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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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leaf-footed bugs

June 13, 2020 by Dave Bonta

Crystal-clear and cool. A leaf-footed bug squats atop the dial thermometer, unmoving over the “50” even as the pointer inches toward 60.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags leaf-footed bugs 1 Comment
May 27, 2016 by Dave Bonta

A large leaf-footed bug stalks up and down a porch column, its shadow at its side. Two carpenter bees clash like airborne sumo wrestlers.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags carpenter bees, leaf-footed bugs
September 3, 2015 by Dave Bonta

A leaf-footed bug lands on the railing, orange-tipped antennae glowing in the sun. From the edge of the woods, a blue jay’s raspy cry.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags blue jays, leaf-footed bugs
June 17, 2012 by Dave Bonta

The leaf-footed bug walks slowly and jerkily as a Mars rover on my shoe, antennae shining, then flies straight as a comet across the yard.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags leaf-footed bugs
May 25, 2012 by Dave Bonta

A black leaf-footed bug squats head-down on a porch post. Two silver-spotted skippers circle and chase, eponymous spots glinting in the sun.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags leaf-footed bugs, skippers

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On This Day

  • October 25, 2025
    Clear and still at dawn. As the last stars fade, the first sparrows begin to chirp. A crow alights on the tallest locust and begins to yell.
  • October 25, 2024
    Clear and still, with frost in the yard lingering well into mid-morning. A lone crow with the sun on its wings disappears off to the east.
  • October 25, 2023
    A dozen geese come honking over the house, interrupting three crows sharing their excitement over a venison gut pile up in the woods.
  • October 25, 2022
    Overcast with fog that thins out for the purported sunrise. It’s warm enough that one tree cricket trills in the herb garden.
  • October 25, 2021
    Gibbous moon overhead through a thin veil of fog. A breeze moves through the forest, liberating the night’s rain.

See all...

Related book

Cover of Ice Mountain with a linocut of a big ridgetop tree.

What I do after I sit on the porch. One winter and spring's daily walks distilled into short poems with linocut illustrations by Beth Adams.

Header image: detail from Paper Garden by Clive Hicks-Jenkins (used by permission)

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