Murphy's (Sod's) Law

[xpatUSA]

This is a variation on the theme:

I walked past the well house to the covered bench at it's rear. Nothing unusual seen on the way there. After a few minutes I exited and started walking but noticed a cloud of flying insects. Closer examination revealed flying ants leaving the nest. Took a quick 'phone snap, la voila:



C&C definitely not invited. But - talk about DOF and small sensors - that tree at left is about 10 yards (9m) away from the camera!

Went back to the shack to show Wife the camera image, put the 50mm macro on the mighty DSLR, checked the battery, preset the exposure, WB, etc., walked back outside, and . . . .

. . . they were all gone

It took maybe 10-15 minutes to empty the nest of about a gazillion Queens (?).

Has anyone else had a Murphy Moment recently?

[Geoff F]

Perhaps they had been eating some of that Miracle Gro.

[xpatUSA]

Perhaps they had been eating some of that Miracle Gro.

Hmmph! I missed that shot too, sod it . . another Murphy Moment . . .

[IzzieK]

Hey you fed it with Miracle Glo, what d'ya expect? I have numerous Murphy's moment and I do not know where to start really...do you have 10 years to spare? I just love hearing about other's experiences....never mind my own...Your flying ants are not harmful, they are just a PITA...

[xpatUSA]

Why do you have two post on this Miracle Glo thingie...I have already responded to the other one...

Something's wrong with this thread - I read your earlier response but Geoff F and my response to him were gone. Then I went to 'latest threads' and your first post was gone but the above one showed up instead.

I think the forum stuff is not free of problems yet, sorry.

[Tringa]

The flying ants usually emerge in the UK in late June/early July - always good to see; it is one of markers of the changing seasons.

I haven't had a 'moment' recently but many years ago in the era of 35mm film and while on holiday on the Isle of Skye I knew I had almost no shots left in the camera but thought I'd buy another film in the morning. In doing so I missed one of the best sunsets I have seen. People were leaving their meals in the pub to come out and take photos of it; I got one and a half shots!

Dave

[Dave Humphries]

Something's wrong with this thread - I read your earlier response but Geoff F and my response to him were gone. Then I went to 'latest threads' and your first post was gone but the above one showed up instead.

I think the forum stuff is not free of problems yet, sorry.

What happened was that instead of a duplicate post, Ted somehow got a duplicate thread (the other being numbered 49512, posted at 5:48pm).

Which thread was 'top of the list' as various people have replied, led to the experiences of Izzie and Ted.

I have brought those replies, plus another from Tringa (Dave) in to this thread (49513) and removed the other thread to avoid continuing problems. I also took out a couple of 'duplicate content' posts this created in this thread.

Cheers, Dave

PS That'll teach ya creating a thread referring to the 'laws' - it became a self-fulfilling prophecy

[xpatUSA]

I haven't had a 'moment' recently but many years ago in the era of 35mm film and while on holiday on the Isle of Skye I knew I had almost no shots left in the camera but thought I'd buy another film in the morning. In doing so I missed one of the best sunsets I have seen. People were leaving their meals in the pub to come out and take photos of it; I got one and a half shots!

Dave

Ah, the days of film!

1979 on vacation in USA, two days left . . .

Loaded a roll into the Praktica MTL3 and hired a Piper Cub. Flew solo around the Cincinatti area getting some good shots of the King's Island amusement park, 'mongst other things. Then on the way back to England more good shots out of the 'plane window. Hmmm . .

Although the counter advanced faithfully with each wind-on, I had failed to engage the stupid film on the winding sprocket correctly and had gotten no shots at all

[DanK]

I have to say, my first reaction--having had problems with termite damage and 4 live infestations of carpenter ants over the years--was: can I enlarge this enough to see what the creatures are?

The carpenter ants in this area are quite large, so I am guessing that this is not what they are, but I don't know what there is in your neck of the woods. It would be worth checking. They don't eat wood, unlike termites; they just dig out burrows in it. However, they dig BIG burrows. Here is a shot of a only a small part of the damage one infestation did to our house:



We had to remove siding for a vertical distance of about 10 feet to expose all of the damage, and we had to replace structural lumber.

All of which is to say: I would want to check out the area around where you found the swarm, if you don't have any creatures left to examine.

[xpatUSA]

I have to say, my first reaction--having had problems with termite damage and 4 live infestations of carpenter ants over the years--was: can I enlarge this enough to see what the creatures are?

Regrettably not, Dan. It was a quick snap with the cellphone camera and didn't auto-focus well. At the time I was shooting the amount rather than the individual ants . . excuses . . . excuses.

The carpenter ants in this area are quite large, so I am guessing that this is not what they are, but I don't know what there is in your neck of the woods. It would be worth checking. They don't eat wood, unlike termites; they just dig out burrows in it. However, they dig BIG burrows. Here is a shot of a only a small part of the damage one infestation did to our house:



We had to remove siding for a vertical distance of about 10 feet to expose all of the damage, and we had to replace structural lumber.

All of which is to say: I would want to check out the area around where you found the swarm, if you don't have any creatures left to examine.

Wow, that looks really bad. I've got lots of termites which are busy feeding as we speak on the "temporary" 5 yr-old well house (made of scrap untreated lumber) and it'll have to be re-built soon. The flying ants were climbing out of a hole in the ground at the bottom of the wall.

As to carpenter ants, I probably have them on the 10-ac property but haven't seen damage like yours. Got leaf-cutter ants but I guess they're not the same.

[DanK]

The flying ants were climbing out of a hole in the ground at the bottom of the wall.

My understanding is that carpenter ants can nest in buried wood as well, but if they were coming out of the ground, that would at least indicate that this one nest is not in your building. They build satellite nests as well. The last time we had them, I could see them going in and out of a nest in the ground next to the house, but they also had a nest in our attic. Ours, however, don't look like your photo; they are quite large and black.

[Tronhard]

Since you ask for "Murphy moments"...

I almost always have a camera with me. I am asked by some what is the best camera to buy and my answer is the one you are prepared to carry for the purpose of your trip.

That said, I was going down to a local café and decided to forego both a camera and cell phone. Having settled down with a cup of java I was treated to the sight of a large tractor-trailer that failed to negotiate a round-about and toppled. Within minutes there were two fire trucks: one spraying foam everywhere, while the other crew cut the driver out. Meanwhile an ambulance turned up along with three police cars and two choppers hovered overhead - one definitely a news crew and the other an air ambulance. All this and I didn't have a camera!!!!!!!!!

[mknittle]

Hey you fed it with Miracle Glo, what d'ya expect? I have numerous Murphy's moment and I do not know where to start really...do you have 10 years to spare? I just love hearing about other's experiences....never mind my own...Your flying ants are not harmful, they are just a PITA...

At times i think it ole Murphy rents a room near here.

[Tronhard]

Carrying on my theme of embarrassing moments. It was 7:30 am and while languishing in bed I tuned to my local radio station in time to hear that a cougar was on the loose within 3 blocks of my apartment. I catapulted out of bed, leapt into some clothes and grabbed two bodies that had lenses attached along with a holster.

I finally found where the cougar was and while a media scrum developed in front of the expected sighting area I moved a little away to get a shot of the media. To my surprise the cougar trotted across the road right in front of me, within 15m! I called the alarm and ran after the animal, that had by now disappeared down the drive of an apartment building. Here my lack of aggression held me back and as I considered the issues of trespass a videographer ran past me and headed down the driveway. Suddenly as I still walked toward the building the cougar sprinted across the drive and into the rear of the building. I was still walking as I shot and got two images - both rather shaky.

Eventually we followed the beast to another building where is was cornered by police. It sprinted between them, scattering officers as it went then disappeared in the back yard. I could see birds showing alarm and realized that the cat was close to them. As I headed towards my hunch I decided to change cameras - I had started with a 100-400 lens, but realized that a wider angle lens was appropriate. I had got half-way through the change, with a camera in each hand and the lens caps on, when the cat came past within 5m of me, not looking to either side as it trotted across the road. I could not believe it, no shot again. Urban hunting for a wild animal is not that easy I reckon...

[Brev00]

I understand Murphy's Law but have had a hard time applying it to this situation. Not getting a closeup picture of a bug sounds like good fortune to me! I have been using my cell phone camera more and more to get end result photos. The moment is there, the phone is in my hand, so voila! I still use my DSLR, of course, but there are times when I have my D7100 walking about but regret not having my phone, too! The level of fun and immediacy is very high. That level may depend on the quality of one's camera phone, of course (my 21 mp Droid Turbo is very nice). Although you advised against c & c, I will say this. I like the cell phone pic!

[DanK]

Not getting a closeup picture of a bug sounds like good fortune to me!

She's insulted:

[Brev00]

Well, my bug karma is not good so I won't say anything more.