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The final paper from HELL that is! I finished it late this afternoon. I still have revisions to do, some trimming, tidying of footnotes, all that, but the thing is written at least. This paper has been a nightmare. It is very out of character for me to not enjoy a writing assignment. It wasn't even a lack of interest in the topic--industrialized agriculture and its impact on the U.S. city in the mid-twentieth century to present (eegads)--but was the approach and, yeah okay, the insecurity. 1) This is my first ever history class. 2) This is the only writing assignment in the class so I have zero sense of the professor's expectations, and this paper counts for 30% of my grade. 3) In typical fashion for my university, when I emailed the professor with a question about the paper taken directly from the syllabus, he seemed completely clueless about what the syllabus contained. That always makes me nervous, as I'm one of those people who reads all of the course documents on the first day of class and revisits them pretty much weekly to make sure I'm on target. Syllabi are my security blanket.
Anyway, it's done, and I don't even think it's that bad.
This pretty much commandeered my weekend. It was possibly the most beautiful weekend of the year too. Well, all was not lost. Yesterday was the first day for the Westminster farmers' market; it started early this year, which Bobby found out quite by accident while looking at the Carroll County Times yesterday. We didn't even need much, but it was good to see our farmers' market friends; I sometimes think farmers' market is as much about socialization as food. We were photographed and interviewed by the Carroll County Times, so we may get five minutes of local fame. (This would be Bobby's second time this year, as he was on the front page--the front page!!--of the Carroll County Times when he won the charity snowboard event earlier this year.)
Last night, we saw the first lightning bugs of the season. Bobby saw some earlier in the evening, and we were sitting outside and I whined, "I really want to see a lightning bug tonight!" and flashflashflash--just like that, one blinked along the treeline.
After I finished the paper this afternoon, Bobby, the Goldens, and I took a walk down Charlotte's Quest. I had so much laundry to do today it wasn't even funny; I haven't even touched laundry in weeks. This evening, aside from laundry and cleaning up the kitchen, I realized that I had no actual obligations to fulfill, so I took a bath and read Game of Thrones. Tomorrow it will be back to chipping away at the long-neglected stuff on my to-do list (a calligraphy project, a beta, SWG stuff ... eep!) but tonight? Tonight was blissful nothing.
Anyway, it's done, and I don't even think it's that bad.
This pretty much commandeered my weekend. It was possibly the most beautiful weekend of the year too. Well, all was not lost. Yesterday was the first day for the Westminster farmers' market; it started early this year, which Bobby found out quite by accident while looking at the Carroll County Times yesterday. We didn't even need much, but it was good to see our farmers' market friends; I sometimes think farmers' market is as much about socialization as food. We were photographed and interviewed by the Carroll County Times, so we may get five minutes of local fame. (This would be Bobby's second time this year, as he was on the front page--the front page!!--of the Carroll County Times when he won the charity snowboard event earlier this year.)
Last night, we saw the first lightning bugs of the season. Bobby saw some earlier in the evening, and we were sitting outside and I whined, "I really want to see a lightning bug tonight!" and flashflashflash--just like that, one blinked along the treeline.
After I finished the paper this afternoon, Bobby, the Goldens, and I took a walk down Charlotte's Quest. I had so much laundry to do today it wasn't even funny; I haven't even touched laundry in weeks. This evening, aside from laundry and cleaning up the kitchen, I realized that I had no actual obligations to fulfill, so I took a bath and read Game of Thrones. Tomorrow it will be back to chipping away at the long-neglected stuff on my to-do list (a calligraphy project, a beta, SWG stuff ... eep!) but tonight? Tonight was blissful nothing.
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Along with the rest of the east coast, it seems, we are being invaded by brown marmorated stink bugs. I just had lunch on the patio, and I counted more than 100 on the back of the house. We find them constantly in the house; during last night's "check for arth" (undertaken nightly to rid our bedroom of the spiders and insects that end up there on a regular basis during the summer), Bobby found four in the bedroom. When I bring in the laundry, it's full of them. I felt something tickling the back of my leg the other day and assumed one of the Goldens had brushed me with his whiskers or tail but, upon scratching my leg, found a stinkbug crawling up my dress. When I opened the silverware drawer while fixing lunch, there was one crushed between the drawer and the counter.
They are apparently an invasive species from Asia. Someone asked about them at the IPM lecture at HHF the other week. I seem to recall that they first appeared in Pennsylvania. Now, apparently, they're assaulting the whole east coast, doing terrible damage to crop and annoying the hell out of everyone else. Both the Baltimore Sun and the Carroll County Times have articles on them today. No one really knows what to do about them.
And they do stink. If you piss them off a little, they smell like cilantro, which can work well as a herb in some foods but is not the most pleasant-smelling plant in the world. If you really piss them off, they get that chemical-candy smell, like squash bugs (which they're related to) but not quite as Jolly Rancherish.
ETA: Okay, we just caught about 30 of them in the bedroom. They were coming in the air conditioning unit.
The air conditioning unit has been removed, and the chickens just enjoyed a treat.
However, even after washing, my hands still smell of cilantro.
( The Catch )
They are apparently an invasive species from Asia. Someone asked about them at the IPM lecture at HHF the other week. I seem to recall that they first appeared in Pennsylvania. Now, apparently, they're assaulting the whole east coast, doing terrible damage to crop and annoying the hell out of everyone else. Both the Baltimore Sun and the Carroll County Times have articles on them today. No one really knows what to do about them.
And they do stink. If you piss them off a little, they smell like cilantro, which can work well as a herb in some foods but is not the most pleasant-smelling plant in the world. If you really piss them off, they get that chemical-candy smell, like squash bugs (which they're related to) but not quite as Jolly Rancherish.
ETA: Okay, we just caught about 30 of them in the bedroom. They were coming in the air conditioning unit.
The air conditioning unit has been removed, and the chickens just enjoyed a treat.
However, even after washing, my hands still smell of cilantro.
( The Catch )
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In the ever-unfolding garden adventures in the House of Felagund, this afternoon, I was outside cutting herbs to make croutons when I noticed some very suspicious-looking bugs congregating on a cucumber. Our cucumber plant is all but dead; I'm not sure what killed it, but since we have both squash bugs and cucumber beetles in the garden right now, there are plenty of suspects. Anyway, creepy-looking bugs + dead plant = probably not good.
I went into the house and brought out a glass jar and collected the bugs in it so that I could show Bobby and positively identify them.
They are very, very ugly. They have bright red bodies and spindly black legs. They have a proboscis that tucks under their body and, in some cases, is longer than their body. Given that they resemble squash bugs--but red--and have a long sucker attachment, I figured I had the cucumber culprit nailed and that the chickens would be enjoyed some red creepy-looking bugs tonight.
But I was wrong! So wrong! My investigations tonight revealed that they are wheel bug larvae: not only harmless but actually beneficial insects because they kill all sorts of bad things in the garden. (No word on whether or not squash bugs are among their victims.) Here they are on the University of Florida's entomology website.
While scouting the garden for squash bugs tonight, I found a few more of the wheel bugs. Suspecting them to be pests, I killed them. I now feel very badly about that. :( Needless to say, my dozen or so jarred wheel bug larvae are now enjoying their freedom in the garden, on the squash plant where we've had the biggest squash bug problem. >:^)
I went into the house and brought out a glass jar and collected the bugs in it so that I could show Bobby and positively identify them.
They are very, very ugly. They have bright red bodies and spindly black legs. They have a proboscis that tucks under their body and, in some cases, is longer than their body. Given that they resemble squash bugs--but red--and have a long sucker attachment, I figured I had the cucumber culprit nailed and that the chickens would be enjoyed some red creepy-looking bugs tonight.
But I was wrong! So wrong! My investigations tonight revealed that they are wheel bug larvae: not only harmless but actually beneficial insects because they kill all sorts of bad things in the garden. (No word on whether or not squash bugs are among their victims.) Here they are on the University of Florida's entomology website.
While scouting the garden for squash bugs tonight, I found a few more of the wheel bugs. Suspecting them to be pests, I killed them. I now feel very badly about that. :( Needless to say, my dozen or so jarred wheel bug larvae are now enjoying their freedom in the garden, on the squash plant where we've had the biggest squash bug problem. >:^)
