Cow killer

I didn’t have the camera handy to capture it, but I saw an absolutely stunning creature scurrying across an empty bed in my poor little half-baked garden. It was red, with black stripes, and resembled nothing so much as a very large, very fuzzy ant. A quick search of whatsthatbug.com — a fascinating and handy Web site for those of us who are curious about our six-legged neighbors — revealed that my visitor was a variety of flightless wasp known as a “Cow killer” because its sting is supposedly painful enough to kill a cow.

Fortunately, I didn’t get crosswise of the critter, so I have no firsthand experience with its stinger. But it was a gorgeous thing, anyhow — a fiery henna red, with deep black stripes. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

On an unrelated note: I am doing a bit of research to try to find out the answers to some of the questions people have been asking about the song “Orion.” When I come up with something solid, I’ll devote a post to it.

Emily