I snapped this photo the evening of March 22, 2015.It is of the Moon and Venus. The Moon is the larger of the two celestial bodies in the center of the photo.
It is said that the third brightest object in the sky - other
than the sun and moon - is the planet Venus.Arguably, I happen to think that the third consistently brightest object
in the sky is the International Space Station (ISS). But that's just an opinion and probably not worth arguing.
In any event, Venus is going to be at its brightest
tonight. This is referred to as its greatest illuminated extent. Yup, for the entirety of 2020
tonight’s the night.
Watch the western
horizon immediately following sunset to observe Venus rising. You can catch the show with the naked eye but a pair of binoculars might make it more fun.
The
tree swallows have returned this week, the peeper chorale is warming-up
in the ponds and today the brown thrasher has returned to the pulpit
atop the apple tree.
Ants are the ultimate metaphor for the working
class.Just like honey bees - ants function as
parts of a whole. They cannot and do not survive as individuals - they survive
as members of a group.Ant society is a
fascinating example of a superorganism.
Ants enjoy a complicated social system complete with its own division of
labor.Workers gather food, maintain and
defend the nest and tend eggs, larvae and pupae.Members of the colony are generally all female. For a
very short period prior to mating season they produce males.The males perform no labor and following
mating any that remain are banished from the colony or killed by the
sisterhood.
Nature is a cruel
mother.But I digress.
A single anthill can range from less than
an inch high to over ten feet in height.This might possibly be the largest of anthills here at The Platz.Weighing-in at a couple feet in height and
more than five feet across - it is a whopper.
Anthills are the by-product of thousands
of busy ants excavating a tunnel network below the surface of the ground.That mound is the result – as the excavation
progresses the dirt is disposed above ground.Judging from the size of this mound there has to be a vast tunnel
complex beneath.
The mound itself also contains a network
of tunnels and chambers – locations for food storage, nurseries and dormitories
for the workers.
This mound was particularly bustling place as it was
a warming spring day.The colony
had awakened from its overwinter slumber.With the arrival of cold weather last year the colony closes the
entrances to their tunnel network and goes deep underground and huddles
protectively around the queen.Like
other critters the ants prepare for their hibernation by bulking-up in
the fall with extra calories before they confine themselves in their bunker.With the arrival of spring they’re back to
work.
I made an inquiry of the
Insect Diagnostic Lab at the UW-Madison Department of Entomology for assistance in identifying
these hard-working ants and to address the social structure of an ant colony. Here is what I heard back:
Given the size of the mound, it must be one
of our species of field ants (Formica species).This is a diverse genus with a bunch of species in the Great Lakes
region.Each species can vary in terms
of the habitat it prefers, the size and structure of the nest/colony, and other
factors.Some species create
"small" nests that might be the size of a dinner plate or
larger.Other species can create massive
mounds many feet across.
Ants are
definitely fascinating though.Some
"primitive" types of ants have small colonies with little
specialization within the nest.Other
ants species can have lots of specialization, including workers of different
sizes for different tasks (soldiers for fighting and defending the colony,
smaller workers for gathering resources, etc.).In many ants, the queen (or queens) coordinate the function of the
colony and lay eggs.Workers (all females)
do all the dangerous work of leaving the colony to gather resources.Males typically don't do much, other than
play a role in mating.
In the grand scheme of things, being "social" and having a
colony is rare among insects.Some types
of bees and wasps display eusocial behaviour (most bees and wasps aren't
social), ants also display social behaviour, and a few other isolated examples
exist amongst the insects as well.
Ants are cool. Who knew there was so much to know about this busy insect. So do The Buddha proud. Next time you're walking down the sidewalk - don't step on the ants.
I admit to pushing the edge of the planting envelope but life under quarantine has really got me raring to get out in the garden and get my hands dirty.
Planted English peas and two kinds of radishes. These are most definitely cool weather crops and they'll do fine unless they're drowned repeatedly by rain.
I also planted four kinds of hipster lettuces. They're not specifically cool weather varieties but they were seed tapes left over from last year.
Meanwhile in a stream of consciousness there is this...
And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out
in a minute - one minute - and is there a way we can do something like that, by
injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on
the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So you’re going to have to
use medical doctors with — but it sounds interesting to me.
Reckitt Benckiser -the British company
responsible for making Lysol, warned today against the internal administration
of their products after Donald Trump suggested injecting disinfectants into the
human body as a potential cure for the coronavirus.
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