Have you seen any? We found one last weekend while cleaning the garage. He was almost naked. What kind of a winter would that indicate?
He was probably laid off from his job, and he has no clothes to wear. Poor thing. :D :D :D :D :D :D
(Sorry Wilma, that is just the mood that I am in today.)
Don't know about the Wooly Worms???? but we have had grubs and slugs on the back slab, not sure what that means???????
Jane
I have seen1 wooly worm, and he was all black. I think the "old wives" would say that it is going to be a bad winter. Also, I have never seen the squirrels working so hard to get all the acorns and walnuts put up. My "old hubby" said that also means a bad winter. Hope all the worms and squirrels are wrong!
I've seen several wooly worms lately and they have all been fully clothed in black.
I've seen one, and it was dark brown-black. Lots of butterflies and mantises. You're right, mayflower. Lots of busy squirrels. They're probably just as bewildered by the cool temps (mid-70s for highs) so early in the season as we are. Today's 90s will be tomorrow's 70s again. I just hope today wasn't the only Indian summer we're going to see.
There seems to be a shortage of nuts, too. My oak trees don't have any acorns that I can see. They are usually falling by this time. This might be a hard winter for the small animals.
I still have 2 hummingbirds...of course I still have lots of flowers in my hanging baskets. I do hope the little things don't stay around too long.
The squirrels are so busy laying away their winter supply of food, and I can't remember hearing so much "chatter" as I have this past week.
This afternoon we were sitting on the patio and there were at least 100 or more birds that came swooping in and landed on the utility wires south of the house. What a flurry they made. We did not know what kind they were, I wish we were more "bird knowledgeable" than what we are. But it seems that all of God's little creatures are preparing for the coming months.
We probably should be taking note of that.
OK, Jo, tomorrow let's go out and scurry around collecting nuts for winter use. But since I haven't seen any yet this fall it might be pretty slim pickings. The squirrels around here are carrying things but I can't see what or where they are getting it.
Wilma, do you promise to post pictures? :D
OH PLLLEEASE~~~~~~~~Pictures of Wilma and I "scurrying" ----- that is a stretch of the imagination, isn't it, Wilma?
I pick up the hedge balls that fall from this HUGE hedge tree in our back yard, and that is about the extent of "my scurrying".
Hopefully after the Wellness Center gets open, my scurrying may be a dream come true. I sure plan to give it my best shot, anyway.
What do you do with the hedge balls? Remember I am in Texas, grew up in Arizona so I have no idea what a hedge ball is.
(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj216/marshalette/title5.jpg)
The puckered, fluorescent green fruit of the Osage Orange Tree (Maclura pomifera) have many different names. They've been known to be called; hedgeballs, hedgeapples, monkey balls, osage orange, mock oranges, horse apples, brainfruit, and green brain. Just place the hedge ball in your cupboards, on the floor in your basement and garage, and around the outside of your house. Keeps bugs away.. Horses and cows like to eat them too..but sometimes they get lodged in their throat if they don't bite them in half..
The hedge balls drop from trees during August.
Contrary to belief..you CAN eat them too.. I have washed and scrubbed them.. sliced them and fried them like you do squash.. sprinkle with a bit of sugar and serve.. :)
Jo, my "scurrying" days are over. But I do enjoy the fall harvests of nature's food stuff. I just don't get to see a lot of it anymore.
Teresa, another thing the hedge balls are good for is food for the little animals. I have seen squirrels and rabbits nibbling on them. I used to think they were a nuisance, but even they serve a purpose.
Teresa, Guess I never gave any thought to people not ever seeing a hedge apple. We had my Viet Nam annual mini reunion at Flint Oak in July. One of our Corpsman was toting a hedge ball around and told me it was the biggest damn walnut he ever saw. I guess North Carolina doesn't have Osage Orange trees. :)
Believe it or not, I actually paid postage to ship hedgeballs back to my grandma one year (NW KS doesn't have hedge trees, either). She used it for keeping bugs out of her garage in the fall.
Funny... they DO look like green brains!
Back to the wooly worms. I have yet to see one. I walk every day my legs want to and have paid attention since this thread got started and if there are black wooly worms they aren't black enough for my eyes to see.
I have noticed that the spiders are spinning their webs to get all the flying bugs they can. Pretty sight when the sunlight shines through them.
I have used the Hedge Balls for ants......but had better luck with the "Tansy" and remember that when snow is on that the deer and most wild animals use it for a food source.
After all each tree and bush has an animal or something that uses it for a host plant. I think that is so fine.
Now, back outdoors to enjoy the rest of this day..
Where I grew up in central Illinois, we called them hedge apples. What we called horse apples came from horses, if you get my drift.
Judy, I too know that all things in nature have a purpose, even if we humans don't see or understand what it is.
We called them hedge apples as well. They were good for throwing at each other on my block. Ha, ha.
There are many, many very old Osage orange hedges just up the road here and it isn't fall until some of the local kids gather them up and line them in a row completely across the road so passing cars have to run over them. Splat! After you mentioned it I started looking for woolies too...not a one here yet either. The trees are starting to color up and we have skeins of geese overhead every day now.
I saw some on the highway when I was headed to Independence. BTW, the wildflowers are beautiful this fall, lots of sunflowers, goldenrod, asters, yarrow, a few late Queen Annes' Lace, the sumac is turning red, and the maples are turning yellow. Everything else is still green when it is usually brown from the heat. It's a pretty fall, no doubt about it! And the cornfields and the beanfields are so abundant looking, there should be a bumper crop! It's good to be alive! ;)
It's good to be alive!
I agree with that thought and even better is the eyes and the HEART to see HIS world.!
God is Good!
Ms Bear, they have Hedge Trees in Texas but in Texas they are called Bodark Trees. The wood makes beautiful Lamps and other wood items.
Another use for hedge apples, that I hesitate to mention here because of the teenagers that participate, is the truckloads that come to town on Halloween.
I thought I had heard another name for them. I haven't seen any of them here where I am at.
I have seen a few black wooly worms but only in one place right up the street from where I live. Don't know why I am not seeing them anywhere else. Maybe if I drove that slow on other roads?
Wichita seems to have wooly worms. I have seen quite a few.
Hedge....years ago at Arkalalah in Ark City at the craft show; a couple had painted Santa Claus on hedge. They had all different Santa's from all over the world. Very unusual. Have not seen it anywhere since.
My horse, Chief, loved hedge apples. He could pick one up and not miss his stride. Never choked either but he would eat a dried leaf. We always called him our Easy Keeper.