WHAT ARE THEY?!.....

Been searching for the answer online.....NO LUCK! What the heck are these guys?! I am pretty sure that they are beetles, but I have never seen these before. They completely took over my arugula plant. As you can see from the leaves in the background they sucked the life out of each leaf in a short time. Not the kind of critter you want in your garden!! They have very distinctive markings.....any guesses?

LET IT BEE.....LET US "PRAY".....

I am enjoying the abundance of "critters" in my gardens this year. I can't remember seeing more butterflies, bees, birds of all kinds. Haven't been able to get his photo yet, but we have a hummingbird
moth making an appearance for the first time in our yard. I've only seen one hummingbird at a time. Kathy gave me a beautiful hummer feeder, but I think he likes the "natural" food better. Glad to see my favorite
bug, the praying mantis. They are so animated! Even though I shared my watermelon with this guy he still
insisted on jumping on me and crawling up to the top of my head. Bob managed to gently get him off and put him on the geranium just before I snapped this photo.

HOT HOT HOT!!!......

Festus has about had it with this years weather extremes. He had to go through the record breaking Winter
without his "winter outfit" and standing in the garden this summer has been just BRUTAL! He handles it well though. I haven't heard him complain......yet!

AUGUST BOUNTY.....

Despite this being the "year of weather extremes" my gardens are doing good. My "Supersonic" slicing tomato has lived up to it's name. The plant just keeps growing! Since I planted nearly a month early this year, I thought they would "poop out" by now! Even with the little beastie that gets into the base of the zuchinni plant, it has produced more fruit than any squash plant I have ever grown. To celebrate Ariel's
birthday I made a decadent cream of tomato-basil soup----MM-MM-GOOD!! Can't beat the roma tomatoes for cooking! Bob and I picked a large bowl of grape tomatoes this morning. The green beans are flowering so we should have some beans before long. The peppers are growing well and are starting to turn yellow orange and red.

IMPORTED FROM TEXAS....

One day this Spring I got a little package from Ted & Joyce, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, who live
in Dallas Texas. Inside I found a sandwich size baggie. Inside of that was a wet paper towel. Inside of that was 5 volunteer seedlings from "Farmer Ted's" pepper plant from last year. I was amazed that they survived
the trip, still moist and healthy. I have two plants and gave Ole and Kathy each a plant too. I love the black
leaves and the peppers look more like berries. A very interesting plant! Ted says the peppers are VERY
HOT so I won't be eating any, but it is one of the prettiest plants I have ever grown!