Swinging crane fly

A crane fly got itself caught in a web this evening. This wasn't noteworthy by itself, as the spiders here often catch crane flies, but what made this catch funny was that the end of the web the crane fly was caught in wasn't attached to anything; as a result, the crane fly swung on the web as though it were a pendulum.

Fortunately for the crane fly, the spider who built the web was nowhere to be found. I used the time to cut the web and free the crane fly, who promptly started buzzing around the nearest light source. The crane fly will be safe provided that it doesn't fly into another web.

The fly in the room

Flies are experts at entering houses via small openings, such as a crack in the wall or a barely-open window. When it comes to getting out, however, flies seem to be incompetent at this, even when you open a door for them.

At the moment, there is a fly in my room, who has been buzzing around for the past two hours. While my door is open and the window it came in from is also open, it can't or won't fly out despite it wanting to leave. It has this odd obsession with flying around the light as though it's a moth.

I'm not sure how to persuade the fly to go in the direction of the window or the door; I don't particularly want it flying around all night keeping me awake nor do I want it to become meal for one of the spiders who lives in my room.

The spiders

This summer has been friendly to spiders. I have never seen so many around the house before; mostly they hang around in the ceiling corners to catch bugs and procreate with other spiders. What they don't appear to have been doing is catch the flies, who have also been having a good summer; nearly every day a couple of flies buzz around the house and are generally pests. Since there aren't screens in windows here, they fly in all the time through them.

Wasp on the bus

So I'm sat at the back of the bus, listening to my music through my earbuds and minding my own business when this wasp showed up and decided it would not only buzz near me but also land on my shoulder. I stood up and brushed it away...only for it to land on my shoulder again. Rinse, repeat. The only person at the back of the bus is a guy also listening to earbuds, who's wary of the wasp, too. I ask him if it's gone and he points to my shoulder.

This time, I jump up and move seats completely. The guy and I watched the wasp as it flew near to a window and then disappeared. At this point, a man with his two young daughters boarded the bus and they all sat at the back, behind me and the guy. And who should make a re-appearance?

The wasp is back! This resulted in some minor chaos as the two girls panicked about the wasp as their father tried to contain the insect somehow. By now, I had to leave the bus and don't know what ultimately happened beyond the fact that one of the girls jumped into my previous seat once I stood up.

When I told my grandfather this evening about the wasp, he said the one thing that's worse is being the driver and not being able to get away from an insect that stings. We on the bus would have been in trouble if the driver was being stung!

Peacock butterfly

A peacock butterfly somehow got itself trapped in our recycling bin; fortunately, my brother rescued the butterfly by fishing it out with a stick; he had to use a stick because butterflies are too delicate to be touched by human hands. Upon entering the sunlight, the butterfly spread its wings:

The butterfly remained perched on this stick for about five minutes while its wings warmed up. It then flew off the stick and landed on the ground:

By doing so, the butterfly allowed me to take a few more pictures of it, this time from above it rather than to its side. After this brief rest on the ground, the butterfly flew away.

My brother and I are fortunate to have had this chance to see such a beautiful butterfly up close; we are also glad that we were outside at the time it needed rescuing.

Moth vs. Spider

There is a spider that lives in the bathtub; last night, that spider was disturbed by a large moth that had flown into the bathroom. For some bizarre reason, the moth thought it would be a great idea to fly around and land on the spider's home in the tub, which annoyed the spider and caused it to attack the moth.

It was an interesting fight: until last night, I had never observed a spider engage in combat with another creature. The spider appeared to be defending itself rather than trying to eat the moth; in the end, I assume that the moth flew away from the spider and out of the bathroom, as there was no evidence of the moth in the morning.

As for why there is a spider living in the bathtub, we prefer to shower and there is no shower in the tub. The spider is not at risk of being washed away.

Window screens (2)

I've complained about this before, but summers here in the United Kingdom would really be much more comfortable if we had screens in the windows. Having to evict flies and spiders is annoying, as is having moths land on your arms; having one's window near a large bush filled with wasps and bees isn't any better, either.

I know this is minor compared to other problems in the world, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't open windows in summer because of spiders and insects coming into the house. I'm also sure that a few heat-related deaths in summer caused by closed windows could be prevented if windows had screens.

The main reason that most houses here don't have screens is because the windows are pushed out when they are open, whereas American windows slide upwards. Unfortunately, new houses continue to be built with push-out windows and most people here probably won't be convinced to switch to a type that slides.

Spiders and insects

It used to be the case that whenever an insect or a spider came into the house, I would kill it (especially the latter). As far as I was concerned, they were unwelcome inside and my only way to deal with them was to kill them. In recent years, however, I have changed from killing insects and spiders that come into the house to catching them in a glass and releasing them outside.

Why the change? The main reason is because I didn't like that I was killing innocent creatures. Insects and spiders come into the house in search of food or warmth, not because they are intentionally trying to hurt me or anyone else. In fact, I don't think they've ever harmed me in the comfort of my house! Believe it or not, I felt bad about what I had done to members of their respective species'.

The second reason was because, before we left Oregon, there was a spider living in my brother's room behind his bookcase. It had been there for a long time and we had given it a name, although it's doubtful that it knew or cared about that. No, the spider just kept to itself and caught flies; it didn't bother us and we didn't bother it.

For these reasons, I now make the effort to rescue and release these beings rather than kill them. They have every right to exist as we do and they shouldn't be needlessly slaughtered for what they are.

Rose and fly

The yellow roses in the back yard are in bloom again:

This rose was once afflicted with blackspot, but since Mum cut the plant down to a stump it has grown back without the infection. The leaves now look fresh and healthy. The rose has a beautiful scent!

There is a fly present on the rose. This is the only picture in which the fly is featured: when I focused the camera during the second shot, the fly flew off the rose to start bugging me (I was wearing a yellow shirt).

The cold continues

I am still sick with the cold I wrote about three days ago. I no longer have the sore throat, but I've been experiencing nose troubles and painful coughs. I have been fortunate that I haven't had much to do this week other than some research.

As I keep telling myself, though, I'm glad that I've been sick this week rather than last: it would have been awful to have had this cold while at my interview or at any other time during my recent stay with my grandparents.

On an unrelated note, in the past half an hour my brother and I spent several minutes evicting an enormous fly from the house. In the past week, flies have become extremely common around the neighbourhood but all of them - except for this one - have been normal-sized flies. This one was huge! While I had a glass ready to use to catch it, my brother was able to guide it out of an open window.

Weevil loaf

A few days ago, I wrote about the loaf the breadmaker created with expired bread mix, causing the loaf to never rise. While the loaf was fairly dense and difficult to chew, it was nonetheless edible. At least we were able to make a loaf out of that bread mix and it wasn't wasted.

Yesterday, Mum decided to use the freshest packet of bread mix; she was surprised to find it filled with weevils feasting on the contents. Mum ended up disposing of the mix, given that it was unusable; fortunately, none of the other packs were contaminated. Think of the irony! The old and expired pack still gave us a loaf while the newest was infested.

As for the flat loaf, Mum turned it into breadcrumbs. It will be ideal for when we next make burgers or meatloaf.

The fly

My mother spotted this large fly outside a window:

The fly creeped her out, as it was huge compared to regular house flies; however, what fascinated me and my brother about the fly was its behaviour. While we were unsure exactly what it was doing, it appeared to be cleaning itself, as it was scraping its forward and back legs over its body as though it were removing bits of detritus. It seemed uninterested in anything else and only flew away when it finished.

Bee in Coventry

Dad, my brother and I were all in Coventry yesterday afternoon. Dad and my brother took several pictures while we were all there; one picture was this:

A bee, or rather, a bumblebee, as my brother reckoned it was. It's probably the only bee that has ever "posed" for a picture rather than fly away! My brother obtained three pictures of this bee.

I like how "Bee in Coventry" rhymes, too.

The moth on the light

I photographed this moth on my bedroom's lamp shade last night:

It was somewhat of a delight for this moth to take up temporary residence in my room (I don't mind moths); however, before I went to bed, I carefully trapped the moth in a glass, as to not harm the creature, to let it outside. I attempted to let it outside but it decided it was more comfortable inside the glass; I left the glass near an open window and the moth flew outside sometime during the night.

If you glance at the first two pictures or look at them out of the corners of your eyes, the moth looks more like a bat than a moth.

The butterfly on the ash

About a week ago, I photographed this butterfly resting on an ash pile:

The butterly did spread its wings when on the ash pile but it was only for a couple of seconds while my main camera was previewing a picture I had just taken. The pile itself is located in a nearby park.

The fly up close

Flowers are a delight to photograph; not only for their beauty, but also for how other forms of life use them. I was pleased to make these two captures of a fly on a daffodil:

The fly attended its business for around a minute before it flew away, which was more than enough time for me to photograph it. Its rare to receive the chance to take pictures of insects on flowers: they usually fly away when I'm as close to them as I was when I took these.

Short Stories: The Demotion - Part 2

With the past week having been one of the worst in his adult life, Todd was relieved that the weekend had arrived and felt that sleeping in until midday was the best way to recover from the last few days; he could be registering as unemployed next week, so why not relax? He'd have ample opportunity to start searching for a new job then.

When Todd finally extracted himself from his bed, he ate a late breakfast and then went on his routine Saturday walk, which would allow him to clear his head and contemplate how to proceed. A part of Todd was tempted to stroll to his workplace, crash open the doors and announce his resignation by bellowing at the company president; fortunately, the idea exited his mind as quickly as it had entered because such a course of action would undoubtedly harm his prospects of obtaining another job. He also cared too deeply about the company and the work he'd done for it to resort to such an overreaction.

After walking for half an hour, Todd sat down to rest on a bench by a fountain. He mulled over the pros and cons of leaving his job versus staying: if he left, he'd be free to work somewhere else — with an unblemished record — and develop a new circle of friends. However, job-seeking was often a long and arduous process...not at all something that warmed him to the idea of quitting; if he stayed, he wouldn't have to worry about that, but the problem of rejection by former colleagues and an unhealthy work environment would remain.

Todd was still thinking about his options when he moved his eyes away from the fountain towards a patch of dirt near the bench, where he noticed an ant nest. He gazed blankly at the ants as they marched in their usual ant style until one of them caught his eye: it was trying to carry an insect larger than itself...without success. All the other ants walked past it, too busy with their own work to lend a hand, but the ant refused to yield, continuing to try to lift the bigger insect over its own head. Several minutes passed, and the ant succeeded in raising the large load over itself, allowing it to return it to the colony — the persistence paid off.

Something in Todd's mind clicked and he sprang up from the bench in an instant. He thought to himself why the current troubles in his job were nothing he couldn't overcome: he did have a chance for redemption. He remembered how at the time of his demotion he had been labelled a "valuable member"; if his superiors had believed he could not contribute to the company any further he would have been terminated. As for the attitude of his former colleagues, the new project which Todd was now assigned to would allow him to develop a different circle of friends. His decision was made.

When Monday morning came, Todd walked into work with renewed energy and determination. A small yet defiant smile formed on his face as he entered the building. Could his situation deteriorate further? Possibly, but provided that he worked hard and persisted — just as the ant did — the only direction he could travel in the company was up.

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I hope this was a satisfying conclusion to The Demotion. I'm not completely pleased with it myself because I don't think it quite has the momentum of the first part, and I'm worried that I ended up adding the clutter I wanted to keep out, but as I said before, this writing is experimental, and if my readers are satisfied I'll be happy. It was a challenge writing this without speech or written thoughts!

I also hope that the ant analogy worked; it might seem ludicrous, but in my experience, a small thing — even something as tiny as an ant — can influence a decision, and so I thought that it would be worthwhile using it to push Todd into making his choice. I needed something to act as a tiebreaker for Todd's decision that wasn't speech or thoughts. I think it makes an interesting twist.

Let me know what you think; constructive crticism will be appreciated if provided!

The large caterpillar

Dad noticed this large green caterpillar on our driveway this afternoon; it's the largest caterpillar he has ever observed in the United Kingdom:

After some research, Dad thinks this is a caterpillar for an Eyed Hawk-Moth, as they were the only British moth species he could find with caterpillars this big. It's been a long time since we last saw a caterpillar this size!

Window screens

While I am pleased to have sunny weather again, there is one thing I wish our house...and others, had in the absence of air conditioning: window screens.

Before we moved back to the United Kingdom I knew that summer here would probably be more uncomfortable at times as the vast majority of houses do not have air conditioning. I didn't expect for the windows to not have any sort of screens in them to protect against insects coming inside: there are few things worse than it being a hot day, you're in a hot room, there is a breeze outside, but the room's windows open out onto bushes where bumblebees and wasps like to hang out.

Fortunately, I'm not the only one with this view: my parents and brother agree that the windows should have screens in them, as does one of my cousins. My cousin is often hot at night in summer but if he opens his window the neighbourhood cats enter his room and disturb him.

Not that I want to moan about the weather here...after all, we've had rain for nearly the entire summer so far! It would just be good if more houses here had screens in their windows.

Bee cluster video

I did shoot a few videos of the bee swarm in our front yard, here is one of them; it is not very long, but it shows the cluster as it was close to completing its formation: