Mating Ladybugs

CUte! Little ladybugs mating on woodland nettles....
(woodland nettles sting, but not nearly as bad as stinging nettles...)
there was a whole lotta shakin' going on!
XoXox

Spider VS Ladybug

LADY BUG in the right corner.....

SPIDER in the left corner....
My first inclination is always to save the suffering one... i think poor little ladybug is about to get eaten. But then i think about the spider, if he doesnt get food then he'll be starving to death and suffering too. So making a choice to save one and interfere with another is kind of a judgment based on personal preference more then the natural processes of life.
So shit - which would you choose? I chose to watch.
The spider moved down to the ladybug, who would periodically spread her wings in defense. A defense that seemed to work pretty good. That is unless the spider is jus' totally tired of eating ladybugs all winter...
Several times the spider came down and touched her, but never attacked. He went back to his corner to hide motionless for more victims.
Eventually the ladybug must have shaken herself free cause when i looked back, she was gone. Or maybe.........

XoXo

The Freak Bugs Of December! (Mosquito & Ladybug)

Thank Gawd that mosquito is not on my flesh, it's just resting on the flesh of a butternut squash! Here at the house in Big Sandy Mush there has been a freaky bug phenomena... bugs that are normally long gone by october are still hanging, flying, and multiplying around this December. Starting with the bad first, WTF are mosquitos doing still alive in high elevations of the smokey mountains? All standing water nearby was made sure to be dumped, there is nothing new or usual and the owners of this porperty say they never seen mosquitoes here at this time of year, eva'! The sickest part is I am watching these guys fly around slowly in the cold, inside and outside the house. In freezing rains, ice on the ground, temperatures hit 10 degrees and STILL they are here! One could say this is a result of global warming, but man I am cold, why aren't they?
There are some character/personality difference in these mosquitoes mainly being they look more light brown, pale, and starved. They also fly very slow and don't bite as often or easy but they DO bite. They do less stealth and more hovering ova' ya face while sleeping and biting up your fingers and forehead. These light weights are also easier to kill, as the can't seem to work up the chutzpah to really zip around. Has anyone else been bothered by mosquitoes this winter, in a region which normally does not have them?
Moving right along... LADYBUGS! And some friends of ladybugs that look kinda like them. Right before the coldest snap here there was a big ladybug boom- literally landing all over me, even in my mouth if i talked! (They taste like bitter lettuce, which is not so good.) These ladybugs even felt like they were biting, which has never happened to me before. After all the freezing cold weather there are still ladybugs crawling around in the house and I found this gypsy band of ladies folded up in a piece of organic cotton fabric on the porch. Check out all the variations of color, I don't think all these guys are really ladybugs but they don't seem to mind. The pink arrow in the picture below is pointing to the extreme black sheep of the gang, cause he was downright missing dots(plus he's all black!)
BTW- I was told when I was 20 years old and living in NYC that ladybugs were very good luck, my apartment back then filled up with them during warm weather.
XOXO