Bob that catepillar would have sent me over my 12’ privet! Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
And I’d be right behind you, mrsg47, lol! I freak out when I find a Tomato Hornworm. I would have fainted dead away if I had found one of those, omg. 
HQ you betcha!
You should have kept it in a jar just to see it turn into a moth. Last summer I found a luna moth catapiller in the yard. I showed it to my grandson and told him it would turn into a beautiful moth. It was big, about like big tomatoe horn worm. I put it in a jar with a small stick to climb on and covered it with the mesh bag that some fruit came in. My wife said " that thing will get out through that mesh" . I assured that a caterpillar that size could not possibly fit through mesh that small. Needless to say the next morning the jar was empty. I looked every where and could not find it. About three weeks later we came home from work and it was flying around the house. Lol
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That was the first thing I googled when he posted it was what the moth looked like to that worm. It looks like a small hawk moth which is what the tomato worm turns into. I had a Luna Moth on my screen door last year. I’ve seen them at the gas pump too.
You can always tell the caterpillar because it has that same unique color as the Luna moth.
I did my first pick of black raspberries, and made some jam.
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(Moved this post to the “what are you eating from your orchard”)
gorgeous jam, great color against the green background!
This just happened today:
We has a wicked thunderstorm blow through, with a severe thunderstorm warning. We had multiple strikes and more than one fire started in San Diego county. This happened about 400’ from my house. Thankfully, the Vista FD got here in record time to put it out. I am surrounded by hundreds of acres of absolutely bone-dry scrub and brush. Thankfully as well, we had a decent, but short downpour, which helped to keep the fire from spreading just long enough for the FD to get here and put it out. Way, way too much excitement for the day.
Holy wildfire starts. Good thing they got it out.
Yowza! Y’all been zapped!
No kidding, Regina. You’ll appreciate this being a nurse (me, too). The photo was taken by my neighbor across the street. Awesome guy, neurologic radiologist. He was actually just looking out the the window with his 2 yo daughter when the lightening struck. He was filming on his iPhone while trying to call 911. First 3 attempts were busy signals! The 4th time he got through but placed on hold. So, we both thought, “hmmm, what if you were having an MI?!?” Not much faith in my EMS system here. That was terrible. Fortunately, another neighbor got through to 911 and they were able to get our FD dispatched. The Vista FD was awesome, and got here in just minutes. The photo looks smoky, but it was actually a downpour happening at the same time, thankfully, which tamped down the fire.
HQ you made my new heart start thumping with that photo. Holy cow, that said, going to bed. Be safe and fill us in tomorrow!. xxoo
Mrsg, I was working upstairs when we had two lightening strikes about 15 mins. apart. That second one, that set the palm tree on fire make my hair stand up on the back of my neck. I hit the ground in my office, because I had the window open. Spent 10 years in N. Indiana, and spent a lot of time in thunderstorms. It shook the whole room. I knew the second one was really close. You could smell smoke almost immediately. Thankfully, it was coming down pretty hard when that strike hit the tree, and it kept the fire from spreading too quickly, and gave the FD enough time to get here and get it put out, thankfully. We have been living in the shadow of a wildfire out here for the last 6 years, as we watched this 157 acre citrus orchard slowly die. The new owner has come in and cut down all the dead trees, and then are all pile up now, in piles. It would be manageable and defensible if we had a fire start out there, now. The FD did not mess around. They came into our development and tried to open the water authority gate to get up the water authority easement road. The gate was locked, and they had a key. Which didn’t work. So, they whipped out the giant bolt cutters, and made short work of the lock. Water Authority trucks showed up, and you could see the FD having a “discussion” with one of the Water Authority folks. Would like to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation. FD needs to have complete access to ALL roads, dirt or otherwise, in our area.
Oh dear, that slow EMS response is not funny at all. You’re right, and MI or a CVA in progress and one loses consciousness…they can trace the call, but still. Heaven forbid a violent crime is in progress; I’m married to an NYPD cop which is, ironically, why I never take the help arriving in time for granted in the least: heard (and seen, of course) too many stories. Not sure how your systems run, but I know some municipalities have decentralized 911 services and thus a busy signal is a damned scary possibility.
I would have jumped out of my skin when it struck! That’s such an eerie feeling. With such dry ground as you have a lightning strike is a surefire way to get bad things going. Good job by FD there. Even with drizzle that ground looks like hay. I lived in Westhampton, NY in the 90’s when we had wildfires out of control for about 8 days; rain barely made them blink once they had enough of a heat base.
I agree with Mrs. G! Glad you are safe and hmmm… maybe some medicinal wine is the way to go.
Adding: too bad about that abandoned orchard. I drive around unconsciously scoping where things could be planted - sad when planted land gets cut back.
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Glad it’s under control.
Well, our EMS system is centralized, which I think is why we got bottlenecked, because we all got hit really hard with this huge pop up thunderstorm. It covered about 1/2 of San Diego county very quickly, and we’re a BIG county. We had torrential downpours, flash floods, power outages, and over 500 lightening strikes.
And it is extremely sad about this very old, heirloom Valencia orange orchard that was all on sour orange rootstock that produced the finest Valencia oranges you’ve ever tasted. I tried as hard as I could to get the new owner to save at least part of it. I was only successful in saving about 5 of the 13,000 trees.
And yes, enjoying a nice cold glass of La Crema Chardonnay. It is 80 degrees, 85% humidity and very still. It feels like Hawaii here right now. Extremely weird.
Excellent choice on wine! 
Must feel like the Wizard of Oz just blew by though.
5 of 13,000…wow. Not much to else to be able to say there. But you do what you can, so kudos to you, and 5 is much better than zero.
Didn’t I say that you had a better chance of rain than I? 
It looks like you had an interesting and at least slightly beneficial afternoon.
You got SOME rain.
You got some excitement.
The neighborhood has something in common to talk about.
That tree looks like a lightening magnet, and palms provide lots of dry surface area fuel. Now that fuel and, I hope, at least a bit of the ground around it have have lost some of their power to fuel a wildfire before the start of the real wildfire season.
The FD learned about the blocked access road and can address that problem before a bigger emergency situation.
Although it must have been more than a bit nerve wracking to see and smell fire so close to home when you’re well aware of the power and speed of wildfires, and know you live in an area where they are likely to occur, it probably helped increase local awareness, and hopefully preparedness, for such an event. Because of that, maybe, just maybe, today’s strike helped avoid a future neighborhood disaster.
I say drink that wine in celebration of good fortune, not as a sedative. Cheers!
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