Wondering about wild grapes

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Night Time Visitor.

Last night I woke up to an unexpected night time visitor.  It seemed that there flashes of light on the ceiling of the bed room.  All kinds of explanations raced through my head, but then after I got completely awake, I realized what it was.  No, it wasn't aliens, nor was it ghosts, it was just a lost lightning bug that somehow had entered our home.

The light that lightning bugs produce is a cold light.  It contains no infrared nor does it contain any ultraviolet.  There are a lot of insects and their larva that have bio-luminescence.  And yes, they even glow when they are in the larva stage.  Have you ever heard of glow worms?

Of course seeing that lightning bug reminded of my childhood days when my cousins and I would run around our grandparents' yard collecting them in a jar with holes punched in the lid.  After watching them for awhile light up the space around the jar, we would release them and let them continue to do what ever they were doing before we disturbed them.  Oh, the good old days!!!  Now, you all have a great day, you hear.

14 comments:

  1. Hi,,, hope you remember me,, lol. I did the same thing as a kid too, but not here, there weren't any. But up where my parents grew up, there was. Now, at my bro's house across the river, we see them.

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    1. Sure, I remember you. Isn't funny how something like that can bring back so many memories.

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  2. I saw my first lighting bug in 1990 in the Chicago area. I'm still fascinated.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Sorry about the delete, got my fingers on the wrong keys. I was catching them in the late 1940's into the 1950's.

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  3. I remember catching them when I was a kid and then when my kids were little and we spent a year back in NJ before returning to the desert.

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    1. I guess because there are no lightning bugs where you live, you will just have to look at the twinkling stars at night.

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  4. I have such fond memories of running around the yard, as a child, trying to catch those bugs. It was so cool to have a jar full of them. Thanks for bringing back a neat childhood memory.

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    1. When you get as old as I am, you have a lot of memories and that was one of the good ones I have.

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  5. Fun times back then. Don't see too many around now days here...wonder why?

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    1. Maybe they are country bugs, not city bugs (grin). I live only thirty mile north of Houston, and we have them, but only some times.

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  6. I haven't seen one in years. When I spent time on my grandparents' farm in Kentucky in my early years, it seems like there were thousands of them! I would imagine they don't have the numbers now because of chemical fertilizers and the like.

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    1. Yes, it seems to me that there is less than there used to be, but I now live a long, long way from where I lived when I was growing up.

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  7. I bet the Mills Brothers know about them there Glow Worms. Saw a couple outside our living room window last week.

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