UGH! Are those flying ants!?? They were all over my garden and on my lawn!
Hundreds of them! Carpenter ants? Oh no! I stepped on as many as I could, but I'm sure I hardly made a dent. Most disturbing, one large batch was within five feet of my back door!
On the other hand, the tomatoes look like they might actually be starting to ripen!
Of course, the ones with the most color have also been eaten by critters already, or have some metabolic damage.
I didn't get too many flowers planted in the veg. garden this year (for beneficial insects), but those I did plant are only just now starting to bloom.
Okay - something is eating my apples. Here's a small pile collected under the Jonagold. There were more the day before - something ran off with them overnight.
But there! Do you see it? It's not just insects - something is taking BITES out of the apples while still in the tree!
Okay, Ellen...calm down. Who could the culprits be? Deer? Bears? Squirrels? Crows?
The bears are certainly out eating the apples, but not in my yard (no damage to the fence since spring).
Deer might be, but they don't have the right kind of teeth to do this kind of damage.
Squirrels? Maybe - I'm sure they are around and they must know when the dog is trapped inside.
Crows? HM. I've seen them fly off with dropped apples from the yard.
Well, all I can do is hope that some of the apples are left alone and ripen enough for me to eat them.
I was all excited last week to see I actually had a northern spy on the spy tree - I didn't think I had any this year. When I took these photos, though, a day or two later, it was gone. GONE!
LEAVE MY APPLES ALONE!!!
Nah - one really should wait for cooler weather, but I did pull the really big ones. Don't want 'em to get too tough and woody. Most will be small - I never got around to thinning them this year.
Hundreds of them! Carpenter ants? Oh no! I stepped on as many as I could, but I'm sure I hardly made a dent. Most disturbing, one large batch was within five feet of my back door!
Of course, the ones with the most color have also been eaten by critters already, or have some metabolic damage.
But there! Do you see it? It's not just insects - something is taking BITES out of the apples while still in the tree!
Okay, Ellen...calm down. Who could the culprits be? Deer? Bears? Squirrels? Crows? 
Well, all I can do is hope that some of the apples are left alone and ripen enough for me to eat them.
