I think these weevils are in the tribe Madopterini. Though I might just be leaning towards that conclusion since I like the name so much.
I wasn't even aware that there were such things as tribes, taxonomically speaking, until I started trying to look up bugs. Just as species can be further divided into subspecies, families are sometimes further divided into subfamily, tribe, and subtribe.
Madopterini: More likely to march on Rome, or to perform straightjacket escapes while upside down and underwater?
All zoological tribes end in -ini, apparently. (I would not have been able to resist naming several of them after Italian operatic composers.)
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A professor at the University of Florida has a nice series of pages about writing scientific papers. They include sections on species name formation, Greek and Latin words adopted into English, pronunciation of scientific names, and several other interesting topics.
I was surprised the first time I saw cactus growing in the wild here in the southeast. Outside of cactus gardens, it's not the kind of plant you tend to find in the suburbs. But it's a native in most eastern states.
This is Opuntia humifusa. The upright tall version is Opuntia stricta. There are three other prickly pears in Alabama: Opuntia austrina, Opuntia pusilla, and Opuntia monacantha. But only humifusa is in Blount county, and it's the only member of the cactus family that's native here.
My book says it grows in sandstone outcrops, limestone glades, and open, thin-soiled woods.
The newer chickens never seem in the mood for portraiture.
We came up on the losing end of the chicken lottery this time. Out of eight mystery chick picks, five were cockerels (males), and only three were pullets (females).
What kind of homesteading woman am I, if I couldn't watch what had to happen?
The squeamish kind, I guess.
Hubby is just as content to do it all himself, I think, to avoid having me standing over his shoulder. "Offering suggestions," as I see it... "Bossing me around," according to him. "And stressing me out."
We made the rookie mistake (according the the Backyard Chicken Forum) of cooking them without letting them rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours, so they were a little tough.
A friend told me this story tonight, and I figured I'd post it here to help blackberry-less internet wanderers.
My friend's blackberry bushes seemed to be on track for a banner year. Tons of blossoms. Scads of little berries forming. But never any ripe fruit.
What was going on? She searched the internet high and low, finding no likely answers. She became increasingly frustrated. Why were her #$%^&*@ blackberries not getting ripe?! It didn't make sense.
Then she found the answer by accident, when she arrived home in time to catch her husband lurking near the garden. He was eating all the ripe berries directly off the vine, and had been doing so for the last two weeks.
The Blount county bloggers met at Annie's over the weekend! Her job may be a pain, but it has made Annie Linda-Hamilton-buff.
I'm so jealous. I'd do anything to look like Annie. (Except eat well and get a lot of exercise.) If I'm found dead next week, it'll be due to Annie killing me for showing this. But the light was so nice, I couldn't resist.
Also present were CPP and TCE. We should have taken a pic of all our feet together or something, but of course I had that idea on the way home. Maybe next time, when I hope that MM can join us too.
These photos were all taken on our "weed walk" at Annie's place.
Pink phlox. I can't provide scientific names for most plants blooming after April, since they all seem to have 50 look-alikes that vary only in the slightest details.
Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) on Blanket Flower.
Whorled loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia).
Collection of colored glass from Arkansas.
Sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis).
Mexican Hat. This and the Blanket flower aren't natives here, but are good plants for butterflies and quail.Update: I think I was wrong about them not being natives.
One of the skullcaps, possibly Hairy skullcap (Scutellaria elliptica).
A daylily I can't remember the name of.
Possibly a summer bluet? I'm not familiar with this plant and can't find a picture that matches well.
A fern I couldn't identify.
The lovely Lika.
The lovely Grendel.
Thanks for having us over, Annie! It was great to meet you, TCE and CPP!
Somewhere behind these leaves, many warblers were cheerfully singing. (Kentucky, Blue-winged, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, Louisiana Waterthrush.)
If your blog has one of those "Comment as" buttons just after the comment space, don't expect any comments from me.
My comments on your blog disappear into never-never land, no matter which type of ID I choose. Even "Name/URL". Even "Anonymous". I have never been able to comment on any blog that uses this type of comment form. (Blogs with "Choose an identity" work fine.)
I can't figure it out. There are plenty of other comments, so those people didn't have problems. It's just me. Only, it's not just me - I've found a few other folks wandering the internet in search of a solution to this problem.
But I haven't found a solution. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
Last week my cousin from New Hampshire was visiting, and we made the genealogy rounds.
Samford University's Special Collections has a treasure trove of old Alabama Baptist church records. In between learning that one ancestor was a church clerk and that another was excluded (thrown out) twice, I overheard this conversation:
"Listen to this. The church has been in two previous locations."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. It says they had to move the first time because the church was built in a spot with no access to water. The second time, they had to move because of too much activity from Timber Wolves in the area!"
Actually I'm sure they meant Red Wolves (Canis rufus), since there never were any Timber Wolves (Gray Wolves, Canis lupus) in Alabama.
The Red Wolf was declared extinct in the wild in the 1980s.
This page shows the historical range of the Red Wolf. The subspecies that lived in Alabama, called the Florida Red Wolf (Canis rufus floridanus) was completely extinct by 1930. A second subspecies, the Mississippi Red Wolf, Canis rufus gregoryi, was extinct by 1970, leaving only the Texas Red Wolf, Canis rufus rufus, the species being used in the Recovery Project.
Still no garden planted. Too wet. We were under three miserable inches of rain this weekend. Last year it would have been a blessing — this year it's just increasingly annoying.
The forecast is for at least 3 days of sun though, so keep your fingers crossed for me.
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The temperature dropped so low last night that the heat came on at 1:23 am. I know the time, because the smoke alarm was also roused (presumably just from dust). In the hour+ that it took me to fall back asleep, I wondered if I should create a "grab and go" drawer of important things that I wouldn't want to get burned up. I was secretly proud that my purse and cell phone had been within arm's reach. (But not my computer.)
We have unwittingly set up a deer feeding station in our back yard.
Mother and son
For several years it has been a chicken feeding station, poached by no undesirable critters other than the occasional grackle or bad dog.
But our luck wore out, and it seems that deer have excellent memories as far as food is concerned. They're daily buffet visitors now.
Scruffy deer
Hubby thinks they're cute. "You won't think so after they eat the entire garden," I warn, but he doesn't believe it.
This would be the non-existant garden... the garden we've yet to find time to plant. When I moaned about it at a meeting last week, a man told me that he hadn't planted yet either. "The signs aren't good until Thursday. Then they'll last for about 10 days."
Since it's supposed to rain almost every day this week, I'm not overly hopeful. Instead of planting by the moon, we usually use the "when we're both here and it hasn't been raining buckets" method. And those signs have been terrible lately.
Steve very graciously took us on another guided tour. Most of my flower photos didn't turn out well (it was too sunny) - the ones from last year are here.
Mabel and the formerly perfectly fine soaker hose.
Mabel's the new pup on the block, and she's very friendly. She's still at the chewing stage though, and will probably be on vacation during the upcoming festival, so as to save tent ropes and such.
Sadly, the lovable Buster passed away since last year. Lucy is as aloof as ever.
Tadpole
Tadpole walked with us. Her sister (Sarah) joined us briefly, but was skittish of the camera. Katy the calico slept through the whole thing.
Fiery Searcher
On our walk, we spotted a Fiery Searcher, Calosoma scrutator. They're also known as Caterpillar Hunters.
Another view
So brilliant in the sun! If not the most beautiful beetle, he's at least in the top ten. He was large, as beetles go, and very fast.
Take off your shoes
Also new since last year, this exquisite hardwood floor (Ash).
There are some wonderfully worked details. I didn't forget to photograph them, but I did forget to remove the lens hood. (The lens hood is great for reducing flare when you're taking pictures in the sun. When using the flash, it causes horrible shadows. Duh.)
Skull tree
The skull tree. Still wishing I'd thought of that. Now that we have Jasmine the bone-stealing dog, we don't find the number of skulls that we once did. But I'll remember Steve's advice for cleaning such things: stick them in an ant bed. Reeeeally wish I'd known that before the antler incident.
The Acoustic Cafe is all about String music, and this is its museum. (Click for a larger version.)
Now, Steve knows that while my friends and I do enjoy string music, we are pretty much totally ignorant about it. "You may not know his name," he said, speaking of John Hartford, "but you know his song, Gentle on My Mind."
I didn't realize though, til just now when looking up his links, that I did know John Hartford. He was on the PBS special Songs of the Civil War, that I had taped years ago, and watched dozens of times.
Here he is singing my favorite version of my favorite Civil-War-era song, Lorena:
I looked for another song I remembered from the show, Sweet Honey in the Rock's rendition of Climbing Jacob's Ladder. Couldn't find the video, but I believe this contains the audio:
OK, one more. Another favorite from that show was Hard Times Come Again No More, sung by Kate and Anna McGarrigle and their families. I found this somewhat later version by them that I actually like better, and it has the added bonus of Emmylou Harris:
Living in rural north central Alabama. Currently overstocked with pets and poultry. Having lived in several small towns and larger cities, country life is taking some getting used to.
The photo is of Jasmine, fearless protector of the homestead from coyotes, bobcats, deer, herons, airplanes, butterflies and fuzzy little bunnies.
