Creepy Crawlies -- Sun., June 24

Cotulla, Texas:

"Creepy, crawly
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly crawly."
~The Who, Boris the Spider lyrics

Tonight, this is not about spiders. It's about beetles. South Texas has a record number of beetles, not to mention other bugs. Working on the night shift, I see many bugs under the tower lights.

I am not paranoid. When I feel something crawling on me, it REALLY is a bug. Tonight each time I have come in I have felt AND FOUND bugs crawling on me. 

One time in, I felt something on my ankle. In the dim light of night time, I saw a relatively large bug crawling on my left ankle. The bug took flight and landed on our dining room table light. The cats went nuts. The bug looked like a dragonfly while in flight, but wasn't because its long wings folded down at its sides.The bug got stuck in our lamp fixture, so I unscrewed the glass fixture and got the bug out...took it outside. It was harmless. 

Next time I came in, I felt something crawling on the front of my neck. I swiped at it and a longish, thick, segmented black beetle fell onto the table. That one got smooshed by me. It was a black blister beetle.

A little bit later I felt a bug on my forearm. A small, reddish beetle was walking down my arm. Haven't identified that one yet.

Just now, while typing, I felt something on my left ankle. I looked down and it was long, white and had a hard shell on the end...my shoelace. Ha ha. Maybe I am a little paranoid.

Here are pics of some nighttime bugs:

Field cricket--multitudes of these all over. Roadrunners love them!

Field crickets congregating at the watering hole (AKA where our air conditioner condensation drips)

Katydid?? Not sure what this is.

This web site from Texas A&M University is a wealth of information for identifying Texas bugs: Field Guide to Common Texas Insects. There's a lot to learn. Most insects are harmless to people. Although one bug we've seen a lot--a blister beetle--has a toxin in its body that can cause blisters on the skin. One of the cats tried to eat a blister beetle one night, but didn't. They backed off from it. Smart kitty kitties.

Also see my blog from May 26: Schuhplattler Polka for more on Texas bugs.

I can't believe I spent a whole blog on BUGS. Ewwww.

Speaking of which, Travel BUG out.

 

Peaches and True Humorous Stories -- Wed., June 13

Cotulla, Texas:

I am a peach aficionado/addict/connoisseur and, I'll admit it, snob. When we lived in Oregon and Washington I planted peach trees where we lived. The peaches were out of this world divine, juicy and, one tree in particular, was prolific; giving us over 175 peaches one summer. To me, nothing says summer like fresh, ripe (and did I mention juicy?) peaches. OK, watermelon falls into that category as well.

Much to my delight the Hill Country of Texas grows peaches. I've been waiting for them to come to the market and my patience has been rewarded with absolutely yummy peaches that we bought at Walmart yesterday. I bought 7-8 peaches. Today we're down to one. Must. Get. More.

Peaches are wonderful plain, cut up over vanilla ice cream, in a peach/raspberry/blueberry/ cherry fruit salad, or cut up and served with baked or sauteed chicken. Summer is my happy fruit time!

TRUE HUMOROUS STORIES (have to get these out on the blogosphere):

Canadian Trip, Circa 1991

My friend Cindy and I, my son, Michael (age 12), and Michael's friend, Marcus (age 12), embarked on a trip to spend a week in a timeshare at Fairmont Hot Springs in eastern British Columbia. We opted for the most direct route from Portland, Oregon which was out I-84, then north through Tri-Cities and Spokane in Washington, and Sandpoint, Idaho.

Because we had a timeshare with a full kitchen we wanted to stock up on provisions. Sandpoint, Idaho has a great Farmer's Market about an hour from the Canadian border. We went crazy. Bought potatoes, corn, peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums--all our favorite fruits and veggies.

Upon reaching the Canadian border crossing, we were asked by Border Services Officer (BSO) if we had any pitted fruits. Oh, nuts! I forgot about not being able to take pitted fruits into Canada. The Canadian BSO was very nice about it. He told us we could park the Explorer in the designated parking spot and eat as much of the fruit as we could.

So...four of us stood outside the Explorer, stuffing our faces with peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums until we couldn't stuff any more fruit into ourselves. The rest we handed over to the BSO who promptly threw it all away. I must say, we made a pretty good dent in a week's worth of fruit! And we had no problem with constipation over the next couple of days. Lesson learned.

The 5th Wheel Refrigerator

Here we are parked in an out-of-the-way South Texas location guarding an oil field gate with temperatures soaring to 106 degrees. Our refrigerator is getting warm, warmer, uh-oh, meats in the freezer are thawing. Time to figure out what's happening.

My first thought was the refrigerator needed to be defrosted. Monday afternoon I decided to defrost it. While I was in Cotulla, I went to Super S to buy ice for our ice chest to keep the meats, cheese, eggs and milk cold while I did the deed.

As I was driving to the Super S Bob called to say he figured out what was wrong with the refrigerator. Seems the top door latch worked fine, but the bottom door latch didn't so cold air was escaping. That didn't explain why the meat in the freezer was thawing, so I decided to defrost anyway.

Monday afternoon, I took everything out of the refrigerator, iced the most critical things, then got to work defrosting. While I was at it, I thoroughly cleaned the whole thing top to bottom. (That's got to help keep things cold, right?)

After defrosting and cleaning, the refrigerator was still warm. Drat! What could it be? That's when I read the small print by the refrigerator controls: "1--Cold; 9--Coldest." What? For some reason I had it in my mind that the lower the control number, the lower the temperature in the refrigerator. I had turned it all the way down to 2 in my effort to make the refrigerator colder. Did you know I'm a blonde?

 Bugs in the 5th Wheel

Last night, I was sitting at my computer, happily typing my blog. I reached up to shoe away a bug on the back of my neck. It was the tag from my shirt. Kept typing. Then it felt like a big bug hit the side of my neck and I hastily swiped it away. There must have been a wrinkle at the neck of my T-shirt as the bug fell down there. I let out a shriek and pulled the front of my T-shirt out to GET THE BUG OUT OF THERE! Oh, oops, it was my earring. Did I mention I'm blonde?

Camping with Kids

Back in the day when our kids were about 12 and 8, we used to take our Dodge van and go camping along the North Umpqua River in Oregon to swim in and hike to waterfalls. Usually the kids slept in sleeping bags on the floor of the van and we had the bed.

On a very beautiful summer evening, the kids wanted to sleep out on the chaise lounge chairs under the stars. We told them, "Okay, but don't be going in and out of the van all night."

At 2:00 a.m., I woke up to pounding rain on the van roof. No kids inside. I opened the sliding door and looked outside for the kids wondering if they could possibly be sleeping through the rain. I mean, we definitely tired them out with swimming all day long! No kids, no chairs.

I woke Bob up and urgently said, "It's pouring rain and the kids aren't in here and they aren't out there. Even the chairs are missing!"

We launched a full scale, DEFCON 2, search. We couldn't imagine where they had gone. After frantically looking under trees and all around our site, we found that somehow the oldest son, Randall, had tucked his chair, extended full length, UNDER the picnic table. Michael's chair was sideways under the edge of the picnic table so only the middle part of his body was covered.

We hurriedly rounded them up and shoo'd them into the van, gave hugs all around, told them we loved them, then asked, "How come you didn't come in?"

Their response? "You told us not to."

Kids, ya gotta love 'em! (The oldest is a blonde.)

Schuhplattler polka -- Sat., May 26

Cotulla, TX: 

A little back story: I'm of German descent. A few years ago, Bob and I joined a folk dance group in Portland, Oregon and learned how to dance reels, polkas, waltzes, schottisches, landlers, tarantellas, minuets, the Mexican hat dance, and others.

I've told you how bad the bugs are here. Here's how bad... (At this point you're probably asking yourself what does folk dancing have to do with bugs?)

Well, let me tell you. When I go out during the hot afternoon to check trucks in and out of the gate, the black flies bite my legs. It hurts! I slap my left calf, slap my right knee, slap my left ankle, slap my right thigh. Sometimes four or five bugs bite me at once or in rapid succession.

All I can think is that I look like an Austrian or German doing the Schuhplattler polka which consists of slapping knees, thighs and ankles. You can find YouTube videos of the dance. Here's one: Schuhplattler dance and another Schuhplattler polka.  (I wish I had the whips and could use them like the dancers at the beginning of the second video! That would kill some bugs for sure--or at least keep them at bay. What did you think I wanted whips for?)


Normally, the schuhplattler is a dance in which men try to impress the marriageable ladies with their dancing prowess. In my particular situation, being the only woman in an oil field full of male workers, the men are probably pretty impressed by my thigh-slapping, bug-killing "dance." 

I think they get a "kick" out of it at the very least. I must look pretty silly out there trying to rid myself of the black fly bite-y bugs. At night, it's the mosquitoes. 

Oh well, maybe they're getting as much of a laugh out of it as I am. "Look at that crazy lady!! What is her problem? Is she putting on a dance for us?" 


Ya gotta find humor where you can out here. I think the Texas sun is getting to me. 


Travel "Bug" out.

Unusual Creatures -- Thurs., May 24

Cotulla, Texas:

Looks like our gate is about to get busy again. One of the job foreman told me to expect a bunch of semis tonight to haul away the big water tanks. Then in the morning, we will see a line of tanker trucks come in. Our days of one-to-three log pages are over.

Bob is up in San Antonio this afternoon and evening. He is doing a Costco and Office Max run. I took over for him about 1:30 p.m., but the gate hasn't been too busy up to this point. We are just finishing up page two on the log.

The temperature is 102 today and a hot breeze is blowing which alleviates the black biting flies. We've had dust devils come ripping through our site (and believe me there's plenty of dust and wind). I try not to be outside in the path of one.

Last night one of the Springbok antelope was visible on the ranch across the road. 

Springbok Antelope

kaybruce.wordpress.com

The springbok is a medium-sized brown and white gazelle that stands about 70 to 90 cm high. Springbok males weigh between 33 and 50 kg and the females between 25 and 40 kg. Wikipedia

Scientific name: Antidorcas marsupialis

I am a nature girl. Love to be out in it, exploring, discovering, communing with benevolent wildlife. For some reason the wildlife like to live with us. You heard about the Bewick's wren we had to dissuade from nesting under our slide out. ( A Little Bird and A Little Bird, Part 2 )

Today we had a walking stick living with us on our entry door. Isn't it cool! I love walking sticks. They're designed to camouflage in bushes by looking exactly like a twig. Bob pointed out that this one wasn't doing a very good job. Our fifth wheel trailer door is white.

In the photo, I put my hand next to it so you can see how big it is. I would have picked it up and put it on my arm, but I didn't want to disturb it. (Again, my apologies for all the dust inside my camera. I don't know how to get it out. Compressed air says not to use it on camera mirrors.)

That is the biggest walking stick I have seen. We had walking sticks and praying mantis at our house in Hawaii, but nothing like this. (Everything's bigger in Texas, right?)

Other unusual creatures: 

• Bob and one of the workers spotted what looked like a scorpion without a tail. They didn't know what it was so they squashed it...said it was real juicy. (Just like a man to say that.) Looking on Google it may have been a vinegaroon (alt. spelling vinegarone), sunspider [also called wind scorpion] or a whip scorpion, none of which are harmful to people.
• I saw quite a few 2" long, shiny black, wasp-like flying insects. One of them had picked up a cricket as big as it was and carried it away. Sounds kind of like the new "warrior wasps" from Indonesia.
• Numerous types of beetles

The trailer is shakin' like a leaf on a tree as the winds are picking up. Weather forecast says gusts as high as 21 mph. I think the gusts may be a bit stronger than that. We have massive clouds of blowing dust. The dust sets off the motion detector at the gate and rings the bell in our trailer. Think of a continuously dinging doorbell.  It's making me a little ringy dingy.  : (


Darkness is descending. According to our log, there are still two people at Pad A. I wonder if they're still back there or if they exited through the "cow gate." Hmmmm.


All for now. I'm going to attempt to latch the front gate (in the wind, no less.)


Got the gate closed. While I was out closing the gate, I saw four deer crossing by Pad A.

Awning & Biting Flies --Tues., May 23

Cotulla, Texas:

Our 5th wheel trailer (5er) was purchased in October 2011. Since then we have never used our awning. In Fallon and Sparks, Nevada, it was just too windy and cold. We wanted as much sun on our rig as we could get.

Our trip to Texas was pretty quick and we didn't stay anywhere long enough to put the awning out. Now that we are parked in one place (three weeks already), and the temperature is in the 90s, we decided it was time to figure out how to open the awning over the front of our rig. This will provide more shade for Bob during his day shift and will give shade to half our rig from the brutal afternoon sun. (Our front door faces west.)

Using our owner's manual, we got the awning into place quickly and easily. During the summer in southern Texas, the awning will be de rigueur. Because of the vinyl chemical smell when we rolled out the awning, we think the awning had never been used. It will get a workout now. I will be glad when the stink goes away.

We also have an awning over our living room on the opposite side of the 5er, but all three loops we would use to pull it out broke off. Two of the loops broke off at the dealership where we bought it, and the middle one broke off today when we tried to pull it out. That will be our next 5er repair when we get back to civilization.

Today we had the displeasure of learning our newest bugs here in south Texas are black flies and they bite! Ouch. Usually more than one at once. They seem to like legs and ankles.


Our traffic at the gate was light today; only filled two pages on our log. Bob got some chores done--repacking the "basement" and going through a box of old office papers. He was going to go for a walk from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m., but when he got out there, the mosquitoes were out in full force and he was the lone mammal in the area. He rapidly returned to the safety of the 5er. We killed 12 mosquitoes that rode or flew in with him.


Tonight we watched "Blazing Saddles" on DVD. It was fun...so politically incorrect, so uppity, so stereotypical. There's another word I'm trying to corral, but it escapes me at the moment. Of all the Mel Brook's movies, though, "Young Frankenstein" is my favorite. I know that movie by heart.


It's 11:10 p.m. and all's quiet at the gate. Time for me to enjoy some Facebook game time.


TravelBug out.

Internet, Bugs, Birds -- Wed., May 16

Cotulla, Texas:

Our internet connection is so lousy here, we bought a booster to strengthen our signal. Bob plans to install it tomorrow.

 

We have been super busy. I had trucks through the night last night.

 

I was thrilled there were no mosquitoes here. Mosquitoes think I am their buffet line.  That changed after the rains. Now we have gazillions of them: big, nasty, bite-y, Texas-sized mosquitoes. Today, I put on Deep Woods Off to keep the mosquitoes and gnats away. The little annoying gnats fly into your nose. ICK! I keep a piece of paper to fan my face when I'm sitting outside during the afternoon. I have mosquito bites on my legs even with the Off. I think it wore off so I'll have to put some more on.

 

I hate to open the door at night, because about 10 mosquitoes come in if the door is  open a few seconds. Bob, the cats and I hunt them and kill them. 

I love sitting outside in the late afternoon/evening (except for the bugs). Birds come to the generator because it attracts bugs. Today, while I was sitting there reading, I felt something on my side almost under my arm. My mind freaked out thinking it was a tarantula or something. It wasn't. It was my cute little Bewick's wren friend. She must have been trying to catch a bug by my side. I think we startled each other.

The mockingbirds come within a foot or two of my feet and the cardinals come within about six feet. I got some great pics today! 

Peek a boo, I see you.

Smile for the camera.

"Wait a minute! Who the heck are you?"

Mockingbird

Not too afraid of me.

Mockingbird checking me out.

"I guess you're okay."

Sometimes in the evening, right before it gets dark, we see beautiful birds flying up in the sky. I couldn't figure out what they were. I thought they were owls, but no owls looked like that. I found out they're common nighthawks. Love them!

 

When we were in Big Bend National Park at night, again birds we thought were owls flew in our headlights trying to catch bugs. I found out in the Audubon book that those were lesser nighthawks. They have beautiful patterns under their wings when they fly.

 

We definitely want to spend more time in the San Antonio/Austin Hill Country. There is so much to see and do here, plus it's beautiful country with terrific bird-watching! And there's swimming holes galore for hot summer days. (Bob is into that more than I am, unless the water is super warm.) Apparently winters are mild here as well. Supposedly it rarely goes to freezing in the winter.

 

My faithful readers, I leave you with this. I do not know the source, it came to me via email (thanks, Mom):

Forgetter Be Forgotten

My forgetter's getting better,
But my rememberer is broke
To you that may seem funny
But, to me, that is no joke

For when I'm 'here' I'm wondering
If I really should be 'there'
And, when I try to think it through,
I haven't got a prayer!

Ofttimes I walk into a room,
Say 'What am I here for?'
I rack my brain, but all in vain!
A zero, is my score.

At times I put something away
where it is safe, but, Gee
The person it is safest from
Is, generally, me!

When shopping I may see someone,
Say 'Hi' and have a chat,
Then, when the person walks away
I ask myself, 'who the heck was that?'

Yes, my forgetter's getting better
While my rememberer is broke,
And it's driving me plumb crazy
And that isn't any joke.

CAN YOU RELATE???
Please send this to everyone you know because
I DON 'T REMEMBER
WHO I SENT THIS TO!

Never a Dull Moment -- Fri., May 11

 Cotulla, Texas:

Compared to rainy yesterday, today was gorgeous and about 84 degrees, 70% humidity (tolerable).

Bob's shift was pretty routine. Normal amount of traffic. Oh, except there was a big mud hole just past where they had been grading and putting rock down into the caliche. Trucks were nosediving into it. A grader came out and many truckloads of gravel were put down which the grader then smoothed into the roadbed of caliche dust.

I came on duty at 3:00 p.m. Bob went to the post office to pick up our mail. On the way back he stopped to visit Kit and Jerry. He had a wonderful time picking their brains about internet reception, gate guarding, past history...just a good, old-fashioned visit.

About 45 minutes after Bob left for town, I witnessed an accident inside our gate between two sand trucks. I won't bother you with the details. I did get some pictures of the damage, though.

Tire removed already. Damaged wheel.

Crunched license plate, damaged grill, hood crunched upward.

Assessing the damage.

That was the first incident on my shift. 

Next thing I know, trucks that had exited the gate onto Harvey Smith Rd south were all backing up into our gate to turn around, even the rock trucks that were supposed to put more rock down. When the grader guy got off shift around 10:40 p.m., he brought the grader in and parked it across from our rig (which is where he left his pick-up truck). I asked him what was going on down the road. 

He replied, "An inexperienced trucker got stuck in the hole, broke the axle and ruined the transmission. I tried to pull him out, but couldn't. Two other trucks combined tried to pull him out, but couldn't. The road is blocked. I've been sending everyone I can around another way. There's nothing more we can do tonight. A semi tow truck will be here in the morning. I'll be back first thing."

While the second incident wasn't exactly at our gate, it impacted where our truckers had to go to get here. And some who left had to back up 1/2 mile to turn around at our gate.

Oh, I forgot to mention, we have an excellent bird feeder. Our night lights attract all manner of moths, beetles, termites, lightning bugs, and who knows what else. There are no bats! During the day, all kinds of birds come to the generator/light stand and have easy pickin's of whatever ever bug buffet suits them. We have Bewick's wrens, mockingbirds, a male and female cardinal, and other birds I haven't identified yet. Today the Bewick's wren came within a few inches of my shoe. My nature moment for the day.

Kitty story: We have discovered what floats our cats' boats...flying insects--moths to be exact. (Beetles are exciting too, but just not as much fun.) A moth enters the 5er, intense hunter cat mode ensues. Both Sunnie and Bowie go nuts, leaping tall furniture in a single bound, climbing upholstered valances, staring down moths on the ceiling as if they can entrance them to fly around some more.

Yesterday Sunnie caught a good-sized moth. He proudly carried it around in his mouth, would let it go and catch it again. If Bowie got too close, Sunnie hissed and growled.

This evening there were plenty of moths to go around and both cats had their own playthings. They don't eat them (probably too fuzzy), just play with them and carry them around.  Apparently Sunnie does eat beetles.

"I see a moth. Yum!"

Two cats hunting.

As I'm sitting here typing the two cats just finished hunting some bug under the dining chairs and I can hear Sunnie's bug crunching noises from where I sit...sounds like a crunchy beetle, not a soft moth.

They wore themselves out. Some moths live on, but the cats are sleeping. By morning, we'll probably discover more dead moths.

More random pictures from the last few days:

These cats love playing in and around boxes! See those little holes...they make good spots for Bowie's paws to attack Sunnie.

Bewick's wren. It's there, really!

Equipment move

Bob doing his job.

Pad B before the flood.

Bowie

Springbok antelope running away from me again.

Grackle

Grackle.

Trailing edge of the front--May 10, 2012.

Trailing edge of the front -- May 10, 2012

Trailing edge of the front.

The storm that passed over us, leaving for the day.

Kitties playing.