In January 2021, I found myself watching bees pollinate flowers in my yard. Suddenly one of the bees started to flinch while pollinating a flower. I took a closer look at this odd bee, and it stopped moving altogether. It was there that upon inspecting the bee from just inches from my face when..."OH WHAT IN THE WORLD!", I jumped back. I noticed it-- the perpetrator. Upon research, I found it was an Ambush Bug-- a small insect that stabs prey (usually larger than itself) with a proboscis... and its name fitted the bug.
It's now impossible for me to touch a flower without thinking a bug is going to stab me with its proboscis.
Timeline of where I'll be going over the next year:
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December 27-30 (2022): Camp La-No-Che scout camp function with my troop in Paisley (North/Central) Florida.
March (2023): Malawi!-- yes, my first time out of North America (unless Hawaii counts). It's for family business purposes, so I won't be going anywhere too remote and I won't be safari-ing, but I'm still super excited! I will also have some time to spare photographing birds outside windows in Kenya's Nairobi airport and Mozambique's Nampula airport.
April 20-29 (2023): Israel! I'm touring Israel with my church and am super super super excited! We will be going to Tel Aviv, Tiberias, Caesarea, Megiddo, Valley of Armageddon, Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem, Capernaum, Caesarea Philippi, Gideon's Spring, Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, Masada, Qumran, and Garden Tomb!
May (2023): Annual Rainbow Springs (North/Central Florida) trip with friends from Senoia, GA
July 22-Aug 4 (2023): Trekking backpacking) in northern New Mexico near Cimarron at Philmont Scout Ranch. Will be my first time in NM and in any form of wilderness in the Southwest!
August (2023): Driving up to stay at Camp of the Woods in Speculator, NY with friends from Durham NC for a week. Then headed to Niagara Falls for a few days before returning home. First time in NY other than a random time I stopped at a Target near NYC.
I highly encourage recommendations if you have any!
