Flying Worms

The caterpillar invasion I earlier posted about made the local paper this week, due to it's unusual severity. It's the worst I've seen here. Wish I had pics developed already (or a digi-cam) to show you just how thick they are. (That chore has to wait a bit).
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It's continued to rain all week since the last post, with few breaks of non-precip inbetween, n zero sunshine. I finally went out on the deck for about a half-hour, n ended up picking off another hundred or more from the higher n drier spots with long-nose pliers.
Talk about skin-crawlin... They're in bunches, now larger n more bloated than last week. I think they're the tent variety out there today, cause most have the spiky-hairs, which can sting n cause allergic reactions. The gross "frass" poop - black, tiny pellets are everywhere. When they're done for the season I'll need to bleach the deck-boards.
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When I put the trash can out last week, the entire handle was covered with them, n I sqwished a few picking it up before finding something to remove them with - yuc!
I was irked, n usually, I'm not bothered by them besides the plant-eating down-side. I'm not afraid of spiders, or mice, or frogs, or garden snakes n will usually pick them up n put them off in the woods to give them a fighting chance. But these swarming crawlers got a jar-full of hot, soapy water to say bye-bye in.
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There are zero oak leaves showing across the road here in the second week of June. According to the paper, it's the new species arrival of Winter Moth (tiny green-looper caterpillars) which have eaten all the newly budded leaves off of all the Oak trees. They're stripped bare! Luckily, some Maples n Beech trees have been spared a few leaves. The Oaks, Crab-apple, n Cherry trees afflicted may yet be able to sprout another round of leaf-buds, but if not, looks like the rakin will be much lighter this fall! It still looks like the winter-woods out there...
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Black wooley moth, Gypsy Moth, Eastern Tent, n Forest Tent species are what we're reported to be dealing with locally (in a bumper crop not seen since the early 80's). Now with all this dampness, we may be saved from another severe year if they catch fungus diseases which is what slowed them down the last time when the Gypsy variety went out of control.
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I may be missin my triangle of woods, the shade, the birds, n the natural privacy screen from the other houses all summer... Ugh!
At least most of my deck plants, n my little evergreen tree collection are not getting chomped badly yet. The annual seedlings are just beginning to sprout up. If it stops drizzlin I'll run out there n powder them all, which is usually done sooner. The rain has really knocked us all off schedule this spring.
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Still waitin on most of the green tho!