Friday, July 29

Pardon me while

..I scream like a little girl.



I know, I know. They can't sting.  Or bite. Or ruin your credit.
But...
ew ew ew ew ew ew ew

Snakes I can handle. Spiders, sure!  But I hate tomato hornworms.  They are just so squishy and spiked and ..what the hell is oozing out of them!?  Green ...juice?!

Envision this idyllic garden scene from this morning:
I pluck one worm off the tomato plant (wearing a leather glove) and hop and scream while I get it off my glove and into the bowl.
 Voodoo and Irie are right there with me, trying like hell to save me from whatever Death Monster I'm obviously fighting.
Dogs get in my way, I accidentally drop the bowl and hop around yelling "leave it!".  I'm also barefoot and just waiting to step on one of these things.  The dogs are trying like crazy to eat/kill whatever is causing the screaming.
Move dogs, gather bowl and start chanting "ew ew ew ew" as I'm plucking.
Repeat hopping/screaming/dog scenario.
Five times.
I happened to glance up and Michael was at the door, just staring at us.
Didn't say one negative word..didn't laugh at me..just asked if I needed a hand.

The man is a saint, I tell you.
Or he's scared to death I've finally snapped.



Allowing Voo to sniff the bowl did NOT work out well.  Hornworm stuck in his ear hair!
OMG.
I need a sedative.
And a drink.
And a live-in gardener.


Moving on...

We have a monster ant hill on our property.
I leave them alone..we don't have an ant problem and they don't bother me when I'm mowing around them, so have at it.  It's about 6 feet wide and usually much taller, but the crows have been harassing them and tearing things up.

About as close-up as I'm willing to get.  Not pushing my luck or their tolerance.


I think I'm being stalked.

Robelyn...were you here!?
When I went to run the vac over the porch (Hello dog hair and wisteria pods), I spotted a random piece of duct tape.  I think that red.neck gal is stalking me and my collection of fabulous duct tape.





Part of my haul this morning.

Our sky yesterday...gorgeous, but no rain.


It's Michael's last day of vacation. :(
Until his 17 days off in August! :)

21 comments:

  1. ARGH! I would have been dancing with you girl. Those bugs are nasty! Ish!

    Oh the upside, I love your flowers!

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  2. What kind of work does you man do that he gets to vacation that long and that frequent? My husband is only allowed a week off at a time even though he has built up 3 weeks. Last year he didn't even get to take one of those weeks off so they owe him a week for this year.

    We had a bug similar to that that we found a few years ago. Ours was a tobacco worm. Those are gross! We gave it to a friends kid who needed to collect bugs for school. It was the hit of the city school's day! lol

    Your flowers are so beautiful! I've seen ant hills that wide but about 2 feet tall when we were at Dolly Sods and Spruce Knob. Those are scary looking!

    Have a Great Day!
    Angela

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  3. One is kinda pretty by my estimation, but three or more are DIS.GUST.ING. That juice is TOMATO JUICE oozing out. Nah, I don't really know but that is my best guess.

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  4. holy crap! what does michael do have that much time off? i suppose i'm jealous as i sometimes forget what my husband looks like.

    thank you for ending the post with some attractive scenery, btw. recleansing my eyeballs...

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  5. I can handle spiders and beetles, even earth worms. Worms that ooze gross me out.

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  6. Michael works retail management..after 10 yrs, they better give him lots of time off!
    Plus, he does not take sick days unless he's near death...all that time adds up.

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  7. The worm things are just not nice, not a good invention at all! That crazy vibrant gladiola on the other hand is truly amazing! Believe it or not, I've only had one zuke out of the garden-bummer...
    PS-I'll bet ya the boys would be lining up to carve into that jello pig at Thanksgiving:@)

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  8. We had to get rid of an ant hill like that in our garden. They were taking out the tomato plants. Let me know if you need to evacuate the ants, we found an environmentally friendly ant killer I can pass on to ya.

    I like the pooffy wooffy cwouds ;)

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  9. Ewww, I hope I don't see any of those horn worm things!

    That IS a big ant hill!!

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  10. I'm just gonna say... Funniest home videos and $10,000! Michael should have been filming you, heehee!

    Your flowers are gorgeous! And that is one major ant hill!

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  11. Sam you want to hear me scream like a little school girl? I pulled an 8inch tapeworm out of IzzyBell's butt yesterday! It's been a rough couple of days. The flower pictures are very pretty and calming ;) Even wine didn't help. Ewwwwwwwwwww and ewwwww again.

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  12. Yes, Ew, Ew, Ew. Those horn worms are death on tomato plants, so good for you to suck it up and deal with them. Your produce is gorgeous! And I agree any guy who wouldn't laugh at a squeamish lady is a saint.

    Those giant, gross worms turn into a rather pretty Sphinx Moth--looks like a hummingbird, but those critters still do a lot of damage to a garden.

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  13. Leenie, yeah it's the Five-Spotted Hawkmoth, a close relative of my beloved hummingbird moths. I nearly had a panic attack thinking my hummingbird moths did this to me ;)

    Eight. Inch. Tapeworm.
    I have no words.
    I don't think I have enough vodka to handle that thought.

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  14. I like everything but the ant hill. I don't much like ants but leave one hill here alone. It is a big and deep nest in the back and stepping on it causes you to sink down. So the ants and I tolerate each other. They stay there and can be left alone to do their thing. If they come up or in the house then they are goners for sure.

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  15. When I encounter ewwy, nasty things outside, I don't scream like a little girl, I swear like a sailor. It's not pretty.

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  16. Ew, I'm with you on the tomato hornworms. They are the ickyest things imaginable and my memory is still haunted by how my Dad used to pick them off the tomato plants and squish them between two stones he kept for the purpose.

    I've never seen an anthill like that.

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  17. Oh my, those are scary looking wiggly creatures! Your photography on here is FANTASTIC! I'm in love with that shot of your harvest, so gorgeous! ~Lili

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  18. ...those hornworms get so BIG!!

    and that ANTHILL!!?? where do you live? texas...where everything is BIG!?? seriously...what kind of ants make hills THAT big...in this country?? wow!! i hope they don't BITE!!

    your flowers, veggies...clouds... are beautiful...kinda makes up for the hornworms & ants!! :)

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  19. Snakes and green worms,,,, *faints* Cannot deal with or touch either one.

    Di

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  20. LMBO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How did I MISS this?!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Heck yeah - I'm stalking you!!! You're where all the action is at!!! Plus - I've never seen a butt-knee. There HAS to be a first for everything...

    oh - and I'm learning about all of the wild-life over here... horned worms?

    LMBO!!!!!!!!
    ;-D robelyn

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