What likes mint? Oh, so many things!

[owlice]

None of these are great, but they do show the relative sizes of three of the many different wasp-type insects which are all over the mints in what I call my herb garden. (I took the camera outside to try to get a picture or two of the Buckeye Butterfly that was out there, but could I do that? Nooooo; he took off the second the camera appeared.)

Most of the wasp-type insects ignore all other blossoms -- they don't like oregano, sage, rosemary, basil, nor any non-herb flowers. They come only for the mints.

Little waspy thing:
[attachment=2]MintInsect1.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Medium waspy thing:
[attachment=1]MintInsect2.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Big waspy thing, and how this one doesn't snap into two pieces, I don't know:
[attachment=0]MintInsect3.jpg[/attachment][/i]

[Beyond]

Ooh, the big waspy thing looks just like a mean tempered on hot days look at it twice and it'll sting you mud wasp. Need i say more??

[BMAONE23]

I like Mint

[owlice]

beyond, it might be a mud wasp; I thought they wouldn't sting unless directly threatened, though. Despite having dozens, maybe even hundreds, of these various wasps in the mints, I've never been stung by one.

I often have another wasp-thing that is wicked cool-looking; it's black with red markings, about the size of the mud wasp or perhaps a little bigger. I saw only one today and couldn't get a shot of it.

BMAONE23, lol; love that money, hmm?

[neufer]

<<The Wasps (Greek: Σφῆκες / Sphēkes) was an Aristophanes play brought out in 422 B.C under the phony name of Philonides. The purpose of the Wasps was to satirize the love of litigation common to the Athenians, whose delight it was to spend their time in the law-courts and to live on the judicial fees which Pericles had established, and which Cleon was pledged to maintain. In the Wasps, a father, Philocleon, who, as his name denotes, is warmly attached to Cleon, has surrendered the management of his affairs to his son Bdelycleon--the word meaning the detester of Cleon. The son regrets his father's fondness for judicial business, and weans him from it partly by establishing a law-court at home, in which the house-dog is tried for stealing a Sicilian cheese, with all the formalities of a regular process in the dicasterion. In the second half of the play Philocleon is induced to turn his attention to music and literature, whereupon he is congratulated by the chorus.>>

[Beyond]

beyond, it might be a mud wasp; I thought they wouldn't sting unless directly threatened, though. Despite having dozens, maybe even hundreds, of these various wasps in the mints, I've never been stung by one.

I often have another wasp-thing that is wicked cool-looking; it's black with red markings, about the size of the mud wasp or perhaps a little bigger. I saw only one today and couldn't get a shot of it.

BMAONE23, lol; love that money, hmm?

You are fortunate if the mint mellows them out. I do not have any mint, so i have to be careful on what i move on hot days, incase one of them is is in there some where, or like you say--feels threatened. Also, you are farther south so you will see things that i do not. (YEA!)

[Ann]

What likes mint? Me! Right now I'm nibbling on a delicious mint praline covered in dark chocolate. My best friend grows some delicious mint in her garden, and though I haven't seen any wasps around it (but there are hundreds of bumblebees around other flowers in her garden) her mint is so delicious when she uses it in cooking and baking. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Delightful images, Owlice!

Ann

[BMAONE23]

and vital if you want a Mojito to bring out the captain in you

[orin stepanek]

It's been awhile since I had some mint ice cream! Yum! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7REuu5-iRA

[neufer]

<<In Greek mythology, Menthe (also Minthe, Mintha or Mentha; Greek: Μίνθη or Μένθη) was a naiad associated with the river Cocytus. She was dazzled by Hades' golden chariot and was about to be seduced by him [Hades = Philo-n(a)i(a)des?] had not Queen Persephone intervened and metamorphosed Menthe into the pungently sweet-smelling mint, which some call hedyosmus. The –nth– element in menthe is characteristic of a class of words borrowed from a pre-Greek language: compare acanthus, labyrinth, Corinth, etc.. In ancient Greece, mint was used in funerary rites, together with rosemary and myrtle, and not simply to offset the smell of decay; mint was an element in the fermented barley drink called the kykeon that was an essential preparatory entheogen for participants in the Eleusinian mysteries.>>

Here's a thought: how many of you guys/gals aren't in the 99th percentile in intelligence?

How about if us Asterisk guys/gals who aren't in the
99th percentile in intelligence form our own club called Menthe.
Menthe would contain absolutely no bright stars.

Our logo would Joe Btfsplk with the Large Magellanic Cloud over his head.

<<Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher. Mensa means "table" in Latin as is symbolized in the organization's logo.>>

<<Mensa is a constellation in the southern sky, created in the eighteenth century. Its name is Latin for table. Other than the south polar constellation of Octans, it is the most southerly of constellations. As a result, it is essentially unobservable from the Northern Hemisphere. Mensa contains part of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Mensa contains no bright stars, with Alpha Mensae its brightest star at a barely visible magnitude 5.09, making it the faintest constellation in the entire sky. Alpha Mensae is a solar-type star (class G5 V) 33 light-years from Earth, and is considered a good prospect for harboring an Earth-like planet. Pi Mensae, on the other hand, while also solar-type (G1) and at 59 light-years, has been found to have a large gas giant in an eccentric orbit crossing the habitable zone, which would effectively rule out the existence of any habitable planets.>>

--------------------------------------------
Alpha Menthae: Art Neuendorffer

[BMAONE23]

I never felt the need to join Mensa myself. It seems like a club where they tend to pat themselves on the back.

[neufer]

I never felt the need to join Mensa myself.
It seems like a club where they tend to pat themselves on the back.

While simultaneously rubbing their butt with the other hand.

Q: Why is it difficult to rub your stomach and pat your head at the same time?

A: Because most people have only one dominate side
of the brain that they use. Such as right or left handed.
If you are an experienced piano player, you have taught yourself to be both
right and left handed and doing the pat head rub tummy trick will be easy for you.

[bystander]

I never felt the need to join Mensa myself. It seems like a club where they tend to pat themselves on the back.

I have a friend whose wife is a member of Mensa. We have regular poker parties at their house. One weekend they invited me to help teach some members of the local chapter of Mensa how to play Texas Hold'em. If these people are representative of Mensa, then obviously my friend's wife isn't. They seemed to me to be dull witted and lacking in common sense. It was a surprise to me that such supposedly highly intelligent people were so hard to teach poker. They just didn't get it. I definitely have no desire to join their ranks.

[Beyond]

The -nth- element

Shouldn't that be "The -mth- element?

[neufer]

The -nth- element

Shouldn't that be "The -mth- element?

I Menthe what I said and I said what I Menthe.

[Beyond]

The -nth- element

Shouldn't that be "The -mth- element?

I Menthe what I said and I said what I Menthe.

Ok that's -thol- i wanted to know.

[owlice]

Finally, a pic of a Buckeye; not the greatest, but as the Buckeyes which visit the mints tend to fly away the moment I have a camera in my hand, I'm grateful this one stayed put for a second!

[attachment=0]buckeye on mint2.jpg[/attachment][/i]

[orin stepanek]

Owlice; your moth picture reminded me. The other day I was in the back yard with my dog. I have a lot of morning glories growing on the fence and it attracts a lot of butterflies. I stuck my hand out and a black swallowtail crawled on my finger. I wish someone was around to take a picture of it. After a few moments I lifted it up and let it fly away. It was really a cool experience.

[owlice]

Oh, Orin, how lovely to be graced with a butterfly on your finger!

When on our honeymoon in Scotland, my first husband and I had a guidebook that listed activities in categories; I paid little attention to the categories, just zeroing in on things that looked interesting instead. It occurred to me about half-way through the trip that most of the activities that looked good to us were listed under "children's activities." The activities included a stop at a butterfly garden and exhibit; it was beautiful and why the authors/editors thought that and other activities wouldn't much appeal to adult travelers, I have no idea. (Maybe they were just stiff poops with no sense of wonder and fun!)

[Beyond]

Owlice; your moth picture reminded me. The other day I was in the back yard with my dog. I have a lot of morning glories growing on the fence and it attracts a lot of butterflies. I stuck my hand out and a black swallowtail crawled on my finger. I wish someone was around to take a picture of it. After a few moments I lifted it up and let it fly away. It was really a cool experience.

Hey Orin, have you ever petted bees They're a little bit fuzzy

[orin stepanek]

Hey Orin, have you ever petted bees They're a little bit fuzzy

No; but when I was in jr. high; i was walking home from school and a honey bee decided to roost on my finger. Now that was a prickly situation. It sat on my finger for the better part of a block and a half. I was walking along wondering how to rid myself of this nasty bug, My eyes dead on that bee on my finger. Finally I took a deep breath and blew it off and ran the rest of the way home. True story; honest.

[Beyond]

Hey Orin, have you ever petted bees They're a little bit fuzzy

No; but when I was in jr. high; i was walking home from school and a honey bee decided to roost on my finger. Now that was a prickly situation. It sat on my finger for the better part of a block and a half. I was walking along wondering how to rid myself of this nasty bug, My eyes dead on that bee on my finger. Finally I took a deep breath and blew it off and ran the rest of the way home. True story; honest.

HHmmm.....A little suspicious, but how did it happen that your finger was in a position for the cute little honeybee to roost on it in the first place?

[orin stepanek]

Hey beyond that was over a half century ago; some of those details are a little fuzzy!