I have nothing to report but it is hot as hell and the wet spring has paid off in one regard- there are a TON of fireflies.
War for Ukraine Day 1,215: A Brief Monday Night Update
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Scout211
I’m so envious. That is one of the few things that I really miss about living in the Midwest. Fireflies are so magical. Sadly, are no fireflies in California.
mali muso
Lots of fireflies here in Virginia too. And our new dog (rescue hound) just got skunked in the backyard. So yeah…what an adventurous evening we are having.
Elizabelle
@mali muso: Got to love the hounds. They are the best doggos out there.
Jay
@mali muso:
Hydrogen peroxide, not tomato juice.
Rusty
The Supreme Court has completely abdicated its responsibility to the rule of law. Between last week and this week, the reactionary six are just evil.
RevRick
It’s so hot around Allentown that I ran into Shadrach, Meshsach, and Abednego today.
mayim
Not many fireflies here in Maine these days. Or dragonflies, which were also common when I was young. On the other hand, leeches are almost never seen in the lakes I swim in anymore, so that’s positive.
Google sent a notification that tomorrow would be the hottest day here in central Maine in 25 years. Getting an air conditioner for my apartment had been on my to do list for this summer but getting laid off [thanks, DOGE /s] took that off the list.
Yes, I have a GoFundMe because of the lay-off ~ Trump/MAGA’s attack on cultural institutions trickled down to me
One of the few upsides to not working more than full-time: I get to read the posts and comments here before they are completely stale.
Jackie
@mali muso:
OY! Been there… :-(
mayim
@mali muso:
Your poor dog! Changes with a new home and then a skunk… ugh!
Glad you rescued him/her. Rescued is the best breed.
RevRick
@mali muso:
@Jay:
Thiols and thioesters and mercaptans, oh my!
Scout211
@Jay: AKC recommended DIY formula.
DIY Skunk Shampoo Recipe
1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide solution (found at any pharmacy or supermarket)
1/4 cup of baking soda
1 teaspoon of liquid dishwashing soap
Wearing rubber gloves, work the solution into your dog’s coat, washing them thoroughly. Don’t leave the solution on their fur for too long, since peroxide can bleach the fur. Then rinse completely. You might have to repeat the process more than once.
If you don’t have these ingredients on hand, the next best option is one of the old-time remedies, like white vinegar diluted with water. While not as effective, it may still help clean some of the skunk oils off of your dog and reduce the smell.
Kristine
Fireflies spotted here in NE Illinois, too!
And I’ve been hearing a wood thrush if I’m outside around dusk. Beautiful song.
persistentillusion
@mali muso: I’ve found that the best remedy is dry Tide detergent rubbed into the fur then a bath. Ask me how I know,
kindness
I miss fireflies. As has already been said, none out here.
Kristine
One summer, Gaby got skunked 5 times. She eventually learned to circle at greater distances to avoid the worst of the spray, but the terrier in her (and maybe the husky) refused to just leave it be.
Sister Golden Bear
Fireflies are one thing I do miss about the East Coast.
Thanks to a break in the heat in the Sierras, I’m taking a brief mental health break up here through tomorrow.
Today I went up to Sonora Pass, elevation 9,624 feet, where it was a balmy 43 degrees with hail-snow. Didn’t go hiking because of the thunderstorms (the source of the hail-snow), but a much-needed scenic drive
RevRick
@kindness: There has been alarming decline in insect populations worldwide. Insects are crucial in pollinating, recycling of plant matter, and as a source of food for amphibians, fish and birds.
I distinctly recall that as a kid, every time we stopped at a gas station for a fill-up we would have to squeegee the bug smoosh off the windshield. I can’t remember the last time I had to do that.
KrackenJack
@RevRick:
Does that qualify as a Biblical deep cut? The Son of God always gets left out, like Shemp or Zeppo. Maybe if he had a cool name like Aziraphale…
Eric S.
@Kristine: I can’t recall seeing a firefly since I moved to the big city (Chicago).
RevRick
@KrackenJack: Calling it a deep cut is giving it way too much cred. More like lame preacher jokes.
WTFGhost
@Rusty: times like this, is the one time I ever “hear” what Stephen King describes as “a-yuh.” A pause, aaaah, then a yes-equivalent from the effing *diaphragm*, one without a well defined stop, like a “p” sound, so it goes on forever-ish, in a sense.
@mayim: What are you talking about, this thread was bigfooted… never mind. I don’t have the mean in me to sully the bright spots.
XeckyGilchrist
Happy to hear about the fireflies! I’m from the Western US and have rarely been east of the Rockies so I’ve only been around them a few times. Absolutely magical.
persistentillusion
@Kristine: Oooh, mine learned after getting twice skunked in a week. That was a lotta time in the shower with a really sulky heeler.
WTFGhost
@Scout211: I’ve seen some browncoats. Do they count?
frosty
I wandered out around 8:30 and we had a bunch of fireflies here, too, in South PA. I haven’t seen them much in the last few years so this is a treat.
frosty
@Jay: The one time I got skunked was before I knew about H2O2. It was late, the only place open was a liquor store. No tomato juice. I washed myself down with Bloody Mary mix.
pat
@RevRick: A few years ago I started to go out and photograph bugs on flowers. Got so many I had to buy more books to ID them. No more….. Went out a couple days ago and saw one monarch and no bees and no weird bugs, on a local prairie. (WI)
Oh, and we used to have fireflies around in the evening.
Scout211
@WTFGhost: What’s a browncoat?
Miss Bianca
@Scout211:
Nor Colorado – except I did see a few once, in Salida. I couldn’t quite believe it!
Miss Bianca
@RevRick: You mean…*you* were the fourth man in the fire?!
JaySinWa
@Miss Bianca: It sure sounds like he is saying he is hot stuff.
Tehanu
Me too. How about some photos, John?
mali muso
Thanks for all the de-skunking tips! We didn’t have any peroxide in the house so mixed up a big bucket of vinegar and dish soap, soaked him in that, scrubbed with baking soda and rinsed. Tomorrow, I’ll do a run to buy the peroxide as well as any enzyme based shampoos that might be helpful. My fault really, I thought he was out there inspecting the copious fireflies and didn’t consider the possibility of a dusk-time skunk run in. Fingers crossed he has learned not to chase them.
WTFGhost
@Scout211: A fan of the TV show “Firefly”.
JoyceH
@RevRick: Does the lack of smashed bugs on the windshield necessarily mean fewer bugs flying over the road? Perhaps it means more aerodynamic windshield design? Anyone here drive a 1950s/1960s car and want to report in?
RevRick
@Miss Bianca: And I wish I wasn’t. But then I think we all are feeling like we’ve been thrown into a fiery furnace by our very own Nebuchadnezzar.
Westyny
We just got back in from admiring our bumper crop of fireflies in our Hudson Valley pollinating field. It’s really magical when they get up in the trees. Georgia O’Keefe made a painting about that when she was staying at Lake George. Almost makes up for the anxiety over the paucity of bees.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Everybody back east is now getting the temps we had here in Denver last week and mostly over the weekend.
107 here last Saturday. But it was a ‘dry heat’.
And so is sticking you head in an oven.
Old Dan and Little Ann
We have had a lot more fireflies the last few Summers but it’s way too early this year so far. Rabbits and bunnies on the other hand…
RevRick
@JoyceH: I’m driving an SUV that’s basically a box on wheels.
More importantly, there have been scientific studies documenting the decline. I think the first one was done in the Black Forest in Germany where it was noticed by amateurs. It has since been seen in tropical forests.
When was the last time you saw a swarm of bugs around a porch light?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
People are overlooking insect gains…and I don’t mean this in a good way.
Over a 22+ year period back in Central Misery, we saw the Box Elder bug population explode over the years. Why? Winters never got cold enough, long enough, to kill off the bulk of the larvae. We went from having some in the late summer early fall to massive swarms of them over the front of the B&B.
Here in Denver, a generation ago, you didn’t have a) Box Elder Bugs, and b) Japanese Beetles. Now you have both because it doesn’t get cold enough, long enough in the winters.
The irony is that people here piss and moan about Japanese Beetles decimating their roses and yet think Virginia Creeper is the bees knees…and is a massive Japanese Beetle attractor. And it looks like shit.
Omnes Omnibus
Everyone needs this today.
mrmoshpotato
@Eric S.: Fireflies don’t seem to be as abundant as they were 20+ years ago. I think I saw a few last summer.
Not going outside to check with this heat. :)
mayim
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yummy! Everything in the video looked delicious.
Jackie
@mali muso: I had a cat that was VERY TERRITORIAL. He got so close to an intruding skunk that sprayed him, he frothed foam from his mouth and the area of his body that got hit directly actually bleached white. He had dark grey fur. Every time his fur got damp the skunk stink reappeared for a year plus before finally dissipating.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Scout211: I saw fireflies for the first time last summer one evening in New York state. Magical!
persistentillusion
@Omnes Omnibus: Thank you.
Ted Campbell
I think you meant lightning bugs.
Harrison Wesley
My only recent encounter with wildlife was coming out of the Burns Court Cinema in downtown Sarasota about a week ago. My friend and I were walking back to her car when a full-grown raccoon ran across the street in front of us. Not an area in which one expects that sort of wildlife
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Omnes Omnibus: I saw a post on Instagram about baker’s hints, and the woman said that commercial bakeries (at least the ones she’d worked at) had their ovens on 24/7, so her hint was to preheat an oven for AN HOUR before baking anything. Oh, and she also said to have everything at room temperature (butter, eggs, etc.) but I already knew that.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
Went to Costco to get supplies, past a Tesla in the parking lot, had a no Musk sticker on it as well as a second, “I bought it before Elon became First Lady”.
Omnes Omnibus
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): My participation in the baking process is consuming the end results.
opiejeanne
@Omnes Omnibus: you’re correct, we needed that. Wonderful, but it reminded me of some puff pastry languishing in my freezer.
I was wondering what that one was near the end, that just looked like pancake batter, and then blistered and bubbled, but the result was cut off before we got to see what it became.
Old Man Shadow
Andor was so good and now I’m ready to marathon Rogue One and the original trilogy a the earliest opportunity.
Soprano2
@Jay: Enzyme cleaner works well, too.
Soprano2
@RevRick: I’ve noticed the change, too.
Soprano2
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: That reminds me that for a few years we had a big Japanese beetle problem, but I haven’t seen any the past two years. I don’t know why.
It’s hot as Hades here, too. I was doing stuff on the back porch for a few minutes and was sweating profusely.
Jackie
Where were you when?
JaySinWa
@Jackie: Obviously Cassidy is in the thrall of big Pharma/s
prostratedragon
@Eric S.: As kids, we spent summer evenings watching and chasing them. To be sure, this was in quasisuburban north Roseland. But I think their population is down.
Redshift
I’ve seen a few fireflies in the yard so far. I need to go down to the creek in our neighborhood some night; that’s the prime location for big numbers. I hope they’ll still be there after it stops being stupid hot.
Kayla Rudbek
@JoyceH: I think it’s a decline in bug populations, as long road trips don’t get nearly as many bugs on the car compared to the 1970s-1980s.
Kelly
I’m a lifetime Oregonian. I’ve never seen fireflies or lightening bugs. I’m not likely to travel soon but when and where would I need to go to find them?
The northern lights was a bucket list sight I thought I’d have to travel to see. The recent solar activity brought them to my yard last year.
Jay
@Kelly:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/fireflies-of-the-usa-and-canada
YY_Sima Qian
I am glad to see that the Pakistani-Indian clash last month had not derailed the normalization of Sino-Indian relations. I guess the geopolitical logic has been strong enough on both sides:
Also a spate of high level meetings:
There have not been Indian journalists stationed in the PRC, & vice versa, for years.
YY_Sima Qian
LOL, it’s good to maintain a sense of humor in these trying times:
The same could be asked of the regime in Tehran.
prostratedragon
Gearing up for the next phase of culture war:
lowtechcyclist
My favorite Firefly is named Rufus. Hail, hail Freedonia!
Temp Decloaked Lurker
I’ve seen two lightning bugs this year (SE Michigan). I’m kind of worried.
YY_Sima Qian
It’s a pretty big stretch to term even vandalizing military equipment as terrorism:
More evidence of some of the European governments losing the plot when it comes to the Israel-Palestine issue:
WTFGhost
@Omnes Omnibus: OMG I *so* did *not* need this!!!
Sorry. It was pretty, But how often do you get fed a straight line like that?
sab
@Ted Campbell: Finally the correct word.
Betty Cracker
@Omnes Omnibus: Yum! It’s fascinating to watch a pithivier bake. I’ve only made one once (spinach and feta) but would like to experiment with other ingredients.
YY_Sima Qian
A sober analysis from the political fall out in Iran, in the wake of the Israel & US air campaign (link to the Economist article below):
The article suggests that the hardliners less inhibited by the terrible memories of the Iran-Iraq War are taking over the IRGC, & that the IRGC is sidelining both the theocrats & the technocrats. The Israeli-Iranian War (& the US’ intervention) has short circuited what had been internal debates w/in Iran about its posture & policy toward the region, even Israel. A military dictatorship may be less restrictive on social values, but more hardline in authoritarianism & FP.
Betty Cracker
Baud
@YY_Sima Qian:
That’s what right wingers say about hate crimes, so I am not a fan of this line of thinking.
Baud
Whoa
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Kelly: They’re common in Maryland and VA – basically the Mid-Atlantic. I never saw them growing up on the West side of Grand Rapids, MI but I think my parents get some in their neighborhood since they moved to Northeast side of town so it was probably a microclimate thing on the West side. I see way more in the DC suburbs though.
I have relatives with a place on Lake Erie in Ohio and that was the first place I saw them as a child. The tricky part is timing – they only illuminate/flash during mating season which happens usually around the end of June here but varies from year to year. How many there are is also variable – in a good year it’s spectacular but I’ve never had a year where we got completely skunked.
So a two week vacation somewhere around here from June 21 to July 2 you’d be pretty sure of seeing them providing you find a place with a good microclimate for them around nightfall.
sab
@JaySinWa: Having a medical degree with medical experience does that to people.
sab
@Baud: I wonder what kay thinks.
Baud
Looks like Trump will need to leave early again.
sab
I spent my childhood in coastal central Florida. My mom dragged us north to NE Ohio every summer.
The lightning bugs were magical. Florida has amazing animals and some startling bug, insect arachnid life. But nothing as magical as lightning bugs.
Betty Cracker
@sab: We used to catch them in ventilated jars as temporary pets and release them when called in for the night. Fun for us but probably not much fun for the bugs.
sab
@Betty Cracker: In Daytona we never saw them. My first sighting was at Grandma’s in Ohio.
Ormond/Daytona peninsula was probably too dry or too salty. My first sightings were in Ohio.
Lightning bugs to us. Apparently in New England they are fireflies.
MagdaInBlack
This is not fun. I woke up with a banger of a migraine and one look at Omnes delicious (under normal circumstances) baked goods turned it into a barfy banger migraine.
Upside is: day off to hide in my cave.
Betty Cracker
@sab: Now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen lightning bugs near a beach. They’re everywhere in my freshwater swamp, and when I was a kid in and around nearby towns, we’d see them hanging out around ditches, creeks and marshy spots.
@MagdaInBlack: Ugh! Hope you feel better soon!
MagdaInBlack
@Betty Cracker: Cannabis is the answer to this.
Baud
@MagdaInBlack:
Omnes is always terrorizing this blog with his baked goods. Feel better.
They Call Me Noni
@Omnes Omnibus: Magical, hypnotic and yummy!
satby
It was 79° at 5 am here. Going to be a hellishly hot day. With thunderstorms later to replenish the humidity, so we’ll have that going for us too.
eclare
@MagdaInBlack:
Oh no! Just go hide. Hope you feel better.
BarcaChicago
The fireflies are starting where I am in the Midwest: Chicago and Madison area in Wisconsin. They don’t start until late June normally. We have quite an abundance in both areas. I grew up calling them both lightning bugs and fireflies interchangeably – Although lightning bug may have come from summers at my grandmother‘s place in Missouri, where they also called crawfish “crawdads”.
Uncle Cosmo
In the late 1950s here in Baltimore there was a serious market for quantities of lightning bugs – IIRC the boffins at Johns Hopkins, hot on the trail of the secrets of bioluminescence, offered kids a quarter for every hundred (or maybe it was every half-gallon jar) they could catch and turn in. Which was serious toothdecaying change at the local candy stores (like “Mrs Moore’s” on the short walk up Holabird Avenue right before the elementary school). Anyhow there was a noticeable dip in nocturnal flashing for a few years…and I don’t think I’ve seen more than a handful since.
Matt McIrvin
@Uncle Cosmo: They’re threatened by pesticides, habitat loss, and apparently by light pollution, which makes sense if you think about it. They always seemed to be common in areas where there was a good dark sky.
YY_Sima Qian
I honestly don’t know how to react to this one (video through the link):
YY_Sima Qian
As a few Iranian missiles were launched after the ceasefire was supposed to have taken effect (probably because Iranian command & control is in shambles right now), Israel has been threatening to launch retaliation strikes. Trump just posted on Truth Social in all caps warning Israel to recall the planes & pilots, do not drop the bombs, or it would be a major violation of the ceasefire. JD Vance posted the screen cap on X w/o comment.
I guess Trump must really want that Nobel Peace Prize.
Gloria DryGarden
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: also the emerald ash borer. Coming soon.
I think they want us to treat our ash trees with some systemic thing, maybe it’s a neo nicotinoid, not sure. We have ash trees everywhere in Denver.
Paul in KY
@kindness: We have fireflies here in Central KY. Not near as many as when I was a lad (late 60s). Maybe 10% of that.
Paul in KY
@Kristine: I think Gaby might have been a bit dense for a dog.
MagdaInBlack
@Gloria DryGarden: In Chicagoland, they cut down all the ash trees the (very pretty) emerald ash borer liked. Hope they have a better plan for Denver.
SteverinoCT
I stepped outside at twilight to do some sitting in the sauna (AKA “outside”), and saw a bat. They used to be common before the fungal disease, but haven’t seen any for years. Replaced by swallows. So here’s hoping for a comeback. As for my sitting, the mosquitos shortly drove me back inside. More bats, ASAP!