"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands........" 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Off in the distance, across the thirsty fields

the sound of thunder comes from a cloud that 
looks like fluffy meringue.

The hot, humid, wind suddenly cools and carries
the fragrance of fresh rain.......

then.... one large cold drop......and one after another, 
chases Sophie and I indoors. 
The drops steadily forming into 
bubbling puddles of relief for 
the hot baked earth, 

bringing life in all forms to the tired and weary gardens.

Although we have not had the terrible swarms of grasshoppers as
those that have hit Las Vegas, 
we do have problematic grasshoppers in an abundance this year.
 Our scattered friends throughout the country have them as well.  
The grasshoppers are quite large and can strip one plant in minutes. 
They also bite.........not hard.....but enough to say "let go of me!"
How do I know this, you might ask?
...while trying to make the one in the photo above to stay still and pose
for the picture
.......it clamped down on my finger. 
(photo session ended quickly)

Can you imagine how terrible it would be to have
grasshoppers as large as the one in the photo above?
I found this photo on the internet......and the short
history on it......swears the photo is true.
For those of you who live in Montana......maybe you can vouch it's 
authenticity.......
Supposedly, a farmer in 1937 Montana created
a growing potion for his orchards .
The grasshoppers ate his orchards or got sprayed 
and grew to be this large..........
True.......false?
What do you think?

15 comments:

Prims By The Water said...

We had downpours both Monday and Tuesday. I was driving home along the river and could hardly see. There is no where to pull over so I had to drive slow and hope not to go into the river. Have never seen a grasshopper that huge and did see pics of those in Vegas. Not fun. Janice

Nancy J said...

I think I will stay with the ones we get down here.

lil red hen said...

WOW!!! I'd hope it's false!
Thanking God for your refreshing rainfall.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Glad to read that you had some drenching rains, Kathleen. Those were very colorful skies too. And wow on that grasshopper on your finger as it is larger than any we had in the yard! Sorry it bit you whike you were taking the photo...not a very good subject at allšŸ˜• i have never heard the story of that Montana farmer and wonder if it’s just an urban legend and trick photo.

Hill Top Post said...

Ahhh! Oh, how wonderful to be chased inside by sweet, life-giving rain! What a blessing!

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Lovely cloud/rain photos. You can keep your grasshopper. I've had them occasionally in my gardens, but yours is HUGE. Hope we never see grasshoppers that monstrous as shown in that photo from 1937. Yikes!

We're needing some rain down here in s.e. FL and have gotten a few sprinkles this morning here at Plum Cottage. I was planning to mow and do some laundry, but not with the predicted weather. My solar dryer won't be working today.

Thanks for sharing ~ FlowerLady

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

OMGosh I would be freaked out to see a grasshopper that big!!! Can you imagine how big his BITE would be?? You just can't tell if pictures are true anymore. If there IS a Big Foot I'm sure glad he didn't eat that Montana farmer's flowers!! Yes, my mind goes off in all directions sometimes, lol. We were sitting by the pond and one grasshopper landed on the deck. We have been hearing locust buzzing in the trees.
xx, Carol

happyone said...

Glad you got your rain.

I looked up the large grasshopper on Snopes and they say it is false and that the picture is doctored. One point is that if the grasshopper were real it would cast a shadow on the mans leg.

A Casa Madeira said...

Is the image with the grasshopper true?
Our mother only on film.
Nice to meet your blog.
Janicce.

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

Love your posts, my friend. Poetry! You are a brave woman. I am not letting one of the hoppers sit anywhere on me! I haven't seen one quite as large as yours here, and I hope I never do. The ones we get are big enough!

The Wykeham Observer said...

A nice rain! I'm sure everything perked up after that one.

KathyB. said...

Refreshing rain , lovely rain, life-giving rain ! I love rain and do miss the rainy weather we got in our previous home, but hay, we had quite a thunder, lightening, and rain event here a few days ago so I am not complaining. We've also seen a few more grasshoppers than usual, but no hordes or swarms of them thus far and none as big as the one you're holding , wow !


Lovely post.

Sally said...

Oh, how I despise grasshoppers; however so far haven't seen any here this year. But, when we first moved here I never imagined (or really hadn't thought about them) they destroyed all the rose bushes. I applaud you for having that grasshopper stay long enough to take a pic. And, mercy that huge one in the photo you showed; who would have thought they ever got that big!

I'm slow getting to you, and I'm sorry. When I lost my blog friend list, trying to reproduce it I lost the ability to see when anyone had updated. I still don't know how to fix it. :)

xoxo

Connie said...

The rain brings such relief. I'm glad you had some there. The grasshopper that bit you looks pretty big to me compared to the ones we usually see here. I think the giant one the man is holding is most likely a photoshopped picture. I would hope it is, anyway!

Henny Penny said...

I love your pictures and writings in this post. It's so touching. I love the fragrance of fresh rain. I've seen that grasshopper picture before but can't remember where. It is scary, but a little hard to believe. I would come nearer believing a picture of one that big in this day and age. :)