quick walk - skeeter hell

kgd

kgd

Joined
Feb 28, 2007
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Took a walk in the local forest today. The mosquitoes are the worst yet for their numbers and aggressiveness. They quickly chased me out of the forest and into the prairie. Thats when the deer flies came a buzzing. Augh - the pest are really bad right now. So I kept on a hurried pace, stopping as little as I could. Enjoy the pics.

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Milkweed in flower....You know, I never noticed the milkweed flowers before. I'm always going around collecting up their seed pods for fluff. But the flowers are quite beautiful.

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This inchworm is pretending to be a stamen

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Beta enjoying the romp

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Today I decided to bring along the JK

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Back into the mosquito invested forest

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Check out these Mayapples

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So how do I know when they are ripe???

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Here are some apple - apples

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Finally some of those yummy black rasberries that Rupestris has been chomping down...

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Those photos are just so vibrant ... love that action shot of Beta :thumbup:
 
Ahw - I found the answer about the mayapple:

Edible: The ripe fruits are edible. CAUTION: Do not eat the fruit until it is ripe. Ripe fruits are yellow and soft. Unripe fruits are greenish and not soft. They are slightly poisonous when unripe: green fruits are strongly cathartic.
Click to expand...

The specimen I plucked was definitely of the cathartic variety ;)
 
Awesome pictures! Wow, the milkweed flowers really are beautiful. I wish the black raspberries would have been ripe before I left Illinois they sure look good now. Those apples will be really good later.

The skeeters are pretty bad already here too, have been for a month or so. I noticed that they had gotten really bad the other day when I was out back working with that new Breeden knife, they'll get even worse the next rain.

I can't wait to get up on the mountain this weekend...they're never that bad up there especially out near the bluffs. I notice the wild carrots are out good now, and I want to see what the blackberries are looking like, with as little rain as we have had I am not very hopeful.
 
Great post and pics K.

I went out today but the mosquitoes were brutal. I was worried that I'd inhaled a few just walking to my berry patch. I didn't stick around. They chased me away too.

A little wind would be nice.

I noticed the Sumac (staghorn?) had turned red as well. That pic is great.

Thanks for taking us with ya on your hike.

Chris
 
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Nice pics from my skeeter and fly less desk!:D That's a nice looking dog you got, friendly eyes.
 
Great pics, Ken. From talking to various friends and family across the country, it sounds like the skeeters are unusually fierce everywhere this year. I'm sure it has something to do with the approaching 2012 apocalypse.
 
Love the pics.

And I can SEE them!!!!

Yeah blood suckers of all types are getting down here too thanks to all the rain. I've had numerous bug bites and pulled two very well attached ticks off so far.
 
Nice pics Ken! Glad to see that someone managed to squeeze in some trail time on Canada Day! Those berries look awesome.

The mosquitoes around Blue Mountain have been crazy this year as well - particularly this last week. I was working in my shop on the weekend, and the belt sander drowned out the sound of the skeeters. When I went inside after an hour or so, I realized that I had been devoured. They went for the exposed skin around my face mask, my ears, and my elbows. One of them even bit through my shirt, the bugger.

Every year, a group of us heads up north for an extended weekend of fishing and relaxation. This has been going on for over a decade, and it has become a highly ritualized affair, complete with annual t-shirts with personalized slogans. A few years ago, I opted for this saying on mine:

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:D

All the best,

- Mike
 
Great pics Ken, I love the second one of Beta....classic !!!!

You can use the Staghorn Sumac,the fruit of sumacs can be collected, soaked and washed in cold water, strained, sweetened and made into a pink lemonade !
 
Must be nice to have enough water for mosquitos, we are so dry we can't find feed for the winter, and it isn't even time for first harvest. No grass+ no hay= no animals for winter. I'd take the buggers every day, but then again I grew up on a swamp so they don't bug me much.
 
CUTS LIKE A KRIS said:
Must be nice to have enough water for mosquitos, we are so dry we can't find feed for the winter, and it isn't even time for first harvest. No grass+ no hay= no animals for winter. I'd take the buggers every day, but then again I grew up on a swamp so they don't bug me much.
Click to expand...

One of the blessings of living on the Great Lakes, or within its watershed, is the water it provides. Eighteen percent of the worlds liquid freshwater is found within its basin. Our government and the U.S. have been sleepy to the issue of water and its true value. That is changing slowly but will become more and more important with time.
 
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