When I put my blog choice in for ladybugs versus lady beetles, I thought it was going to be an easy write-up. A piece about our native ladybugs and the seemingly invasive biological control animal I like to call the Terminator Lady Beetles. It would be a good guy versus bad guy story. Ladybugs, the good guys, who eat aphids from our flower and vegetable plants versus the bad guy predators who bite and move into our homes in the fall with no intention of paying rent. "Real" ladybugs I have...

My family and I recently traveled out of state to drop my oldest daughter off at a summer college program. We were taking this opportunity to do some camping and exploring of the public lands in the upper Midwest. As we traveled down a forest-lined highway en route to our planned national forest campground, we were astonished that, for literally miles, almost every tree in sight was completely devoid of leaves even though it was in the middle of summer.  Not knowing what was going on, I had to...

The cicadas are coming! In May 2021, Periodical Cicada Brood X (Brood 10) also known as the Great Eastern Brood is expected to emerge in four eastern Illinois counties - Vermilion, Edgar, Clark, and Crawford. But the broods that will affect most of Illinois are yet to come. Brood XIII and Brood XIX are set to emerge in 2024 according to the U.S. Forest Service. We have a few years to buy earmuffs against the...