COLD DARK ROOM

Maro2Bear

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For what I can see, the crab in the front is going to be a dirty bottom crab and full of meat and fat. Love that crab fat in the corners of the shell and my wife won't eat it, no problem more for me. Always look fot them dirty bottom crab, not them new white bottom crabs with no meat!

You’re right Warren. That one was the fattest & had a lot of that visible fat. This time of year they are feeding heavily. We were mostly hand-lining, so missed a few large ones. Caught & released a lot that were just short of 5 1/4 inches.

The best “catch” was the MD Diamondback Turtle, maybe a foot long, that we pulled up in one of our net traps. It escaped pretty quickly once on the dock = no pix! We did see a handful of DB turtles surfacing and floating about.
 

Warren

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You’re right Warren. That one was the fattest & had a lot of that visible fat. This time of year they are feeding heavily. We were mostly hand-lining, so missed a few large ones. Caught & released a lot that were just short of 5 1/4 inches.

The best “catch” was the MD Diamondback Turtle, maybe a foot long, that we pulled up in one of our net traps. It escaped pretty quickly once on the dock = no pix! We did see a handful of DB turtles surfacing and floating about.
Glad to hear that the Diamondback was released.
 

Warren

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Me and my wife were going to go and visit the animals at the MD State Fair, but after shopping at Walmart this Morning. I have decided to stay home. Had enough excitement today dealing with the " PEOPLE OF WALMART"!!!
 

Maro2Bear

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Me and my wife were going to go and visit the animals at the MD State Fair, but after shopping at Walmart this Morning. I have decided to stay home. Had enough excitement today dealing with the " PEOPLE OF WALMART"!!!

Lots of people out & about. 🤷‍♂️ Holiday weekend….time to honker down.
 

Cathie G

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No, not at all. “Bag Worms” are those caterpillars that make small camouflaged cocoons and attach pine needles to their cocoon. Only about one to two inches and are single cocoons. They are found mostly on arborvitae type conifer trees.

View attachment 349492


Lots of info here from Clary Gardens

Of course I had to go googleling 😊 and found that to be true. One year in the 90's there was a really crazy year here in Ohio with a large outbreak of probably the eastern tent caterpillar. Everyone was calling them bagworms and recommended cutting off the limbs and burning all of it. But there was so many you'd have had to cut back limbs on most of the trees. The caterpillars were pretty gross later in the fall and everywhere I walked in my yard was crunchy but it would have been impossible to eradicate thank God. Later that year we had a really hard winter and I watched the birds clean up every scrap of the tents and debris left. They even ate the tents. The trees came back just fine and ready to go another year ☺️
 

Lyn W

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Ok…..Just going to help Mr Jeff out here & correct the record in our highly scientific and true to form CDR. Our eastern tent caterpillars are not the same as the gypsy moth nasties. I’m guessing you are MOSTLY seeing the nasty tent caterpillars.

Is a tent worm a gypsy moth?
While Easter tent caterpillars weave intricate tents (as the name implies), gypsy moths do not. If you see tents in your trees, they don't belong to gypsy moths. Even though the webs of Eastern tent caterpillars may not add aesthetically to your yard, these insects rarely cause major damage.



Here are some tent caterpillars & their nests i saw last week paddling…they really ruin the foliage! Tree = Black Walnut

View attachment 349488

View attachment 349489
Never seen anything like that over here - but there could be.
 

Lyn W

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Of course I had to go googleling 😊 and found that to be true. One year in the 90's there was a really crazy year here in Ohio with a large outbreak of probably the eastern tent caterpillar. Everyone was calling them bagworms and recommended cutting off the limbs and burning all of it. But there was so many you'd have had to cut back limbs on most of the trees. The caterpillars were pretty gross later in the fall and everywhere I walked in my yard was crunchy but it would have been impossible to eradicate thank God. Later that year we had a really hard winter and I watched the birds clean up every scrap of the tents and debris left. They even ate the tents. The trees came back just fine and ready to go another year ☺️
My caterpillars have disappeared. It's too early for them to drop off the tree and find soil to pupate in so I think the local bluetits may have found them - there's been a few of hanging around looking podgy!!!
 

jaizei

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Of course I had to go googleling 😊 and found that to be true. One year in the 90's there was a really crazy year here in Ohio with a large outbreak of probably the eastern tent caterpillar. Everyone was calling them bagworms and recommended cutting off the limbs and burning all of it. But there was so many you'd have had to cut back limbs on most of the trees. The caterpillars were pretty gross later in the fall and everywhere I walked in my yard was crunchy but it would have been impossible to eradicate thank God. Later that year we had a really hard winter and I watched the birds clean up every scrap of the tents and debris left. They even ate the tents. The trees came back just fine and ready to go another year ☺️

If they completely enclosed the tree branches like one big web, it was more likely fall webworm. Tent caterpillars usually make smaller, separately defined webs where branches meet. The first time i remember seeing them was also in the mid 90s; everyone thought it was a new pestilence to destroy all the trees.
 

Cathie G

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If they completely enclosed the tree branches like one big web, it was more likely fall webworm. Tent caterpillars usually make smaller, separately defined webs where branches meet. The first time i remember seeing them was also in the mid 90s; everyone thought it was a new pestilence to destroy all the trees.
😁Oh no 🤪 more googleling! There was so many tents bags or whatever hanging in the tops of the trees and I can't remember all of the specifics. Except in the late summer maybe Autumn when the back yard became so crunchy yuck 🤮it was in the newspaper calling them bagworms so that's what everyone was a calling them including me. But I read a different story in a very old Audubon book I owned. It said that birds use them for winter food so... I got out of tree trimming 😊
 

jeff kushner

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Rambling...be forewarned!

Yeah, my bad on the gypsy's.... as reminded I remember the tape around the trees thing indicating they were ground based at some point, or was that Cicadas? Sounds like the Seven Plagues, doesn't it? LOL Thanks for squaring that up!

....well, hate to admit it but burning them from my Cheery tree felt pretty good......No, I removed the branch first!

It's funny though how we begin to remember things "differently".....Reason of course is that we get more and more on the biological hard drive.... Superman used to have Flash memory way ahead of his time! Used to......

Realized an interesting thing today.....I've talked about the Hawks here before and posted pics of them with prey. I thought they cruised though overhead and took an occasional Squirrel from the trees but I was wrong, there is one(at least) that actively hunts in the woods! I get home noonish and I have watched him all week long. Looks like the Red tail that was in my neighbors yard with prey last month. He is an amazing flyer......like a Hot Wheels car on rails as he knife-edges through the large Oak, Maples and Pine trees. I never realized that any big hawk was a "woods hunter", I just thought they were "wide open space" hunters! Some aren't! Took till 4PM but I learned my new thing for the day!


Kerry is still at school.....1st week, 12 hr and now a 13 hr day for her. For some reason, she wasn't bright and cheerful or her way home last night as she vented about Darrius....the little "jeffrey" in her class, the one that cannot sit or stand or lay, still.
I couldn't help but laugh....didn't help the overall situation but I give her a ton of slack this time of year.....it'll take till mid-Oct till she settles out for the year so to speak....it's cool, I know teachers and it takes a little extra support this time of year. It's 7pm here, I'll give her a call.....I woke at midnight so I'm getting ready for bed!


Have a good night guys and thanks for the pics

Oh, almost forgot.....how is Dental Boy???
 

Lyn W

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😁Oh no 🤪 more googleling! There was so many tents bags or whatever hanging in the tops of the trees and I can't remember all of the specifics. Except in the late summer maybe Autumn when the back yard became so crunchy yuck 🤮it was in the newspaper calling them bagworms so that's what everyone was a calling them including me. But I read a different story in a very old Audubon book I owned. It said that birds use them for winter food so... I got out of tree trimming 😊
Apparently we do have tent making caterpillars and I may have seen them and thought they were dense spider webs.
Our red admiral caterpillar makes a little tent to live in by folding leaves and up-sizes as he grows - pretty clever things really!
 

Lyn W

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Good morning all.
We had a sprinkling of rain in the night and looks like the weather is changing for something cooler (mid 60s F) and wetter - the rain dance worked and autumn has arrived!!! 💃🙌🎉
I hope you all have a good start to the weekend.
 

zolasmum

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Good morning all.
We had a sprinkling of rain in the night and looks like the weather is changing for something cooler (mid 60s F) and wetter - the rain dance worked and autumn has arrived!!! 💃🙌🎉
I hope you all have a good start to the weekend.
Congratulations on your successful rain dance - perhaps you could do one every day for a few weeks.2b1.jpg
This is normally a very pretty and full canal - with lush grass at the side, The poor birds (and fish) just don't know what to do.
Angie
 

Lyn W

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Congratulations on your successful rain dance - perhaps you could do one every day for a few weeks.View attachment 349523
This is normally a very pretty and full canal - with lush grass at the side, The poor birds (and fish) just don't know what to do.
Angie
Our local canal is dry too - very sad to see and terrible for the wildlife:(
It will take a good few months of steady rain for anything near normal to return.
 

Maro2Bear

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Rambling...be forewarned!

Yeah, my bad on the gypsy's.... as reminded I remember the tape around the trees thing indicating they were ground based at some point, or was that Cicadas? Sounds like the Seven Plagues, doesn't it? LOL Thanks for squaring that up!

....well, hate to admit it but burning them from my Cheery tree felt pretty good......No, I removed the branch first!

It's funny though how we begin to remember things "differently".....Reason of course is that we get more and more on the biological hard drive.... Superman used to have Flash memory way ahead of his time! Used to......

Realized an interesting thing today.....I've talked about the Hawks here before and posted pics of them with prey. I thought they cruised though overhead and took an occasional Squirrel from the trees but I was wrong, there is one(at least) that actively hunts in the woods! I get home noonish and I have watched him all week long. Looks like the Red tail that was in my neighbors yard with prey last month. He is an amazing flyer......like a Hot Wheels car on rails as he knife-edges through the large Oak, Maples and Pine trees. I never realized that any big hawk was a "woods hunter", I just thought they were "wide open space" hunters! Some aren't! Took till 4PM but I learned my new thing for the day!


Kerry is still at school.....1st week, 12 hr and now a 13 hr day for her. For some reason, she wasn't bright and cheerful or her way home last night as she vented about Darrius....the little "jeffrey" in her class, the one that cannot sit or stand or lay, still.
I couldn't help but laugh....didn't help the overall situation but I give her a ton of slack this time of year.....it'll take till mid-Oct till she settles out for the year so to speak....it's cool, I know teachers and it takes a little extra support this time of year. It's 7pm here, I'll give her a call.....I woke at midnight so I'm getting ready for bed!


Have a good night guys and thanks for the pics

Oh, almost forgot.....how is Dental Boy???


Yes Jeff, the tape around the tree was to entrap the gypsy moth caterpillars as they crawled up the tree trunks. I recall back in mid-70’s i guess when i still lived in Pennsylvania, the gypsy moth infestation was very bad. Many many acres of hard wood trees were defoliated a few years in a row. Eventually the State Forest ppl started flying aircraft & lots of spraying to save the forests.

Here’s an old pix of what was attempted on a small scale. The wide-spread spaying did the trick.

FCEC53C1-A264-4DCE-8019-5B2603F985E6.png
 

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