Ooh. Their fear is very validating!

One Thanksgiving when I was a youngster and living with my parents, I walked downstairs from my room for dinner and Billy Corgan was sitting at and playing my piano in the living room.

Thank you! I was so fortunate to get to study them. I did observe kleptoparasitism. However, I would often find them on abandoned spider webbing. Would also occasionally find the first instars taking small midges trapped in the dew on the hairy stems of alumroot.

Used to find these tiny Reduviidae doing the same thing.

Probably not a singular reason. But in regard to editor pools, indirectly…maybe.

…or it could be related to departmental consolidations?

…also wish @bsky.app could one-up the old Twitter and give us a post edit function. I have big, clumsy thumbs. Lol

Had a great uncle whom everyone called “Duffy” and who’s real first name I think was Charles. I also once knew someone with the first name of ZB and those were not initials.

Sure!

Oye! Not! Do not handle them without due safety measures!! They be little, but their bite hurts. Not bullet-ant hurt, but definitely not pleasant. At least based on my experience.

PSA—And if you dare to pick them up by their ‘wheel’, note that their stylets extend well beyond the length of their beak. Probably best to handle them without due safety measures!

Not so much of a journey as a project to convert a non-productive lawn into something more useful. The beds were filled with compost from a local supplier. The beds are about 18 inches tall to accommodate the slope and to improve overwintering of future perennials.