Happy New Year!

Oops! I almost forgot I had a blog post to write tonight!

Happy New Year, Bug Fans! This greeting is a day late because I didn't go out looking for bugs on New Year's Day, because, like the rest of the week, it was too freaking cold. Not that I am such a wimp, but the temperature hasn't been above freezing since... well, my last blog post, which was almost a week ago. I am pretty sure there's no point in looking for bugs if the temperature is below freezing.

 Sigh... Is it too soon to be longing for springtime?

Today it was a balmy 39ºF, so since I was outside anyway working on something, I figured I might as well walk around and look for some bugs. I have been curious for a while about what the effect would be on bug-finding of a day a bit above freezing after an extended time below, and today was the day to find out. There have been a few days so far this winter that didn't get warmer than about 34ºF, but there hasn't been a stretch of almost a week below freezing, and though 39ºF is not exactly warm, it was worth a shot to look, I thought.

Then I realized that it really wasn't worth a shot, because there was nothing out there. At least, that is how it appeared. But eventually I found this:

 One solitary gnat on the garden shed.

I actually had to go inside to get my camera to take a picture - I so little expected to find anything that I hadn't brought it outside. And then I wondered if it was worth it for a gnat. But for the purposes of documenting bug life in the backyard in the winter, I did.

I checked on the Cricket Under the Board, too:

 Still alive and active. If you can call sitting in a hole under a piece of wood active. I didn't want that piece of wood to be sitting there all winter, but I can't exactly move it now. This is the punishment of not cleaning up completely after the summer project in the summer. Now I have this piece of wood sitting next to the house until spring thaw. Anyway, seeing as the temperature is above freezing I did expect the cricket to still be 'awake,' but I checked anyway.

I found a couple of these on a tree:

 Small cocoonish blobs of silk, with something lumpy underneath. They are only about 1/8 of an inch wide - the cocoons, not the lumps. Those are much smaller, obviously. I don't know if these are cocoons, or if they are eggs sacs, or what.

I found a ladybug on the roof...

And another in the fish tank later, doing the backstroke. It was duly rescued and sent outside.

Tomorrow we are expecting a couple of inches of snow, followed by a few more inches of rain. That is to say, the forecast says so. I never completely expect what the forecast says we are going to have. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.