Not All Babies are Cute

Mark the day as I believe this may be my first photo ever of an Earwig.  Although I find most insects fascinating, I don't care for earwigs at all.  There's something about them that gives me shivers.  Maybe it's the way they slither out of freshly cut flowers just as you've set them out on the table in a nice vase...  Anyway, this is a juvenile/nymph (probably the third instar stage and a female if I am not mistaken) and it was just hanging out on some milkweed in my garden.  In their way, Common Earwigs are interesting in that they are omnivores, eating both plant matter and small arthropods.  They can do a fair amount of chewing damage on flowers and usually when I find them, I flick them off whatever they were feeding on. Which doesn't prevent them climbing right back on, I guess.  

I did an online strength and balance class this morning that I really enjoyed.  AARP has so many free zoom classes and I need to take more advantage of them.  

I made a quick trip to our local farm to buy some perennials and discovered , to my delight, that their strawberries are in so came home with a pint of beautiful vine ripened berries, picked this morning. The strawberry season is fairly short so I will take full advantage for the next few weeks/month.

I have found quite a few patches of poison ivy in my garden so I think tomorrow I will go out with rubber gloves, long sleeves, etc and try to eradicate it.  I have a relatively mild reaction to it, but hubs usually breaks out in a spectacular and uncomfortable rash so it's best to remove it.

Dark with cherries today.

xo
Debbi