Noises, noises, noises

When my children were young, I read to them a lot. One semi-favorite was called Noises, Noises, Noises, I believe. It was about an elderly couple. He complained about all the noises while she told him the solution was to eat his roast beef and wear his mittens.

Not a very interesting premise, but I could not help but think of that book while doing yoga on the deck last weekend. There were the manmade noises - airplanes and a medical helicoptor overhead, motorcycles and other traffic, the air conditioner cycling on and off, lawn mowers - and natural noises - the wind in the trees, birds (especially a wren and a hawk), Clio panting in the sun, and CICADAS in JUNE.

I have not seen any June bugs, but there is a plethora of Japanese beetles this year. The good news is they seem to be limiting their damage to the Virginia creeper. The vine is all volunteer and tolerated for its fall color. I'm not sure there will be anything left to turn red come autumn, though.

What eats Japanese beetles? According to the Web, birds like starlings, grackles, crows, robins, catbirds, cardinals, and meadowlarks. Also insects like spiders, assassin bugs, and predatory stink bugs. I wish they would come dine in my yard.

Something is skeletizing the leaves on the 'Perfect Purple' flowering crabapple as well. One online source suggests that this is caused by the apple-and-thorn skeletonizer, a.k.a. Choreutis pariana. The Midwest is not one of its usual territories, however. I may take some samples into the co-operative office and see what they say.

When I take the time to just sit and observe my yard, I see goldfinch in the beebalm and coneflower, hummingbirds tasting nectar from the blossoms on the penstemon and honeysuckle vine, young sparrows trying oh-so-hard to fly, rabbits hiding in the northern sea oats. Not very many butterflies, but for some reason dragonflies. Go figure.