Blackflies, fallen tree, LDD

The blackflies and mosquitoes continue... my arms are a mess. You'll read why. I have blistery boils on both my arms. 

I happened to have taken a photo of this tree in March, down in the wetland. It was quite holey!

Lo, and behold, it finally fell over. I fought the bugs, and hauled it out of the way. We've blackflies, as well as mosquitoes. They are wicked biters. I should have gone back to the house for long sleeves. You don't notice them landing, unlike mosquitoes.

Happily, it did not take out the two lady slippers that are in bloom just beyond (in the sunny spot on the left, below).

Have you ever frozen a milk bag? We had extra milk last time when the girls were here. We put it in the milk container and I noticed it was leaking Thursday. Plan B: the blender. Thing was I had to put it out overnight, as it didn't fit into our fridge. It was still there in the morning. This is the morning. We had frost overnight.

Yes, FROST. I thought to bring the cherry tomatoes, but didn't think to cover the squash. They are a wilted mess.

The goldfish are good. They've been joined by two leopard frogs, who seem fine in the sun.

The monarchs have arrived! I saw my first on Saturday. I was examining this milkweed plant. I'm wondering if I should just remove this plant, as it is right on the sidewalk, and will get smucked eventually!

I looked at said milkweed, and realized there was a Lymantria dispar dispar (LDD) moth caterpillars, otherwise known as European gypsy moth caterpillars, on it. ("Gypsy" is politically incorrect, as it is considered a pejorative term. Gypsies, known as Romani or Roma, were called such, as Europeans thought they came from Egypt.)

Some of them have made it to 15 mm, and a couple more intars to go until they reach 38 – 50 mm. They have reached the stage where they have the red dots, and are clearly identified as LDD. (Not that I had any doubt! They are 'flying' all around and under the trees on their gossamer thread. 

They are on the elm trees in the meadow, we'll see how that goes.