Fascinating

I confess that usually when I spot a cluster of Oleander Aphids on my milkweed I just squish them.  Left to their devices they can create so much honeydew that a nasty mildew builds up on the milkweed, rendering it inedible to the monarch caterpillars.  This late in the year, however, I let them be.  And today when I spotted this big group, I thought I'd take a few pics.  And then I proceeded to read up on them a bit - and that was ... fascinating!

Originally from the Mediterranean, no one is quite certain how they got here, but they are now well established,  Like most aphids, they are frequently tended to by ants who eat the honeydew they secrete.  But that's not the really interesting part!  For most of the summer, female aphids give birth by parthenogenesis (virgin birth) to live female nymphs which give birth to more live, female nymphs, and the multiple generations, having been produced asexually, are clones of Mom. From everything I have read, no males exist in the wild.  What I am not sure about is how they survive our winters.  More reading will be required...  I find it fascinating that they give live birth as I was not aware of any insects that did this - shows what I don't know.

Jax and I took a walk at lunchtime and ran into the FedEx guy who was delivering a box.  He stopped his truck and asked if he could meet Jax and give him a treat.  Jax couldn't wait to greet him but was way more interested in going inside the truck than he was in the dog treat - he explored the truck, inside and out.  And then ate his biscuit.  Later, we took him to Home Depot and he had a great time sniffing everything and practicing his sits for people.  He is such a friendly, happy dog.  

I did a bunch of digging in my garden while Jax watched over me from the deck, keeping an eye out for bears.  I'm going to have some sore muscles tomorrow but I got a lot accomplished.  The perimeter garden around our patio is getting a big makeover next spring so I had a bunch of big plants to dig up.  The phlox I planted years ago has spread with abandon and needs to be thinned so I still have a lot of work to do.  But one step at a time.  Some of the phlox I dug up will be rehomed, which is nice.  

I already got the results from yesterday's scans, which just confirmed the presence of a fibroid cyst.  I will be re-scanned in 3 months and if there have been no changes in the fibroid, it will just be a case of occasional monitoring.  Women my age don't typically grow new fibroids so the belief is that this has probably been there a while.  Easy enough.

Rain coming tomorrow - I can feel it in my sinuses.  I'm better than the Weather Channel at predicting rain.  

Dark with orange today.

xo
Debbi