Blue and black dragonfly
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: What’s #Bugging You?

How is it the first of August already? For folks living in the northern hemisphere, most of us are experiencing the hottest outdoor temperatures of the year.

With hot temps, guess who comes to visit? Bugs! Whether or not you are a fan of insects, this is an opportunity to look closely in your gardens (or the floors of your homes?) and search for what is bugging you.

If all insects disappeared, all life on earth would perish. If all humans disappeared, all life on earth would flourish.

Jonas Salk

Truth be told, I rather like most insects. I find many of them beneficial to gardens and even places indoors. Spiders are not insects but rather arachnids with eight legs. Insects have six legs. If I find a hapless spider fumbling to climb out of the bathtub, I’m known to get a tissue and help it out…then throw it outside. I do the same for moths. Perhaps I sound like a misguided Mother Nature, but I’ve seen too many 80s horror films in which the bugs strike back against the mean humans by swarming and devouring or growing to giant sizes and biting off heads. Insect karma…sounds exciting, right? No?

The bugs I dislike are ants, cockroaches, ticks, and flies. Not a fan of black widow spiders either.

Speaking of exciting, I’m responding to Marsha’s Writers Quotes Wednesday Writer’s Challenge (WQWWC) prompt—exciting!

Dragonflies and Praying Mantis

I do get excited when I see dragonflies. My all-time favorite is this one of a dragonfly molting out of its exoskeleton.

Dragonfly nymph sheds into adulthood
Molting Dragonfly

I’ve come to understand that the most exciting thing about life is change.

Mark Inglis

I found this one a few days ago. When it didn’t fly away from the tomato plant upon my intrusion, I nudged it and it was dead. Forever immortalized in photos.

Blue and black dragonfly

Praying mantis are pretty cool critters, too.

  • Praying mantis eyes me as he hangs out on my windsurf board.
    This one enjoyed our windsurf boards
  • praying mantis
    Resident mantis with 5 legs

This is a California Root Borer, a type of “longhorn beetle,” I found on my doorstep. I don’t know what it’s doing in Washington, but it’s about 2 inches long. They fly at night and only live for two short weeks.

Root Borer Beetle
Big, scary-looking, but harmless root borer beetle

What’s Bugging Me About Our Property

Delay after delay, that’s what.

Last week the cement floor was finished and the gravel driveway was completed. There is a delay with the shop doors. Building slow-downs have been a major problem in the construction industry, because:

  • 1. Many workers are staying unemployed because they get better pay than working a real job, and
  • 2. Because there are fewer workers, deliveries are delayed and materials are not available.

We are so close to the finish line and plan to close the loan this month!

Life needs to be like a roller-coaster ride with ups and downs. Otherwise, it’s not exciting.

N. T. Rama Rao, Jr.

This is one roller coaster ride I could do without–I have enough excitement in my life.

OK, back to the bugs…

Bee-utiful!

Enjoy my gallery of bees on various flowers. Without bees as pollinators, we would starve.

  • Bee on sunflower macro
  • pink sunflower with bee
    Don’t get too close!
  • pink flower with bee
    Macro Flower and Bee
  • yellow bee sunflower

Flowers are shared for Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. All photos in this post are shared for John’s CellPick Sunday.

Be sure to checkout my Sunday Stills page for August themes. Please note, I am planning a three-week end-of-summer break between August 22-Sept 5.

Geometric Bloggers Links

Sunday Stills is a wonderful community of bloggers and photographers who desire to connect with one another. Below are last week’s links from bloggers who shared their favorite geometric photos.

Next week’s theme will be images related to your favorite song lyrics. If this is unclear, it might be best to think of your favorite song(s) and highlight some lyrics with your photos. Here is an example from Marsha and my example from 2017: My Favorite Things. Also, to avoid copyright infringements of published lyrics, only post a few lines rather than the entire song. If you write poetry or your own songs, you can certainly use your work for this theme!

Thank you for your continuing support of Sunday Stills! I appreciate your beautiful creative photography, poetry, stories, and fun conversations! Have a great week!

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95 comments

  4. Great post Terri…I like how you added what is “bugging” you that wasn’t bug related. I should have done that too since we had a leak in our AC unit and have had to turn it off til it can be repaired and we may have to do some demo to our inside floor. That is really bugging me.

    I should’ve taken time and went to find a pond. I could have gotten some great pics. But here’s my link with what I’ve got.
    https://troyerslovinglife.blogspot.com/2021/08/taking-in-life-around-me.html

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  7. Must admit I am not a fan for the most part Terri. We had a really gross bug here in South Carolina that we call the Palmetto Bug (because it nests in our palmetto trees I think). it’s a much nicer name than cockroach which is what it is a form of. they mostly crawl but can fly too. Trust me, if I see one it is not long for this world!!! Did enjoy your images tho, and you chose more likable bugs than most 😊

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  8. Sorry to hear the building project is proving so hard to wrap up. The worker shortage is affecting all kinds of businesses, but it should improve early next month when the extra payments end. I can’t imagine they’ll extend them.
    Like you, I’m mostly a fan of bugs, which is good because Hawaii is rich in them. Unfortunately, they’ve been overrunning the house lately, particularly ants and cockroaches! Anyway, here’s my post for the week: https://grahamsisland.com/2021/08/01/bugs/

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    • We should be able to float down the construction loan to a mortgage this month, Graham. Once the doors are on we can start moving our other items out of storage. Hans has a lot to do still, like build a loft. I bet you have a continuous array of fascinating bugs. What we don’t have here are termites!

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  13. Love all of your photos, Terri. The molting dragonfly, the dead dragonfly, and the bees are beautiful. There are a lot of bees and butterflies at this time of the year where I live. They love the cone flowers. I hope the delay with the shop doors is resolved soon for you. Have a great week!

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  14. Your bug pictures are magazine perfect. The two that I shared are less than stellar, but I didn’t let that bug me and posted them anyway. Thanks for the link and also the mention of my post. I love the idea of using song lyrics. Anyone who shares with you on Sunday can share the same post on Wednesday – Writer’s Choice for Wednesdays Quote Challenge. Here is my post for today. Kind of short and sweet, but I’m sort of practicing that! 🙂 https://alwayswrite.blog/2021/08/01/fotd-1-a-month-of-australian-flowers/

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    • Thank you, Amy, I was so fortunate to be in the right place when the dragonfly hopped in to molt. I was sitting in a beach area by some bushes and luckily had my camera and phone. Got to watch it happen over two hours.

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  17. Hi Terri, a great response to summer bugs and what’s bugging you about your new house. I’m with you I don’t like cockroaches, ticks, fleas and some scary spiders that can kill you. Being in Australia we get used to the flies in summer but they can be very annoying at times!!! Thanks for another great prompt and sharing your fabulous photos.
    My post is a bit a different take on bugs 🙂

    A vintage Vdub bug for #SundayStills

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    • I can imagine the types of bugs native to Australia that would be completely foreign to my US bug experience, Debbie! Good thing most bugs don’t bother me too much at least to stop and take their pics! I always appreciate your creative responses to Sunday Stills!

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    • Thank you, Janis, great to see your link today! Nothing wrong with kicking bugs and spiders out of the house. I think we will be able to finalize the loan in a couple of week. We’ve had to extend it three times! I want to finish unpacking!!

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  21. I love insects of all sorts and in Australia we have lots of insects. I have done a bit of a post over load and included a few spiders as well but not my scary photos.
    I love you collection of insects Terri, fabulous photos 🙂 🙂

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  22. Great images with that S10+. My wife also has one of those. It is her primary camera. She mostly uses it for family memories and for social media sharing. Thanks for participating in Cellpic Sunday Challenge.

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  23. Terri,
    I understand completely your frustration with all of the construction delays. Please know that you’re not alone. Hopefully, all of those affected will understand how hard it is to hire people when it’s easier to stay home. Elections have consequences! I love this post, but the only picture I have to contribute is one taken at Key West two years ago when Helen and I visited a Butterfly garden. Helen made a new friend! Have a great week! Joe

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    • I may be bugged about it all, but I remain grateful that we are here and living in the house, Joe. Hard to believe it’s only been 4 months (seems longer). Not only did housing prices soar in this area and Western Idaho, the mfg home industry has slowed down to where it takes over a year for a home to be built after order! Had we waited even a few months, we might have been priced out and stuck in the burbs! Oh how lovely this shot of Helen and the butterfly! What a great capture and thanks for sharing.

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  25. I found your post and information along with the photos very interesting. Loved the details in your photos. NOT loving the shed not getting finished though. Far too many times do I hear this about construction being finalised so you could say it’s “world wide”

    I have a post coming with a You Tube clip which has never been an issue from my blog. I will cross fingers it works out OK when I post it here…however, being your blog, not mine, let me know if you would prefer I left it out.

    Cheers
    Denyse

    https://www.denysewhelan.com.au/denyse-blogs/what-bugs-me-about-summer-sundaystills-93-2021/

    Liked by 2 people

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  29. A great selection of insect shots Terri, especially that gorgeous dragonfly (a shame though that it turned out to be dead) and the bee hovering by the sunflower right near the end. I’m sorry to hear about your building frustrations, but it does sounds as though the end is in sight!

    I’m going to be away for a few days but I’ve drafted a post and I’ll tidy it up and schedule it for publication tomorrow I hope. Watch out for a pingback 🙂

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  30. I love all your insect photos, Terri. Close up; these creatures are beautiful. Nature has done a lot of work on them.

    Your theme of ‘Bugs’ got me thinking of my short story ‘Lipstick.’ I would have shared a link here to the story, but I removed it from my blog some time ago. Just as well, because I recall it frightening quite a lot of readers.

    Sorry to hear of the items that are still bugging you regarding the building of your new home. We seem to be suffering a shortage of many items here in the UK. Things such as garden furniture, cars, certain foods, even compost for gardening. Many have blamed it on the Covid pandemic.

    I didn’t think I had any photos of bugs, but I came across one that I used in one of my very first posts on WordPress.

    I hope you can spot the bee. I’m glad I had something to offer for this weeks theme.

    Have a great week.

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    • Hi Hugh! Yes, that bee is up front and busy! I remember your story about lipstick!

      I just removed a lot of old posts and media over the weekend. That might be a good blog post on how to do so efficiently. We still have so much to do on the property but we are grateful for the hard work of our contractor and others. He probably lost money on this job because of the effects of the pandemic. Anyhoo, thanks for the comments, and I’m off to read yours!

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      • I’m deleting old posts and media almost every month, Terri. However, I’ve read a few posts where many bloggers preferred keeping all their posts as they said it acted as a reminder of how far they’ve come with blogging. But I’m not too fond of clutter, so I am forever doing my blogging housekeeping.

        Glad you could see the bee in the photo I submitted. And I’m glad I still had that photo in my media library.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Have you found any really old posts that consistently still get views? I have 2-3 so I’ve refreshed those and kept comments open. I don’t like clutter either and I want to keep my media space!

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      • Yes, one of my posts from 2016 has been my most viewed post ever since then, although it was a couple of years ago since it had a new comment left on it. However, comments are still open on it.

        Liked by 1 person

  35. You and I are on the same page, Terri, when it comes to bugs. They really don’t bother me unless they’re biting me or my house! I’d add mosquitos to the list. Beautiful photos!

    Sorry to hear about the house delays. Problems here are mostly materials-related, not worker-related. During Covid, production shut down all the way down the materials chain. I hope your doors come if before winter!

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  40. Arg Terri, I’m sorry to hear of your more delays. The world is madness, supply and demand. And of course everything more expensive than pre-Covid. Hang in there girl! ❤

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  45. Late to the game again but with any luck my video is actually in the post. I’ve never had much luck with them before but I used Canva and I think it’s there. Lie to me if it’s not! Cool pictures of the dragonflies. I had to look up what a praying mantis was – I’ve heard of them in movies but they obviously don’t do winter! And that’s the thing about life in a cold climate like Canada, we actually have many months without bugs! This year with the extreme drought we have had zero mosquitoes as we have zero moisture.

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