We're having quite a crazy morning, weather-wise. I was awakened about 4 a.m. by thunder and lightning, and I got up early to take a video -- which isn't very exciting, but lightning is such a rarity in our part of the world. (Compared to Florida, where it's practically a daily occurrence at certain times of year.) It's become more intense over the course of the morning. We got a crashing clap of thunder a few minutes ago that made Olga sit straight up -- and she usually ignores thunder! The rain is coming down in buckets.
I'm not thrilled about this because I have to catch a bus at 7:30 to go get my CT scan. My appointment with my GP this week wasn't very illuminating -- she just told me what I already knew about my blood work. In fact when she saw I was already following up with the specialists she basically admitted she hadn't really needed to call me in at all. Oh well. I got an hour or two off work. This CT scan should be more telling, but I don't expect immediate results.
That's a wood louse, above, on one of our lupines. You may also know them as sowbugs or, as we called them when I was a kid, roly-polys. (The ones in Florida roll up into a spherical ball, which I just learned is called conglobating.) Apparently there are lots of different types of these critters, and according to Wikipedia, they're crustaceans whose ancestors emerged from the ocean in prehistory and colonized land. Land shrimp! Who knew?
Of the several honesty plants that grew successfully in our garden this year, this one is probably the nicest. It's big, robust and covered with flowers. I have found that both foxgloves and honesty do best when they grow in place from seed -- as opposed to being sprouted in a seed tray and then transplanted. I have pretty much stopped messing with seed trays. I just sprinkle the seeds around the garden and hope for the best.
I finished "Prequel," which I really enjoyed. I'm trying to talk my boss into adding it to the library, because it really is a very straightforward historic account of right-wing American politics in the years leading up to World War II. My boss is wary of adding a book by someone as outwardly opinionated as Rachel Maddow, though -- she's concerned about courting accusations of political bias. So I may just give it to any colleague who wants it. Now I'm trying to catch up on my New Yorkers -- as usual, I have a small stack!
Ahh, I have often wondered what the word was to describe insects rolling up into a ball (not). Conglobating is the latest addition to my vocabulary, and now I am going to look for ways to use the word in sentences at least three times in the next week, just so I will always remember it. "I enjoy conglobating on the sofa after dinner while I watch TV" should just about do it I think! LOL
ReplyDeleteHope the scan has gone ok by now..and you're not too wet!
ReplyDeleteNow you will be aware of the description of an English summer..two hot days and a thunderstorm!!
I have never seen a bug like that..I wonder what it eats. I know that woodlice who look similar and also roll up eat dead and rotting vegetation
Good lightening photos.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to remember when there was a thunderstorm here in Suffolk, but can't recall.
Much better to be called a land shrimp than a wood louse. It even looks more attractive when you think of it that way. Too bad about the pointless trip to the doctor but, as you said, it was an hour or two off work. I once tossed a couple of packets of wildflower mix in the woods edging one side of our garden. We moved before I could see what came up (the story of our lives).
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your boss may be a closet Trumpist. If you had said you would like to order "The Art of The Deal", "Great Again" and "Stormy Weather and Other Tales of Debauchery" she'd have probably said, "Go ahead Steve!"
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for an uneventful and smooth CT exam.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea why but my daughter as a toddler, and all her cousins, used to collect live woodlice in the garden to bring them home for pets. We usually peeled them out of their dungaree pockets by evening.
Every time you move a piece of wood, you'll see those little fellers. They seem harmless as far as I know. Land shrimp!
ReplyDeleteI hope you get answers one way or another about your health situation.
Now all I can think of is that old SNL sketch with the Land Shark.
ReplyDeleteI think that's interesting about concern about political opinion. It doesn't mention today's politics at all -- it's more history than contemporary (though anyone with half a brain could easily make the leap.) Very instructive. Your scan was probably hours ago and I hope it went well and that you made it too and from with at least some dry clothing left!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure a "roly poly po boy" has the same appeal or ring to it.
ReplyDeleteWhat child raised in Florida hasn't played with rolly pollies?
ReplyDeleteThat was some storm! Hope you didn't get too wet.
Just this very minute I was thinking, "I have got to organize these New Yorkers!"
Jeez.
I just started on the April 1st issue of the New Yorker and I thought, my goodness, I'm a month behind!
ReplyDeleteThat lightning reminds me of heat lightning where the sky lights up but you don't see those dramatic bolts.
Hope you made it safe and dry to your appointment and you get your results soon!
That is quite a storm. You have had some up and down weather lately. We used to call those insects roly-polys too. I certainly didn't know they were related to crustaceans.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should try your seeding method as seeding plants in trays is a nuisance.
ReplyDeleteYour storm really was lighting up the sky. Nobody was going to sleep through that thunder and lightening. Land shrimp (or something very similar) are here as well. All the insect critters are moving about. Is the last photo a Bee Balm plant? Keeping tabs on health matters is important. Having all the data will be good.
ReplyDeleteI don't think of London getting that kind of weather either. We don't here; it's rare and a bit scary. I wonder if those bugs taste like shrimp? I don't intend to test it out.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a nickel for every roly-poly I tapped into a ball in my childhood I'd be rich!
ReplyDeleteNice video! Hope the CT went well and you didn't get drenched on the way there.
P.S. We called them "pill bugs", too. I kind of like land shrimp, though.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping the result of your CAT scan will be a good one. Being of an age that remembers quite well the ending of WWII and a lot of the horror historically...I think Rachel's book is timely and, hopefully, some younger people will pay attention to what's going on today a bit differently. Positive energy your way Steve. From the base of the mini-mountain in Maine where it's overcast and chilly.
ReplyDeleteRoly-polies and pill bugs ... same thing!
ReplyDeleteYour lightning looks to be sheet lightning and we get a lot of that in S. Colorado!
we did have loads of pills because we had fire wood, they love that , but so did the carpenter ants. So, no more fire wood.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about opinion is that it must be solidly backed up with fact- Rachel does that in spades!
Dennis just reading about a woman who walked the Thames path from start to sea- she sort of made it but not without help carrying her part of the way, a walk you may want to consider? Your CT scan at least will be painless!
I didn't know it rained like that in London. My mental picture has always been drizzle and mist. Seattle has pill bugs, so does Northern Virginia. Not so much in Tucson.
ReplyDeleteLooks like I left London (yesterday) at just the right time to miss the thunderstorm--although the weekend weather wasn't particularly great even without a t-storm. At least Monday's weather was beautiful. I took the Tube/DLR to Greenwich (Maritime Museum, etc.) and returned on the Thames Clipper (gives a new meaning to 'Ubering' since that's the branding now) to Westminster and then the tube back to Gloucester Road and my usual hotel. Enjoyed the views from the water as always--especially going under Tower Bridge.
ReplyDeleteHope you made it safely to the CT scan. Best of luck on the results.
I don't envy librarians now with all of the political nonsense and the talk of book bans.
ReplyDeleteI love thunder storms. We have a weekend of them coming up. I am looking forward to them.
ReplyDeleteHope the scan shows everything is normal and you didn't get too wet going there. The thunder didn't scare Olga?
ReplyDelete