sallyg said:Had to fact check myself. Get a load of this from Wikipedia-
"In 1902, C. L. Marlatt, an entomologist with the United States Department of Agriculture, wrote a brief description of the house centipede:[1]
It may often be seen darting across floors with very great speed, occasionally stopping suddenly and remaining absolutely motionless, presently to resume its rapid movements, often darting directly at inmates of the house, particularly women, evidently with a desire to conceal itself beneath their dresses, and thus creating much consternation."
Oh, yeah, sure, the centipede picks on women, hahahaha....

" They are generally considered harmless to humans.[13] Bites are uncommon, and the forcipules of house centipedes are not strong enough to easily penetrate human skin. Bites are similar to a bee's sting, with its venom causing redness and mild to severe swelling.[3][14]
Techniques for eliminating centipedes from homes include drying up the areas where they thrive, eliminating large indoor insect populations, sealing cracks in the walls, and seeking the assistance of an exterminator."

I will have to stop wearing those long dresses!!

greenthumb99 said:Speaking of centipedes, I spent a week camping in southern Arizona were they had these: http://yourshot.nationalgeogra...

Very cool looking bug, David!!!

Saw close-to an-adult rabbit today..Grrrrr....
Must be the small one i saw the other day--growing up.
I have, randomly, placed Moth balls around my beds.
They should be picking up the scent....

Today, after i saw the now bigger rabbit--I shaved half a bar of Irish Spring soap
all around my beds. That smell should keep any critter away!
Try it! it is harmless....I learned this many years ago--and tried it.
Don't remember if it was effective. You all can be the "Guinea Pigs"....

Don't know how much it helped--but--hey! it is cheap and totally non-toxic.
You can use a Potato peeler--or just shave by hand with an old knife.

Let me know if it worked for anyone. Gita

Gita. It did not work for me. With deer anyway. I did not see rabbits altho they are in the area..so maybe it worked for those!

2--I have a question re bird baths. I have three...heavy, concrete ones.

I try to fill them and clean them as much as i can--but the heavy bowls tend to
get algae all over them inside. Then I empty the bowls, and scrub them clean
and re-fill them.Then--I sprinkle the Musquito Bits (yes i still have some of these)
on top of the water.
BUT--in less than a day--the "BITS" sink to the bottom
Are they still effective if they are in the bottom of the bird bath?

Second question--re birds....

I spent good $$ to buy a new bag of Meal Worms and filled up a small feeder
made just for Meal Worms. It was emptied in one day! The birds were just chowing down.
I was hoping that only the nesting birds would be using these to feed their young?

Are they still in the nesting. feeding the hatching stage? If not--I am NOT
going to re-fill the Meal Worms feeder. These cost $$$$

Thanks, Gita

Gita, I'm pretty sure the mosquito bits are supposed to sink because that's where the larvae feed.

According to this, the time between laying of mosquito eggs and a flying mosquito is up to 4 days. http://www.mosquito.org/life-c...
I have to empty and refill mine every day to keep them full of clean water; Gita, yours must be a lot deeper than mine!

On the scary side...I spent an hour walking in the woods near my house yesterday with a pregnant neighbor, her 3 year-old and 18-month old (we do "field trips" to see tadpoles and other things)...and today a bear was sighted walking past our houses down the street leading to the woods. We were the only ones in the woods, so I shudder with "what if?" thoughts.
I'm going to pass on "field trips" in the near future as well as planting native plants in the woods!

Egads Muddy!

Whoa..I don't know if I could run carrying a kid.

I think you are supposed to stay still and raise up arms real high and roar...I guess that would be my job.....shudder....

We couldn't have run because the path was full of rocks and tree roots.
We probably would have screamed loudly enough to scare the bear off, though! I know it wouldn't have meant us harm, but I would have been really worried!

Maybe I'll take a loud cowbell with me next time.

The only time you truly have to worry is if you come between a sow and her cubs. A bell and looking intimidating is good otherwise. If confronted either move forward or back, watching if she is looking at something other that you. For close encounters, pepper spray can be effective if you can stand ready to use it. We only had it happen once when backpacking up north, and stood as a group till the bear went by us to her cubs.Don't carry foods or wear scented things helps.

Thanks, Ric.

I wouldn't have been worried if I was by myself but, because I view all little human "cubs" as my own (it takes a village after all), I would have been as worried a mama bear if I had seen a bear at that time.

The bees love my Anise hyssop (photo 1), and so do I (#2)!

I decided to go plant stuff in the woods after all. I took a whistle just in case I saw a bear, but I didn't...of course.

This toad spent the entire day in a shady corner where I keep newly repotted plants. At first I thought it was stuck or injured because it was in such an uncomfortable-looking position but, when I touched it, it hopped into this pot and stayed there until dusk. I moved one of the rocks to give it more room.

My hyssops are getting a lot of play, too.

Brave you with a whistle!

Assisted 5 turtles across the roads on my route between 5 and 7 am this morning. Unusual? To me, yes. Will watch again tomorrow. The little ones look like brown leaves. Brought one home that was on its back and not moving to make sure it was OK It ate watermelon and 6 worms!

Toads on my route tend to hang out near lights that attract bugs....like an all nite diner. Maybe yours just wanted to be first in line!

It has an ample supply of slugs to eat; I hope it has some friends to help!

We have many turtle rescues in the woods behind us. If they were in and odd place we would bring them home rather than just help them across the road. I've seen too many jerks that go out of their way to hit wildlife on the road.

Oh no!!

I found our resident turtle baked on its back ...sad day.

Found a slug and some worms to feed my turtle guest. Turtle went for the slug first! I had to chuckle though as the leaf slug was slimed on to stuck to turtle's face long after the slug was swallowed. Watched turtle go for three or four worms...Seems there s a right end of a worm for a turtle to start eating (?) as twice it started on one end and then dropped the worm and went to the other end. Amazing how focused a turtle can be on a wriggling worm.

Muddy, in lieu of a whistle, I'd be inclined to use an air horn as used to indicate emergencies (among other things) in the boating world. Might startle and scare off the bear.

Seriously, bears can move really fast. One charged me in Rocky MT Nat Park, a brown bear fresh out of hibernation looking for food. Several cars ahead of us had pulled to the side of the road and were throwing pieces of white bread at the bear. One man and his 5 yo daughter had gotten out of their car to take a pic of girl with bear in background only several yards away. My friend from Colo got out to order the man and girl back in their vehicle and out of danger!

I got out and held up the huge cluster of grapes I had brought along for snacking. Immediately the bear dropped the loaf of bread and ran straight at me. Thank goodness I had the presence of mund to fling those grapes as hard as I could, at the bear. When the cluster landed, several grapes rolled off down the road and the bear stopped and chased them! Then it returned to the cluster and sat like Wiinie and a honey pot raking grape by grape into its mouth as we onlookers slowly started our engines and drove off.

Guess that's why grapes are one of the things I take on most outdoor into the wild adventures since then.

Photo by my Rocky Mountain friend

Ric, if I thought that the turtles I find on my route would do better at my place, believe you me I would bring them home! As it is, turtles I find elsewhere are taken to certain spots on my route for rehoming in safer area.

Yeah, jerks

Sorry for your loss Rosie.

oh, so sorry MRosie!

Camping supplies: Grapes and an air horn, check. What a story!
People are such idiots about nature. There was a facebook video recently of a girl about 2 approaching and petting a deer. It was on a lawn, and I didn't know any of the context, perhaps it was a pet deer raised by people, but I thought about commenting a warning about that. If you've ever read Gary Paulsen's story about a deer attack, you'd never let anyone approach a deer, OR get out of a car with your little child with a bear around!!!!! Even the Assateague ponies are dangerous.