I was only trying to get some peaches off my tree...and stumbled upon this....shameful creatures, using my peach tree to make out on!

I'd say...he's got a tiger by the tail!

I had to enlarge that to see the second "stick" . What a picture!

Not quite the same thing, but look why did this naughty bug leave his exoskeleton on my daylily?

Another view

#%^&*#$%^$$%# butterflies and their caterpillars!!!! Just kidding.... I let them alone, outside our breakfast room window so grandson can see them in action. Doesn't take long to strip a vine.....

Not only does he have a tiger by the tail, he will probably end up as lunch.

Anna, is that a cicada exoskeleton? I'm beginning to see some here. Later, the exoskeletons will be everywhere.

I didn't know what it was, but I saw a lot last year too.
Does anyone remember an old song about a praying mantis? Probably recorded in the 1940's or 50's. You can be sure it wasn't describing the fooling around, atleast I don't think so, since I was still an innocent child!

Yep....cicada!

Sooooooooo Lee, can you hum a little of it??

zzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZz

zzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzz....................best I can do in the ether!

A little bug report:
http://agnews.tamu.edu/showsto...

BTW, speaking of insects, if anyone is lucky enough to not to hear these katydids lately, go to lower part of that page and click on the sound for "hundreds if not thousands" of these katydids and turn the volume up loud...then you know what I've listened to outside for the last month of this outbreak! It's actually getting better now, as more die off...soon, hopefully, it'll be gone. And hopefully, my nice Lacey Oak will recover...it looks dead right now, they ate everything off it. I kept telling them to go eat the Arizona Ash near it, but no, Lacey Oak is like their favorite yummy fast food. They ate some Arizona Ash, but not so much.

http://texasento.net/robustus....

Oh...now I remember that song! But the tune was a bit different.....thanks Lee!

Very interesting article Linda.

We've noticed a large number of deer and horseflies around here, more than usual. I was wondering if anyone else has noticed this. We do live in a rural area and there are many nearby dairies and cattle ranches... but just wondering if anyone else has noticed more of these flies.

We don't usually have the horseflies around here, but I think we do now!

I just had time to read the article you posted, Linda. Just what we need....more bugs! I haven't heard them lately. Might be because it's too hot to venture far from AC in the evening, tho.

BTW, I gave your Dwarf Barbados Cherry away yesterday to a visitor. I'll try to root another in case we have a RU coming up in the fall. It was getting too big for the pot and I didn't want to try to hold it over the summer. I had planned to take it to San Marcos, but we didn't get back from IL in time to do everything that weekend. It's been stinkin' hot here already. Can't imagine how I'll keep the backyard going if we don't get a little rain.

No problem! Actually, one of mine finally came back up! Weird, but true.

Well, that's great! Mine had little cherries all over it....until the mockingbirds found them. Now the only ones I can find are hidden way inside the bush.

Hi! Something has been stripping leaves on some of my bushes, but can't tell what bug yet, since they must do it 'secretly'!, Ha! We've had some days of cicada-buzzing, but not much yet, which is fine with me--- I'm sure it will happen soon~