Friday Afternoon in the Park

Last Friday, was the last day of school for my daughters. They only had to go a half of a day. My youngest went home with a friend, and my oldest daughter, Libby and I went to the Park uptown. Libby likes photography as well, and took a course in photography at school. She thought it would be a good idea to go to the Park and take a few photos. It was the first time I had ever been. I wasn't really impressed. Libby thought I would be able to get a great many nature shots, but honestly, there just wasn't much there. If you want to read about our experience at the Park, you can go to my personal blog, Percolated Thoughts, as I try and keep this blog purely about Nature and everything related to Nature.

I was able to get a few Nature shots. I was real pleased with being able to get a few Bumble Bee shots, and in one photo you can see the pollen that has collected on his back. Libby didn't have much luck trying to capture the Bees. Every time she tried, they kept flying toward her.
We both were lucky enough to be able to capture a butterfly, and be able to get close enough to her to watch her feed on the sweet nectar of the flowers.

The Park had lots of trees, but only a couple of flower beds, and it had a walking trail that led all the way around our town. The only problem with walking the whole trail besides the fact its such a long trail, the trail also runs along the back side of a few rough parts of of the town. I didn't realize at the time, that this was the same trail I read about in the newspapers about drug activity, some gang violence, prostitution, and mugging. Over all, I wasn't overly impressed with the Park, I seemed to have more Nature around me than the park had, but I did get a few good photos. I have more photos on my personal blog as well. The best part about the Park was me spending the afternoon with my 17 year old daughter!

Spring and Summer Dangers

I can't believe April is almost over with. I have not even started plowing my garden yet, much less preparing my herb beds and flower beds. Spring snuck up on me too quickly. With Spring here and Summer right around the corner, many of us will be busy in our gardens, cutting our lawns, thinning weeds, camping, swimming, boating, grilling out, and enjoying the warmer months. Many of us look forward to the warmer months with the beauty of nature all around, we must also be aware of some possible dangers lurking around.

I remember a couple of years ago, my husband had some old lumber laying out in the yard. He couldn't seem to find the time to move it elsewhere. I began cleaning the yard late in the spring and decided to go ahead and move the lumber myself. I had moved several pieces when I was getting down to some of the rotten pieces. I decided to throw the rotten pieces in the burn pile when I felt something crawling up my arm. I dropped the near rotten boards and started beating myself, and doing some kind of strange native dance all the while screaming as if I was being murdered. A wave of nausea came over me, and I suddenly began to vomit. This all happened in a matter of a few seconds, maybe a minute or two at the most. My husband ran up to me asking "spider or snake?" Once I finished heaving, I then started to cry with fear and anger. Anger, because I had been cleaning up his mess he left all winter, crying because of my fear of spiders. What was crawling on my arm was a Black Widow the size of my thumb. Her fat ebony abdomen seemed to be larger than my thumb nail, and her scarlet red hour glass was quite visible. The wave of vomiting was not from being bit, but from the total fear I have of spiders. While I hate Spiders, spiders love me. I have been bitten several times by various spiders, only one was severe enough to go to the doctor.

Spiders are not the only danger lurking around cool dark places, but snakes as well. I'm not too fond of snakes either, but my fear of snakes is nothing compared to my fear of spiders. Spring and Summer offer us all kind of enjoyment, and beauty, but these months also offer us the dangers we do not often think about.

Below is a list of Spring and Summer dangers we all need to be aware of. I tried to provide my own photos on most of these, but the ones that are not mine, I have given credit to where credit is due by providing the link where I found them.







Fire ants do pose a problem around here in South Carolina. Mounds seem to pop up over night. My oldest daughter was bitten by thousands of fire ants when she was 2 years old, which covered her whole body. She has scars today all over her feet from these nasty ants.







Many people are highly allergic to bees. I have been stung several times by different species of bees. My oldest daughter was stung 26 times by yellow jackets and just a few months ago, I was stung by yellow jackets 5 times. Bumble bees normally do not bother me but I have been stung by them before. Close up and macro shots of these insects made me a tad nervous, but I never disturbed them or gave them reason to sting.



King snakes are welcome around here to keep the mice population down. They are harmless but there are other snakes we should all be aware of from cotton mouths, to water moccasins, and rattle snakes, plus many more.



Don't think for once I got close enough for these photos of the spiders! photos from http://www.spiderbegone.com


Ticks carry many diseases, rocky mountain spotted fever and lyme disease to name a few, plus these little critters can also cause many infections, headaches, etc.
photo from http://www.tickinfo.com

You might not would think mosquitoes would cause any danger, but these little vampires can transmit diseases and West Nile Virus.

photo from http://www.mosquitobarrier.com/