A super breed

First thing, I am very happy to report that the mouse droppings on the counter were not actually mouse droppings. We suspect they belong to a bug, which, if true, is a pretty big bug. But that is better than mice, right? But now that we don't have mice, I would really appreciate it if Cricket stopped using my hosta garden as a litter box. Yuck.

As I opened the door to go work on my sweet little hosta garden this morning, I was passed by a huge black blur flying into my house. I looked and couldn't see anything, but sure enough, as I was trimming my roses, I saw the bug in the window. The BIG bug. I hate big bugs. I have experience with big, nasty bugs, and I can't say it is high on my list of fun experiences I care to repeat. (Sarah, doesn't the yard look so different in those pictures?!)

Anyway, so there I was taking pictures of the big, nasty bug when he makes a quick move towards me. ACK! I jump, trip on a shoe, and my knee goes berserk. Crud. I go in to look at the pictures only to discover the memory stick wasn't even in the camera. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I put in the stick and get the guts to go back out there. Here are the pictures and video:

Yes, that is Odie parked in the street. I'm still working up the nerve to park in the driveway again after poor Odie's last experience. Anyway, the bug finally flew onto the screen of the open window. I decided to take that opportunity to shut the window and trap the bug inside the window. I was hoping it didn't die in one of my shoes, ya know? Plus, it made picture taking much less nerve-wracking. :o) I took my pictures and went inside to blog. And what do I see? The bug is on my front door. ACK! How in the world did it get out of the window?! Sure it is a big, gaping, nasty old window, but still! I had a breed of super-intelligent wasp on my hands! But 30 minutes later, it was back in the window. Okay, maybe it was actually a stupid bug for going back in the window. But then I watch in horror as it went straight for the gap in the window. Darn, super-intelligent it is. I was really hoping for stupid. Looks like I won't be going out today!

The beast

Okay, so today I got some video of the cicada killer wasp. He was taking a cicada into his hole when we got back from the Y today. I couldn't find my camera and by the time I got back, I couldn't see the cicada anymore. I'm not sure if this is the same wasp or another one. Ugh. Another one. Ugh.

Enjoy the videos and listening to me freak out. :)

This is the side yard that we haven't worked on yet. It has been a dumping ground for all of our construction materials, bricks, dirt, rocks, etc. We hope to work on it the end of August. You can see the fence in the back.
Lovely isn't it. The dirt mound is where the wasps live. Ugh. I told Brad that finishing the side yard just moved up on my priority list.
A diagram of the lot. The circle in the bottom corner is the hosta garden and the one next to the house is the circle garden with the plants. Somewhere I have a diagram that includes the retaining walls and sidewalks, but I don't know where it is right now. The part I shaded at the top is what the above pictures are taken from.

In other news, did anyone catch Stephenie Meyer's signing broadcast last night? I stayed up late to watch it and it was FABULOUS! Let me know if you did so we can chat about it. And if you read the Meridian article with letters to the Editor about it, let me know too. I just have to say that wow, some people are really against it. Won't even read it because it is so evil. Alrighty then.

Scary!

Okay, this freaky looking bug has made a home next to my driveway and it FREAKS ME OUT! Today I saw it dragging a cicada into its hole. I couldn't ever get a picture on camera, because it appears to be camera shy. I'm going to keep trying. FREAKY!

Here is a link to some pictures. The thing is massive. Massive. It looks like a wasp, but it is the size of my thumb! Ugh!

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=cicada%20killer%20wasps&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi