.

 
      "What nature delivers to us is never stale. Because what nature creates has eternity in it."
                                  ( Isaac Bashevis Singer)

 And there is still so much to prune and cut back, cut back and prune. August is winding down. Just hot muggy days left, where everything looks wilted and scraggy. The sweet peas are all gone now. The apples are ripening, the grapes are getting fat. Not yet fall, yet a hint of fall to come. "The sea is calm tonight, the tide is full, the moon lies fair upon the straits, for the world, which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams." (Matthew Arnold)

SUPERMOON

(Aug 10 500mm. appears smaller here cause of blog template)

 Don't you just want to howl at it? Awoooooooooo. Huge. Bright. Incredibly super.Apparently it is 14% bigger and brighter than any other everyday moon.The actual technical name of the Supermoon is " perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system". Yes, I looked it up;it seems to have a  pedigree.

 It is one of three  massive supermoons. First was on July 12th, and the next will be on Sept 9th.
                             (Aug 8th photo)                                                       (Aug 6th photo)

(Aug 7th )

 This super moon is closer  to the Earth because the orbit is kind of crooked or one sided.
                 (Aug 6th photo)
 The Supermoon is 356,896 km away, and shows best when it is close to the horizon.Send your Supermoon photos into yournews@cbc.ca

                                        (Aug 10th)

 I still say  go ahead and howl at it. It's close enough .
                                             And the moon may just answer.     Awoooooooo.......