Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Not on topic at all: Anyone into bugs??

Icky and 'Erie,


Ummmmmm, you're all gonna smack me but no , it wasn't THAT "extravagant" looking...the ovipositor wasn't long and hair like, it was shorter and stumpier.

I really think it was similar to a HUGE bald-faced hornet but with an ovipositor. It had white stripes on its abdomen (I dunno about the thorax). Maybe it was like Kat posted, a horntail??? But it was also more hornet-like than the horntail.


AAAGH!! I'm so picky.


However, I only saw it from the underside, too. It was crawing on my window and I was just looking at it, fascinated and repulsed all at the same time!! It was pretty cool!

I betcha it wouldn't even sting. Now I feel really BAD for killing it


Rox

"I have seen the beginning and the end of our story.....the tale is crude and ill-conceived. We must rewrite the ending of it, you and I."
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html

Okay, second attempt. Another Ichneumon: itoplectis has the white stripes and a shorter (less extravagant) ovipositor. I don't think the horntail would get as large as your visitor.
http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=0014172

THAT is definitely THE closest thing to what I saw. It definitely had the very large compound eyes and the short thick antennae as on this critter.

Unfortunately, as I said, I only saw it from two very bad angles, 1) from the underside, and 2) shriveled up in a horribly fried ball after I sprayed it with Raid.....which I feel very bad for doing right now.


But THAT is probably what I saw. It was so shocking as I've never even seen anything like that before, and here in the woods of PA we see some mighty strange things...no, not counting the people....

Thanks so much for your research, 'Erie! And it's totally cool you're so into bugs. What didi you do your bug projects on, I'm curious? Strictly indentification or some other field?

You learn something every day!!!

Rox

"I have seen the beginning and the end of our story.....the tale is crude and ill-conceived. We must rewrite the ending of it, you and I."
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html

Hehehehe! I like your wife, Ian. She has the right idea. I'm not too squirmish about most things, except spiders and BIG insects that could KILL me if they wanted to.
I don't mind mice, rats, frogs, oppossum, you know, the things alot of women shriek at.

Spiders though.... The first panic attack I ever had was when I was about 9 years old.
My mom told me to "go look in the toilet". When I looked down, there was this HUGE spider (nearly the size of a volkswagon bug) swimming it's way around the bowl.
I thought I was going to die. Honestly. I couldn't breathe or stop from screaming.
Nice mommy dearest, eh? hehehehe

Now, I want to hear the bluejay story... but only if the birdie lives, ok?

Stacie

Okay, the bluejay story.

Michelle was about 6 or 7 months pregnant with my older daughter, Samantha, I was at work and the phone rings, it's Michelle, and she's hysterical crying. I ask what's up (a dangerous thing to ask a pregnant, hysterical woman) and she said "There's a bluejay in the bathtub. Okay, I can handle many oddities, but I had to ask, "how did a bluejay get into the bathroom, let alone the bathtub. Apparently, the cat got it on the front lawn and took it into the bathroom, when Michelle went into the bathroom the cat ran out. So, I asked Michelle, what the matter was, why not just chase the bird out. She was having no part of that and told me that I have to come home and do it. Fair enough, but I tried to reason with her. I explained the simple logistics of me being an hour and a half away, even with good traffic, and could it wait until I got home at my usual time. "But I have to pee" she said, and anyone that's been pregnant or had a pregnant wife knows what it means when a pregnant woman has to pee. (It has to be right there and then). So I told her to go ahead. (We only had one bathroom in that house). "I can't with the bird in there." I told her to close the shower door. She would have none of that. Okay, I asked if she wanted me to call my neighbor, Dave, whom I knew was on vacation that week. "No." Hmm, what does she want me to do? teleport there? No amount of reasoning would get through to her, but finally the urge to pee out-weighed the fear of teh bird and she chased the bird out herself. Yes, Stacie, it was still alive.


Ian


Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. --Benjamin Franklin

Great stories Ian!



"The most beautiful stones have been tossed by the wind and washed by the waters and polished to brilliance by life's strongest storms."

OMG, Lorne Green she ain't, I guess

Rox

"I have seen the beginning and the end of our story.....the tale is crude and ill-conceived. We must rewrite the ending of it, you and I."
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html

I'm not that far from PA, and we've been seeing several weird "bugs" here, too. The big weird-looking ones are usually queens. Yellow jackets, wasps, hornets, carpenter bees, bumblebees, mud daubers, even honey bees. They all like my front porch. Our weather has been most unusual this year and has probably contributed to the problem.

Hugs,

Cindy

I am only one; but still I am one.
I cannot do everything.
But still I can do something;
I will not refuse to do the something I can do.
Helen Keller

Yes, VERY unusual weather. All the humidity is perfect for mosquito breeding All the folks around here are saying that we're in for a BAD winter. I think so too!!

Rox

If I'm ever reincarnated, I wanna come back as Lara.
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html

It sounds like you're dealing with issues like me and my spiders. Some of them are so huge and scary.
Ever come across a stink bug?
Awhile back there was a bug in my bedroom and I asked Eric to please get rid of it for me, so he got a tissue and picked it up. A couple seconds later there was this terrible smell and I blamed it Eric. Telling him he should go in the other room and do that...not in the bedroom. Well, of course he denied it, and I thought I heard it all when he blamed it on the bug. Come to find out...it was the bug. Those things are nasty!!

Hugs,
Lisa