Mystery solved

KellyRae was first to guess a bumblebee mimic and Jena narrowed it down. It is, indeed, a robber fly. I'm thinking it's a Southern Bee Killer, Mallophora orcina. According to Entomology Circular No. 366, 1994, honeybees make up 80% or more of its diet.

Knowing this puts me in a dilemna. I find myself kinda wanting to mash the next one I see, but I reckon I won't be able to bring myself to do that. After all, he's just doing what comes naturally. And if the honeybees weren't in such dire straits, I'd not give it a second thought. Maybe I should take a poll. Should I swat or live and let live?

Monday Morning Mystery

Southron Sunday - quotes from the WoNA

'I have fought against the people of the North because I believed they were seeking to wrest from the South its dearest rights. But I have never cherished toward them bitter or vindictive feelings, and have never seen the day when I did not pray for them.'
-- Robert E. Lee

Florida Factoid Friday

The first pottery in Florida was opened at Knox Hill, near present day DeFuniak Springs, in 1859. The pottery produced alkaline and salt glazed pottery typical of that made in the South in the early 19th Century.

Picture credit: Old Florida Pottery

Mystery solved

FC got it again. I actually thought this one would be a little harder. HA!


This volunteer showed up next to our bird feeders. I'd love to plant a whole field of them, but the ones I plant never do as well as those planted by the birds. Maybe I should just stick a few dozen feeders around the back forty. 8-]

Monday Morning Mystery

Southron Sunday - quotes from the WoNA

.

'I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war,

but I could not. The North was mad and blind,

would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came.'
- Jefferson Davis

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Support your local pollinator

The third annual National Pollinator Week will be held 22-28 June this year.

Florida Factoid Friday

On 19 January 1977, snow fell as far south as Homestead.
This was a first in the history of south Florida and has never happened again.

The story, in many newspapers, overshadowed Carter's inauguration.

Mystery solved

Yes, Jena was first to correctly guess moth.
Sorry I was so late geting back to this one. We had no AC for 2 days this week, both of which saw temps over 100°. Needless to say, I wasn't eager to spend much time near anything that generated heat.

It's Nature Photography Day!

Just found out. Reckon I oughta get out there in the 100° heat and snap something. 8-]

Monday Morning Mystery

Florida Factoid Friday

The movie Ulee's Gold was filmed in Wewahitchka. Northwest Florida is the main producer of Tupelo honey with the Florida Panhandle handling most production. Tupelo honey is produced from the blossoms of the white Ogeechee tupelo tree, which only blooms for 2-3 weeks every year. The beehives are kept on the edge of swamps or near rivers on elevated platforms or floatation devices to prevent flooding.

The Apalachicola River Basin has become known as the Tupelo Honey Capital of the world. Wewahitchka, FL, locally called “Wewa”, is the unofficial town to represent the origin of this premier gourmet honey. This small region in the panhandle of Florida, where the Apalachicola and Chipola Rivers converge, is home to nearly all the Tupelo Honey Production in the United States. It is one of the few areas where the Ogeechee Tupelo grows profusely enough to harvest tupelo as a monofloral honey.

Mystery solved

Jena guessed, magnolia having been ruled out, that it is a water lily.

Fragrant waterlily, (AKA American waterlily, AKA Alligator Bonnet) Nymphaea odorata.

This one was found at St Marks Wildlife Refuge, floating among dozens of its water-sisters.

Monday Morning Mystery

Southron Sunday - quotes (about) the WoNA

'The Gettysburg speech was at once the shortest and the most famous oration in American history...the highest emotion reduced to a few poetical phrases. Lincoln himself never even remotely approached it. It is genuinely stupendous. But let us not forget that it is poetry, not logic; beauty, not sense. Think of the argument in it. Put it into the cold words of everyday. The doctrine is simply this: that the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg sacrificed their lives to the cause of self-determination -- that government of the people, by the people, for the people, should not perish from the earth. It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue . The Union soldiers in the battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of their people to govern themselves.'

-- H.L. Mencken

Florida Factoid Friday

The largest national estuary preserve in America is in Florida at Apalachicola.

It spans 250,000 acres with the largest diversity of reptiles and amphibians in North America.

Chef Troll's Drunk Food Throwdown

Well, thought I wouldn't make it, didn't ya? Yeah, me too also. 8-]
It's been one wild and crazy spring and summer promises to be much the same, only way hotter.
Anyhow, we're not drinkers, so 'drunk food' is a vague concept, but I figured I'd give it a go. And Duller was very happy to find me elbow deep in meatballs when he got home tonight. This 'recipe' is always a big hit and easy enough to throw together for just about any occasion. I figger, if you've been 'partying' all night, you're not gonna want anything too complicated.

Start with a large bottle of ketchup and a 2-litre 7-Up. Yep, that's all you need for one of the best meatball sauces ever.

Pour in the whole bottle of ketchup and about 2/3-3/4 of the 7-Up. Let simmer about 30-45 minutes.

Normally, I'd make my own meatballs, but it's just way too hot to do that much cooking, so I took a shortcut.

Drop the meatballs in and simmer another hour or so. the longer, the better. The sauce will thicken, if it lasts long enough.

DS topped his sandwich with American cheese and pizza seasoning.

Duller opted for the mozzarella and Greek seasoning.

I had a dessert planned, but nobody had room. Maybe next time.
Now go check out the other entries... from people who actually know what they're doing. 8-]

Mystery solved

KellyRae narrowed it down and guessed yucca.

Though it looks like a small palm, it's more closely related to the lilies. I found these bodacious bloomers at the refuge last week. The plants die after flowering and fruiting, but produce lateral buds that start new plants around the original.

The flowers of many yucca varieties are edible. They can be eaten raw or cooked. Fire up Google and you'll find some amazing recipes. However, you should NEVER eat wild plants unless you REALLY know EXACTLY what you've harvested and EXACTLY how safe - or otherwise - it is!

Monday Morning Mystery - new clue

Monday Morning Mystery