BEWARE! If you see this walnut-sized mass on your Christmas tree, make sure to cut it off and take it outside. It is actually a cluster of hundreds of praying mantis eggs. ? https://t.co/CiTuum9lYi
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) December 12, 2019
Cats respectfully request that you leave it right where it is. https://t.co/ZWV2cTIPjD
— JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) December 12, 2019
— JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) December 12, 2019
Not this year kitty
(Photo: u/vickymarwari https://t.co/p037zztcuy) pic.twitter.com/iQggvfq7mQ— 41 Strange (@41Strange) December 14, 2019
Roger Moore
I’ve heard that getting hundreds of mantises is also great if you have roaches or other insects in the house that you’d like to get rid of.
Another Scott
Praying Mantises are good!
Thanks for the OpenThread.
For some reason, the Visual and Text tabs aren’t showing in this Comment window. Here’s assuming that I’m in the Text mode…
LOLGOP at Eclectablog:
This.
LOLGOP is always worth reading on Twitter, even moreso in long-form at Eclectablog and elsewhere.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mike in NC
First month in our old townhouse in Alexandria, VA we both adopted a long haired orange kitten and bought a real Christmas tree. Suffice it to say orange fur and tree sap don’t mix.
mad citizen
Praying Mantises have always freaked me out–too large and so creepy looking. But as I got older and have been a homeowner, I appreciate them now. Did not see one this past fall. We do have a tree this year, cut from our local School for the Blind. Hopefully it’s clear of the mantises.
lgerard
That certainly narrowed it down
mrmoshpotato
Dropping this in here too.
jeffreyw
So.. let’s have a little talk about GENOCIDE!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I never heard of this guy, but twitter tells me he wrote two books with Scalia
won’t get as much coverage as Jeff Van Drew, of course
geg6
First year with Cleo in the general home population. Thankfully, we put our tree in our formal living room where it can be seen from the road. Because we have now had to close the doors to the room and so no worries. She couldn’t be kept away from it.
Yutsano
@Roger Moore: I was wondering if there was a downside to having a bunch of baby praying mantises in the house. Except the watching them eat each other thing.
geg6
@Yutsano:
Wonder if they eat stink bugs? We’ve suddenly had a rash of them, which is much later than usual.
Butter Emails
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Jeff van who?
trollhattan
That last image says so very much.
Kid in my kid’s HS class is headed to the US Olympics swim team and if I were a betting man, I’d wager we’ll be watching him in Tokyo this summer. He’s broken two of Michael Phelps’ youth swimming records and is still just 17. Here’s a summary.
I remember him from peewee soccer, when our kids were still playing co-ed. Darn kids keep growing up so fast.
Roger Moore
My big accomplishment for the day is making a big batch of marmalade. I bought 8 pounds of Seville oranges from my favorite citrus farmer at the farmer’s market and spent the afternoon turning it into 18 jars of marmalade. It’s a lot of work, but it’s totally worth it. There’s nothing better on toast than butter and homemade Seville orange marmalade.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Butter Emails:
freshman MoC from southern New Jersey. Expect much Very Serious Concern from Chuck Todd tomorrow
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Roger Moore: You know Roger, if you’re going to make treats, you have make enough for the whole class.
trollhattan
Florida mantis egg cases appear very different from what we have in California, which are smaller and much more orderly. I’m objectively pro-mantis but admit I freaked the fuck out discovering they fly, on account of having one fly past my face at night. Had no idea.
Jharp
As a youngster I had a buddy who thought It would be a good idea to feed a preying mantis to his pet anole lizard. Did not work out. The preying mantis won with a slash to the neck.
geg6
@trollhattan:
I feel you. I was watching “This Is Us” earlier this fall and they had a flash forward to one of the main character’s sons, who is blind, but has become a big pop star. I thought I knew him and it turned out I did. He was the only boy in my oldest niece’s dance school. He was fantastic then as a dancer and he really is blind. I did not know he could sing but I knew he could act from his dancing. He was one of the best dancers at that school. Very expressive and very precise. Very pleased to see his success. But I can’t believe he’s at that point.? Of course, my niece is a mom, so I shouldn’t be so surprised. They do grow up so fast!
NotMax
First time attempting banana bread in the super duper bread machine today. Had some heavy cream left over from making vodka sauce last weekend which wasn’t going to last much longer so used that in place of the milk. Smells divine, taste testing to come later on.
@Roger Moore
There’s nothing quite like full-on traditional home preparation.
:) (What’s linked is some 50 years old and still never fails to elicit chuckles.)
painedumonde
In Hawai’i, Gecko eat Mantis.
https://giphy.com/gifs/eyes-eaten-F5wbpWH9fyj4Y
Ooops.
Major Major Major Major
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: he’s a big deal in the law community, as I understand it, he’s an authority on the meaning of legal language which is kind of important in the field. I temped for him for one day some years back.
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan: Jumping jellyfish! Time for a mosquito net.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Vine-ripened apples, eh?
Steeplejack (phone)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I don’t think “switching parties” means what he thinks it means.
Johnnybuck
Everybody I yell at on Facebook is ranting about process, not evidence. They know, they know and they know we’re here and we’re coming. Don’t despair, we’re winning this.
NotMax
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
Perhaps someone will in solicitude have a T-shirt made up for him with this on it as a holiday present.
;)
Other MJS
@Roger Moore: I found this somewhere in the above threads. Hilarious.
tomtofa
My god, I’ve got one of those on my artificial tree. Must be a pod of drone eggs!
mrmoshpotato
@tomtofa: It’s full of satan-worshipping mantises!
NotMax
@tomtofa
Christmas caviar.
:)
artem1s
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
so as of today, he is a Republican. There is no such thing as The Independent Party. Dropping out and not joining another party isn’t ‘switching’.
Mallard Filmore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Really? A perverted Senate impeachment trial was the red line, the breaking point? Baby snatching and child trafficking didn’t do it? Letting kids die of flu in concrete cells is ok?
I hope someday he can share the joy his party has let loose.
Redshift
@trollhattan: During one of the first summers in our house, I was mowing the lawn and this thing flew up in front of me. It was a praying mantis with at least a five inch wingspan. I don’t remember if I knew before that they flew, but I’ve never forgotten since then!
mrmoshpotato
@Mallard Filmore: Don’t worry. All of these “Independents” will be back in the Russthuglican party after Dump’s gone.
NotMax
@Redshift
Love child of Zorak and Sally Field.
:)
West of the Rockies
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’ve honestly (and apparently foolishly) thought we’d see Republicans bail out and become Dems. The cult-like dedication to Clump is stupefying.
Redshift
@NotMax: Seriously. I am not generally freaked out by bugs, but that was something.
Duane
@Yutsano: Sounds like a win-win. The mantis eats the roach, then each other. Bugs all gone. No problem. Feature, not a bug.
joel hanes
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
If it took until this year for Mr. Garner to notice that Republicans are uniformly intellectually dishonest, he’s not very fucking perceptive.
That insight came to me around 1985.
leeleeFL
@joel hanes: I was born knowing about Republicans in 1951. My Pop had a saying: A working man who votes Republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Roger Moore: That sounds delicious. I love orange marmalade.
Miss Bianca
@Other MJS: That.Was.Awesome.
And yet more evidence, sorry Adam and Betty, for *why* I will never, ever, be moving to Florida.