h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

First the good news: An actual butterfly visited my yard today . As is true of almost all butterflies, this one moved pretty fast, so I couldn't get close enough to figure out what kind it was. Maybe it was scoping out the premises. If it's a Monarch, it probably smelled the 12 milkweed plants in my yard. All of my milkweed is in its first or second year, which makes it too small to be of any use to a nectar-hungry butterfly. A mother butterfly with lots of eggs to lay might figure that the leaves wouldn't be enough to feed her young. Ah, well. Tomorrow's another day.

You can tell, form the subject line, that there is also some very bad news, though it could have been much worse. There's a mother woodchuck in the Park. She has six babies. She also has (or had, as she has been euthanized, along with three of her babies). The remaining three little woodchucks are being sought by means of traps.

As far as I know, no humans were bitten by these animals. I asked the Animal Control people if the woodchucks might have bitten any of the local rabbits. She doubted it very much. Rabbits are much faster than woodchucks, and they are skittish about being approached by non-rabbits.

I should have reread my post before clicking. The mother also had rabies.

I know where some of the Park's woodchuck burrows are, but no one could tell me which one contained the rabid animal.

Yesterday evening, I counted four rabbits as I walked around the Park.
I teased them by following them as they ran. I encouraged them to run for cover, as it is not good for such animals to be too visible. There might be predators around, or demented H2g2 researchers.

Woodchucks are confined to moving around on (and in) terra firma at least. Rabid butterflies would be a greater concern.

Seriously though, I understand your concern. Rabies is no walk in the park (no pun intended). Only good to be said about it is you can only catch it once Or so I'm told anyway.
Any chance of getting vaccinated before it is too late?

I would rather wait, hoping I don't get bitten.

I would probably get one. But the risk is so small here it is not even measurable.
The only side effects of a vaccination can be redness, swelling and soreness at the injection site as well as headache, general malaise and fever.
But those will pass and you don't even have to get any of these.
On the other hand the good news is that you will be protected for the rest of your life.
Consider that there is no cure whatsoever and one dies a slow and very painful death.

But hopefully your local authorities know what to do and if they don't recommend vaccinations I guess it's okay.

May 5 was Annual World Naked Gardening Day, and I missed it.

In the Northern Hemisphere, May 5 is apt to be a bit chilly. In the Southern hemisphere, it's comparable to our November 5, which would hardly be much warmer, if that. In the tropics, it's as good a time as any other for being outside in the buff.

Yesterday it got into the nineties here. In the early evening, I spread my beach out on the back lawn, and sat there reading.
I was surrounded by the scent of wild roses and yarrow, and potted petunias. I like Spring and Summer because the air just plains smells nice.

the down side is that I have to spray rabbit-repellent here and there. Some of it smells minty, which is nice, but another brand smells like rotten eggs.

I've learnt something, I thought it was only s or s that "had" rabies ?

Oh no, rabies is found in dogs, raccoons, cats, monkeys or foxes as well as some bats.

It is estimated that between 35,000 and 40,000 people die of rabies each year. Most in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia

Any mammal can carry rabies (except, I seem to recall, opossums).

Many years ago, after a huge snowstorm, I saw a possum walking down my street. Haven't seen any since, though I recall that one may have tried to claw its way into the underside of my house (it failed).

Yesterday, my neighbor told me that he had seen a woodchuck eating leaves off the branches of his mulberry tree.

I will have to get some woodchuck-repellent. Hopefully it will not smell like rotten eggs .

This journal seems to need updating.

No further indication of woodchucks.

The bunnies have enough clover to eat now; they now longer seem interested in much else.

The Shasta daisies are starting to wind down. The daylilies and Coreopsis are in the middle of their bloom period. The Coneflowers are just starting what will likely be a long bloom period, and some of the early Black-eyed Susans are coming out.

Next, in a week or two, my perennial sunflowers will start blossoming. A little while after them, the first of the asters will bloom.

After the asters have been blooming a while we will start to see activity from the Mums. Last to the gate will be the Mntauk Daisies.

Some of the flowers that will be blooming more or less continuously from late June through frost are: Potentilla, Spiderwort, and Rose of Sharon. There are also some roses that keep coming back with new blooms periodically.

I keep forgetting the Turtleheads. This is a type of flower that likes moist soil and dappled shade, and blooms about the same time as the asters. It gets its name form the resemblance of it blossoms to turtle heads.
http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/757/hot-lips-turtlehead/

And, yes, it *does* look like something out of "Little shop of horrors."



The Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly lays its eggs on Turtlehead leaves (or, alternately, on penstemon leaves), so they can eat the leaves and grow bigger.
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Euphydryas-phaeton

I have both Turtlehead and Penstemon in my yard, but I don't know if this type of butterfly is near enough to notice.

But it's also nice just to enjoy the plants for themselves.

Speaking of rodents, I hope this is not one of the h2g2

https://laughingsquid.com/tiny-hamster-wears-tiny-cast/?fbclid=IwAR1NsLyJWuhGbY6G7Si6Dfu_JAksOeIHMpvC09iD7xLPEV8v8CVT3OLbG20

http://www.tv-am.org.uk/roland-rat

we'll shove owt on kids tv (inc' adults as well)

There's also a cute one about hamsters who serve sushi and sake while selling tiny gravestones on the side. If they're on their sides, I hope they won't tip over.
http://laughingsquid.com/tiny-hamsters-serve-tiny-sake-drinks-at-tiny-sushi-bar-while-selling-tiny-gravestones-in-their-spare-time/

I WANT ONE!

You want one of what?

Sushi?
Saki?
Tiny gravestones?
Hamsters?

Yes!

hamsterI had a guinea pig, in my youth

I and the next door neighbours son, went into "breeding" hairy hamsters (years ago) BUT! as we insulated the "shed" where we set up in a few days later there was an heatwave and it err! fried the breeding pairs we'd got

Oh dear, poor .