The Tiny Terminator

I first discovered these tiny little assassins at least 10 years ago when I found one in the garden, being all orange and stripy.  That same summer, I observed one take down prey (a fly roughly double its size).  His Latin name is Genus Pselliopus but you can just call him Sycamore Assassin Bug.  Assassin bugs, which can be found all over the world, are members of the True Bug family and lethal little predators who hunt in vegetation for something delicious to come along.  They then use that long "beak" to inject a liquifying agent (stop reading now if you are squeamish!) and then enjoy a nice slurpee.  When it comes to prey, they aren't particular and will take just about any invertebrate.  Gardeners consider them beneficial because they prey on so many caterpillars.  This one is a nymph, lacking the wings that he will have as an adult.  He was hanging out on some milkweed this morning so I relocated him (carefully, because I'm told that the liquifying agent is quite painful if injected into a human finger!)

I picked up my prescription this morning and talked to the pharmacist about any possible interactions with other drugs.  She cautioned me that it tends to have a lot of side effects, which isn't very reassuring, but that not everyone gets them (which made me feel marginally better).  I'm feeling a pretty high level of anxiety about starting on this, so I think I may wait a couple of days.  Meanwhile, I went over to the hospital this morning to have both feet x-rayed just to determine if there is any damage - quick and easy and I should get the results tonight or tomorrow.  

Hubs and I took Jax over to a nearby field for a sniffy walk at lunch time.  There aren't ever any dogs there, so I don't have to worry about him behaving like a jerk (dog, not Hubs).  The field is in the large state park near us so lots of wildlife which leave a lot of fun things for a dog to sniff.  He is now sound asleep (again, dog not Hubs).  Because of the current bear situation on the Lane, I think I may take him over to this field for walks for a while.  I ran into two of our neighbors this morning who told me that there is a 7th, larger bear around now, too.  Probably a male hoping to score.  

I tried the dark with coconut yesterday and it was delicious.  I may have another square today.

xo
Debbi