A couple of years ago, Bob wrote a post featuring a California Ground Squirrel spotted dining on our pot of flat leaf parsley.
| This afternoon, we had a visitor who found the leaves of a young morning glory vine to be irresistible. |  |
Filmed by Bob, this youngster enjoyed the green loot! Turn up the volume—there’s a guitar accompaniment. A quick google reveals that the seeds of the common morning glory can cause symptoms in humans. Hopefully, this little squirrel is going to be safe as there were no seeds.
Recent hot weather has brought out swarms of adult dry wood termites. The resident Barn Swallows have noticed and are enjoying termite snacks taken on the wing.
Upon moving to Los Angeles County, I was puzzled by the circus-like striped canvas that cocooned homes only to disappear a couple of days later. Turns out it’s a wrapping to contain the lethal gas which is dispersed inside the homes. The preparation is detailed in this helpful Los Angeles County primer. Termite extermination is an optimistic goal: the treatments need to be repeated periodically. In each of our rentals, upon spotting frass (the tiny termite droppings which resemble sawdust), we’ve let our landlords know that termites are munching on their homes. And lest we think they’re new pests, the fossil record finds them as far back as 120 million years ago!
Mashabu 