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Ladybugs are the gardener's friend! Glad that worked out.

 one of my coworkers gets "beneficial" insects from some mail-order 
place.  I've seen him get ladybugs.

They actually sell ladybugs over at one of the nurseries around town.  I can't
remember which one, but you could call around.

The Mountain Ash in my side yard is being eaten by what I'm told are leaf
cutters.  I thought, so many leaves being gone, that it wouldn't fruit this
year, but I'm seeing lots of clusters of fruit.  Can anyone tell me about leaf
cutters?  What are they, how do I get rid of them, what harm will they do to
the tree, is it too late for this year?

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oops!
I gather you have to set them to dry, then run them over with your car, to
get at the nut.

That's what I have heard. We have some great Black Walnut trees in Eberwhite
Woods. Some years we get a lot of nuts. other years not. I think the tree has
developed this strategy to ensure that some nuts survive in alternate years.

We have black walnut trees and the produce every other year. This is a bumper
crop year...

Hm. We have a black walnut in our front yard, but it doesn't
produce on anything like a regular schedule. Six years ago it
gifted us with a *huge* crop of walnuts, a year or two ago it
had a pretty good crop, and other years have been minimal.
But it produces some nuts every season.

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I thought that in theory they alternated years, but I have found that in
practice they are somewhat random about it. They do produce some nuts every
season, but can go wild occasionally.  I have never had a BW tree growing over
my roof. 

Aaaaaaagh!  The carpenter ants are back!

Does anyone know what it is that is killing Maple trees in the
Ann Arbor area?  Whatever it is causes trees to have less and
less foliage for a few years until the tree dies.  My neighbor's
tree has died and been given the Forestry Department's dreaded
green dot, which means it will soon be cut down.

So I've been looking around and there are a lot of thinly
dressed maples out there and lots of green dots on bare trees.

Anyone have more information?

Hmm... dunno, but I've noticed a lot of the city maple trees in our area have
lighter green foliage on much of the leaf, except the darker, normal green
around the veins.  I've heard that that can be caused by an iron deficiency.
Now I don't know if that can kill a tree, or just give its leaves that mottled
look, but a lot of the trees around us have it, so maybe...

I think you are describing a symptom (Leaf Scorch) of a syndrome (not 
really a disease) called "Maple Decline". It caused by stresses of 
various types. I have found an article on the web (MSU Extension) which 
is pretty thorough. It is located at 
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/moduf/06209514.html

It says this about decline

The stresses associated with growing maples under less      
than ideal conditions can be observed by smaller leaves,    
leaf browning and death of branches or limbs. This          
collection of problems is often described as maple          
decline. However, maple decline is not a contagious         
disease, but is a collection of most problems that are      
found on maple which result in a decline in tree vigor.     

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