• Thursday-What'sUP July 17 - 09:27 pm

This chubby little bumblebee was captured by Donna MacIntosh, while he was busy with what looks like chive blossoms. These blooms aren't just pretty, they are edible too and you can make a mild chivey-oniony tasting vinaigrette with the flowers and vinegar. The flowers normally bloom in the spring, but if you pick them off, they bloom again in June or July. Pretty flowers for the bumblebees to spend time buzzing from one colorful orb to another.

The second shot is from Ken Scheibach and is a Mourning Cloak Butterfly, with wings that look like velvet. These beauties live for 10 to 11 months and are probably North America's longest living butterflies.

There are so many winged insects here in the U.P., some that bite and annoy us, and others that are a pleasure to observe. It's the lazy days of summer, so take some time to enjoy the beauty of nature.

Good morning!

Excellent photos!

Beautiful colors!

C-D-B

Gary H...........for us who don't speak computerese.......C-D-B.....?

see dee bee

Thanks RD, I just having some fun

B-U-T-US!!!!!

Great pics! (SEE WHAT YOU STARTED GARY!)

Both look good, the bee can stay in a picture though. I have become bug food again I have bites from Mosquitos, black flies, biting flies and one tick. The tick decided I was a bad host and was easy to come off he didn't like that Sauna to Superior stunt I pulled.

I C D B. U C D B 2? O K

I use the chive flowers to decorate deviled eggs. They taste like onions...so it's not only pretty, but delicious too!

Hi
This is not related to the bee or butterfly, but in line with the 1-letter communication. Near a research submersible, where the crew stayed down all day with no bathroom breaks, there was a sign with the following warning: PB4UGO

Gr-8 butterfly link, Mary. It helped me identify a butterfly photo I took yesterday. Thanks.

Nice to see flowers in shades of blue. Not too many in that color. Speaking of ticks, how are they this year? I saw a horrifying documentary last night on the National Geographis channel about the ticks that are plagueing moose.

I got this in an e-mail...I hope it works
A School Nurse has written the info below -- good enough to share -- And
it really works!! I had a pediatrician tell me what she believes is the
best way to remove a tick. This is great, because it works in those
places where it's sometimes difficult to get to with tweezers: between
toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, etc. Apply a glob of
liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton
ball and let it stay on the repulsive insect for a few seconds (15-20),
after which the tick will come out on it's own and be stuck to the
cotton ball when you lift it away. This technique has worked every time
I've used it (and that was frequently), and it's much less traumatic for
the patient and easier for me. Unless someone is allergic to soap, I
can't see that this would be damaging in any way. I even had my doctor's
wife call me for advice because she had one stuck to her back and she
couldn't reach i t with tweezers. She used this method and immediately
called me back to say, "It worked!" Please pass on: everyone needs this
helpful hint.

OOOOPS.....sorry , it's just an urban legend...not true. Sorry

Tom -- yes, that's a very bad idea for dealing with ticks. Anything that changes the atmosphere for the tick (including soap, shampoo, hydrogen peroxide, etc.) can cause it to "vomit", which increases your chances of catching Lyme Disease or another infection.

The best way to pull out a tick is to grasp it with tweezers right where its head is embedded in your skin. Slowly wiggle it around until it comes out -- GENTLY.

Well DUH, wake up Kay! A 5 year old should have figured that one out! Guess I won't make it on that t.v. show, smarter than a 5th grader or whatever. The giggle's on me! :O>)

Tom & D Clark, just read your posts. We had ocassion yesterday to try the soap on a cotton ball trick, well it didn't work for us, only made a slippery tick. Ended up of course pulling it out.

Here's a 'nuther tick removal tool: Tick Twister.

A few important things to consider about removing ticks (Click the About Tick TwisterŽ link on the above site) [Emphasis is mine.]:

---

Quote:

"There are two very important ways Tick TwisterŽ works:

1. The tick's body is not compressed while detaching it from the skin. Squeezing or crushing the body of the tick may force infective body fluids through the mouthparts and into the wound site.

1. The tick is rotated instead of pulled.
When ticks bite, they insert their long, central mouth-part (called the hypostome) into the skin. The hypostome is covered with sharp, backward-facing barbs (similar to a harpoon) which help keep the tick firmly attached while feeding. The twisting motion of the Tick TwisterŽ removes the tick while keeping the tick's mouth-parts intact. Pulling on a tick with ordinary tweezers can leave the mouth-parts embedded in the skin.

IMPORTANT: Contrary to popular belief - DO NOT apply substances such as petroleum jelly, finger nail polish, finger nail polish remover, repellents, pesticides, or a lighted match to the tick while it is attached. These materials are either ineffective, or worse, might agitate the tick and cause it to force more infective fluid into the wound site."

---

So..I guess the lighter fluid, match and ice pick idea is out then.

Sometimes its just to make you feel better, Tom. I stomped mine to death after I pulled it off, many little tick pieces when I was through.

My head is itchy all of a sudden....

Heat 'em till they pop!

I am in the process of moving back to Michigan from Tennessee and have lots of experience with ticks. In our semi-rural yard, between my wife and I, we averaged 2-3 lone star ticks per week from May-September which we would pull out with tweezers.

We kept a jar of rubbing alcohol to drown them in because they are hard to kill. I have been to Isle Royale eight times and never got a tick, but in the outskirts of Nashville, look out!

And here is what Dr. Oz says to do:

http://www.oprah.com/health/oz/oz_20070515_350_113.jhtml

C D E D B D WINGS

M R NOT WINGS

O S A R

L I B M R Bs

OK, I'll bite:

See the itty bitty wings

'Em are not wings

'ose are

WHAT??? I can't figure out the last line, it's too late and my brain already went to bed

See the itty bitty wings
them are not wings
oh, yes they are
Well I be, them are Bee's

I like close-ups of bees and butterflies on flowers.