25 August 2018

Summer visitors

On hot nights and warm mornings — we've had many this summer — we often leave windows open enough to let in a little bit of cooler air. Inevitably, other things besides air come into the house. Sometimes it's a bat, or a huge moth of some kind, or even a bird.


Recently, though, we haven't had any really big visitors. Small moths are what I see the most. They are especially noticeable when they are hanging onto the white tiles we have over the sink in the kitchen.


I get the camera and try to get good photos of such moths. Then I try to shoo them outdoors, and I'm usually successful. What happens to them once they fly outside, nobody knows.









And then one day this summer I looked out the loft window and I noticed a big dark spider hanging by a thread and blowing around in the wind. Getting a photo of him suspended there in mid-air wasn't easy, but I tried anyway.






After taking pictures, I reached out with scissors and cut the web he was hanging from. He floated away on the breeze rather than coming into the house.

7 comments:

  1. Why don't you have screens on your windows? If we didn't have screens, our house would be full of flies.

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    1. It's all a function of where you live, Diane. If you live in a place with a hot and humid climate, you need screens to keep flies and mosquitoes out. If you live in a region with a cooler (not to say cold) climate like the Loire Valley, you don't need them. That may change for us with climate evolution. I assume you have AC where you live, but we don't. And we don't have window screens, very many flies, or bothersome mosquitoes.

      I remember some Americans from California who came to see us 10 or so years ago. They were considering buying a house in Normandy. They were concerned that the windows in the house didn't have screens on them. When we leave the windows open, they said, the cat will be able to get out. Don't worry, I told them. In Normandy, it's so chilly that you probably won't ever be tempted to leave the windows open! It was the same in San Francisco.

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  2. Ken, I read your comments from yesterday's post, and am glad you enjoyed tooling around on the new tires! I imagine that newer rubber (well, whatever the mix of substances is these days) would make a difference. Very good!
    I did wonder -- Michelin tires are markedly more expensive in the U.S., and I always figured that part of that, at least, was the fact that they were a French product... though I read that they are made in many countries. Do you think that Michelins are a little less expensive in France, than they are in the U.S. (at least, in terms of comparing the price against Fireston)?

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    1. The equivalent Michelin tires here would have cost 15 euros more per tire. The mechanic over in Noyers-sur-Cher, who I trust, said that he sells more Firestones than any other brand of tire. I think Michelins are more prestigious for some reason. And there's no doubt about their high quality. But a lot of it has to do with how much driving, at what speeds, and how hot or cold and snowy the weather is. Our climate is temperate (almost always on the chilly side). We don't need snow tires. Summer tires take us through the year.

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  3. These are great photos. I know that a bat in the house would certainly get my attention! The l;ast picture looks like a pantry moth. I think they invade cereals, etc.

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    1. The other day we opened a little jar of sesame seeds. There were webs in it. We had to throw the sesame seeds away. Was that moth the culprit?

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  4. Sounds like it. They will eat grans and seeds; some of our neighbors have experienced this: https://www.earthkind.com/blog/where-do-pantry-moths-come-from/

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