Insects and Trees

    The Praying Mantis project has proven to be a little more perplexing.  After one week, we have three left alive. I do not really have any idea how many were in there when we started, and we released at least a 100 of the little creatures. 
    I do not know if they are unhappy with their food, or the conditions or if there are simply too many pesticides in suburbia, but they are definitely not doing well.  In the spirit of not feeling complete failure, we decided we would take another of our insect habitats and a couple of nets to the local park to catch as many small insects as we can to provide a sort of "buffet" for our remaining mantids.  We would have to watch carefully to see which insect disappears first. Maybe then we will have a better clue what they would like to eat.
   We loaded up the car, took a picnic basket and drove to the park.  This park is amazing to view nature in action. This particular park has a pond, many paths, a wooded area, and many different types of plants and trees. It offers the most variety of habitats in a square mile area. It is a large enough park to see ducks, geese, squirrels, bats, insects and birds and yet small enough that we do not have major "too hot, too tired" breakdowns.

   With all of the things I listed, bug nets, lunch, habitat, wildlife, something really should have crossed my mind.  Really, I should have heard sirens in my head as well pulled up in the parking lot. But I was blissfully unaware.
   We started walking up the path. It was a beautiful afternoon.  The light filtered through the lacy canopy of the trees. It reminded me of growing up in England. It was not yet hot enough to be miserable. It was lovely. We saw so many squirrels and turtles and geese. My youngest was already catching bugs with the stealth of a hawk. 
    It actually did not occur to me what I was missing until I felt a little tingle on my lip. I reached up to brush whatever dust or leaf had fallen on me and there it was.  My left hand was so swollen that my rings were embedded in my skin. I called to my daughters. 45 minutes would have to be enough bug catching time because I had forgotten to bring benedryl or an epi-pen. 
   My oldest looked very concerned. "Mom, take off your rings."
   I just shook my head, "It will be okay in a few minutes, it's too late to try to get the rings off. I will just wait until the swelling goes back down."
  She really did not seem convinced. "K, it is all right. Whatever it was, I didn't even notice it. A few minutes after the medicine this will all start to go away and I will be fine."
   The girls don't look like they believe me and insist on watching as I give myself the shot and take the pills.  They saw me when my heart stopped and that took away a lot of faith for them. They do not take it for granted that I will be "just fine" yet.  After about twenty minutes of them hovering over me acting very professionally with 'Sissy, I think she needs an ice pack', and 'look for a bite mark'.   Once I can remove my rings, they are satisfied that I will indeed survive.
   Well, as usual, things did not go exactly as planned. We only brought home seven insects for our 'buffet'.  We did learn that maybe we should double check that we have at least benedryl with us when we are going to play with nature.
   I still do not know what bit me. It doesn't really matter. I never saw it, so I could not have avoided it, and I find it pointless to hold a grudge. I am allergic to a lot of Oklahoma plants and insects. So many that neither I nor my doctor know all of them.  Again, what is the point? I cannot avoid them all, and I do not wish to hide from them, so I should just remember my medications and get on with it. 
   We will go back to that park. We will probably forget the medicines at least one more time.. and we will probably survive. I have a safety net sometimes, you see the hospital is only about a mile from the park. I do like to live life, but it is not accident that there are five hospitals within ten miles of our house. (There are more than double that if we double the mileage.)  We have too many unexpected events as a family. Or maybe, since we have survived them all, just the right amount of unexpected events.
    Since I detest failed hatches, I have ordered three more egg cases.  We will figure out how to do this correctly. We are doing more research to try to make the accommodations better. Yes, we learn even from our failures, but it would be so much cooler if this project could last longer than a week.