bugged

 I had a surprise today, and not a good one

    I porch sat some plants for friend Sheri while she was away.

    She came to pick them up yesterday and as we walked down the sidewalk she looked at one of my coral bells and stopped.

    "What happened to this?" she asked.

    I was befuddled.  I swear the plants all looked great Thursday..  Today the plant looked half or all dead.

    Today I  went out to trim it back hoping the would save it.  But I noticed there were caterpillars on 5 of the 7 coral bells in front!

    Yes, they are pretty.  but they are destroying my coral bells.

    Seriously, there were dozens on 2 of the plants and just a few on the others.

    Not knowing what they were, I used Google to discover they are caterpillars of the white tussock moth, a very common moth.  While they may be pretty, the hairs have a resin that can cause minor skin irritations to humans.

    Remedies include using a tool to pick them off and put them in a bucket of water.  As many as I saw, on a day in the 90s, that was not going to happen.

    Another remedy was insecticidal soap.  It is no toxic and safe to use around animals.

    Thus at 5:30 I was heading to Ace.  Despite this being a common item, it was not there.  But we looked for 20 minutes or more.

    I next went to Runnings, walking in the store as their favorite customer of the day.

    "Sir, we close in 2 minutes." said the cheerful voice.  But I know how I would feel when someone came in 2 minutes before closing looking for a particular product.  They did not have it either, and I made it out of the store ion less than 2 minutes.

    Final stop was Walmart and. they had it.  I was totally shocked.

    Came home, put on some gloves per Emily's instruction, and sprayed the plants.  I will check tomorrow to see if there will be a need for a stronger deterrent.

    As much as I love the Cubs, I would not have wanted to be at today's game.  Sitting in a crowded park, on top of the person next to you, sweating like a porker, is not my idea of a fun time.  I imagine there are some sunburned fans. tonight.

    But they got to see win, and that is always good.

Peace and Love  ......especially peace tonight.