7.11.2005 A few random thoughts on bugs (yes, this one is from Clay).
-->We thought that the onset of the monsoons would bring a bunch more mosquitoes -- wrong, it brought flies.
-->Indian flies are small, slow, and surprisingly dumb. They also bite Joyce and no one else.
-->Indian mosquitoes are small, quiet, extremely stealthy, and smart as a whip. They also do not seem to care if you have DEET or not.
-->Bug screens, regardless of how tightly fitting they look--they are not.
-->I just got back from camping, and out in the woods there are no mosquitoes--on the 4th floor in our apartment, tons.
-->Brought home a millipede that was about 6 inches long from camping, he was hiding in my dirty laundry found him today. That one freaked Joyce out.
-->There is some kind of trichopteran migration taking place in our flat, they are coming in by the dozen (and these are big suckers), harmless, but big.
-->OK, now the next day (12th) Went for a walk around the apartment complex and the trichopterans are dead all over the street, by the millions. Many of them are have been torn from their wings and the wings are blowing around like leaves on a fall day. –I have a few theories about what is going on with this, but will not bore you unless you want to get my thoughts.
-->I have seen no spiders.
--> Our apartment seems to be ant free, but I see them in almost all the other structures we go into—especially the cabin in the woods. They do not seem to bother anyone and no one bothers them—nature’s vacuum cleaners.
-->Walking sticks are cool—and they really look like sticks.
-->Found a little red (bright red) insect Sunday, maybe twice the size of a lady bug, but they have a soft velvety coating instead of hard shell (looks like a coleopteran, feels like a velvet sponge.
-->Found a big yellow moth that had a wingspan greater than the width of my hand.

OK, that is enough for now.
Clay