Trees are Still Standing!

My blog is experiencing technical difficulties, caused by the table I had in the center of my classic template. I have just switched it over to one of the standard templates until I can figure out what the heck is going on. All links that I had in the sidebar did not transfer but are still there. I will be putting them in this template soon too. I appologize if you have stopped by during the mess that has been occuring. Now to today's entry:

The storm has passed and didn't affect us like they anticipated. However, not too far from here a tornado went thru part of WI and just down the road from us in the U.P.. There was another tornado that went thru somewhere near Menominee, MI (also in the U.P.).

Now here is something nasty that I saw attached to my Maple tree in the front yard late yesterday afternoon
I had my hand resting on my Maple tree when suddenly I had a feeling to look at the trunk. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw about seven of these things resting on it!! I had seen one last year on the same tree and had never seen them before in my life, which I lived mostly in this area. I never did find out what it was until now.

It turns out that this is a Giant Ichneumons, which is a non-stinging wasp. This is a female. In the top picture you can see her making an egg sack. (wonderful :/ ) In the lower picture (above) you can see part of the "whip" that comes off of her abdomen. The "whip" on this wasp is about 5 inches long!! She is the nastiest looking bug I've seen in a long, long time. And, how "wonderful" that she chose my tree to lay her eggs on/in. ICK! The others on the tree were also female...and equally as wonderful...all laying eggs. Oh, and I must add, I am terrified of wasps, it took a lot for me to get these pics!!

On a brighter note, the sun is shining and it is very cool today with a high temp of 68 degrees. :)

As promised, here are some photos of my new petunias from my daughter and my small flower bed. Aren't they pretty?

You can see three of my perennials in the lower right (bottom pic); Chives, strawberries, and the white and bright pink flowers (I don't know the name of them).

I've been working on a couple of new art cards the past couple of days and am heading to the studio now to do some more creating so I'll have new photos to share soon!

Have a wonderful day!