Fall is Arriving

It's that time of year. It's been a long time coming with our record breaking 90 degree days in September. In fact, I'm really loving that I can say we swam in October. Okay, floated. We never actually swim.

So, fall is here. I've run across a few unusual things to share.

 I have no idea what type of tree this is.

 Here are the leaves. It sure is beautiful. Such bright yellow.

I hate stink bugs. I think this must be a "queen" or something. This one was on Nancy's porch. What I hate the most is that they are coming inside now. I don't know anything about stink bugs or their habits. All I know is that for 20 years, we didn't have them. For the past 4 or 5 years, they have been disgusting. They come in the house and fly at me every night. I'm fanatical about getting and flushing them! I always scream when they dive-bomb me. I can't tell you how many times I've been reading in bed and they fly at me because of the light. I scream, jump out of bed, turn on the light, capture and flush. I go back to bed and repeat. Butch can usually sleep through it all!

I found this beautiful, dead moth in the living room. Now these are the kinds of insects I can tolerate. Dead ones!

 I discovered this flower on our Route 66 trip. I have never seen it before. I used my "plant identifier app" to find out what it is. I had never heard of it. which tells me that it cannot take our hot weather.

Speaking of our hot weather, I always love little happy surprises like this. A little petunia growing by itself on the front porch. Now the miracle of this is that it's growing without soil---maybe its little roots have found some between the mortar (or my porch is so dirty)---and it's growing without water!! On the other hand, the huge basket of petunias on the wall above is half dead---even though we DO water it. It's just too hot around here and by September, we're tired of watering every day!

And then there's this. Look really close. Do you see it?

Do you think that's a termite? I found it on the hearth in the family room. I'm not too worried as we have termite protection with our exterminator. Still, I hate it. Don't get me wrong. I love nature. I just don't want it inside my house!!