Morning folks.  Well temperatures are still quite warm for this time of year, at the moment sitting at 30 degrees.  Daytime temperature is going to reach 33 °f for a high then dip to 21 °f later on tonight.   Winds are calm again this morning coming in from the south and then changing to the east.  I am thinking we might be in for a mixed bag of weather.  Ice, snow, winds you name it.  With temperatures being warm, cold front moving in and winds from the east and Barometer is dropping, I would have to say something is heading our way.  At the moment the barometer is sitting at 28.97 in Hg.  The moon today will Rise: 8:02 PM & Set: 9:00 AM. It will be Overhead: 2:02 AM & Underfoot: 2:27 PM.  Moon Phase today is 93% Waning Gibbous.  The sun is up there but behind some clouds and it got out of bed at  7:58 AM and she will set at 4:54 PM, giving us 8 hrs. 56 mins. of daylight hear in Port Loring today.  Two more days and we will be seeing nine hours of daylight.   Makes me smile.  The old weather stick today says the best time for ice fishing will be from 2:27 PM – 4:27 PM.

News For Port Loring

I did hear in the news though that the Long Horned Beetle is heading our way and its main target is the Maple Trees.    The beetles have already been found in several areas of the GTA and quarantine zones have been set up for the destruction of any infested broad-leafed trees, beetles “loose and heading north” from New York state could start chewing through maples here within 10 years they say. They also target  the birch, elm, poplar and willow. I would think it will be sooner than later that they arrive here in the north.  Once they are here it is about impossible to stop them.  Especially using commercial pesticides.  The only way to stop them is promoting, not destroying the predators, which will happen if they use the pesticides of today. There are many natural enemies of longhorned beetles in North America, including predators, parasitoids, and pathogens. Predators include a number of beetles, in some rather obscure groups such as the flat bark beetles, the cylindrical bark beetles, clerid beetles and click beetles; a few flies, including robber flies; assassin and ambush bugs; thrips; and carpenter ants. In addition, a number of vertebrates, including birds, lizards, spiders, scorpions, toads, and small mammals, are recorded predators of longhorned beetles. Parasitoids include wasps in various families including braconids, ichneumonids, and numerous chalcids; and tachinid and sarcophagid flies. Nematodes and fungi have been reported as infecting larvae.   What will they do? Most likely cover our forests here in the north with Pesticides with such magnitude it will destroy every insect, predators included.  Not to say what it will do to us humans. Only way to stop this is to stop all spraying of of our forests here in the north and voice your opinion when ever and where ever you can, especially your MP.  Have a great day my friends.