BS: Varmints

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Sep 18 - 03:57 AM

Ah, we get so many different dragonflies and damselflies here in early summer, hawkers, emperors and many others. There's even a Norfolk Dragonfly (Aeschna isosceles).

Our little village is in the Wensum valley with a string of small ponds and lakes. (the river Wensum, Sparham Pools and so on)

That's why we get all sorts of water fowl too, geese, ducks, swans, parading along our main street. I reckon they're looking for the pub!

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Sep 18 - 02:24 PM

It's 'possum time!

Opossum during a pro (American) football game

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Senoufou
Date: 22 Sep 18 - 04:02 AM

Those possums look really sweet.

I'm sorry to have to announce that the Spider Season is in full swing. The weather has changed dramatically, with high winds and heavy rain, and it's much chillier. So our eight-legged 'friends' (not) have decided it's time to move in with the Humans.

There was an absolute whopper in out utility room a few days ago. I mean, so large it was Morris dancing wearing eight clogs. Husband put it outside, big black hairy thing. (not my husband, I mean the spider)
I'm in a constant state of alert after that, scanning the walls, peering under the bed, scared to put my bedside light out. Gah!

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Sep 18 - 01:46 PM

I just learned something new today:

I always called them Mexican fruit bats,
because the Texans call them that (they migrate through Texas).
But they are also known
as Jamaican fruit bats.

Now, there are some musical possibilities ...

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Senoufou
Date: 23 Sep 18 - 02:32 PM

Artibeus jamaicensus is called the Jamaican or Mexican fruit bat, so you're quite right keberoxu.
They look very sweet too. We had one or two pipistrelle bats in our last house coming through the bedroom window and getting tangled in our net curtains. Tiny little things. I gently enveloped them in a tea towel and helped them outside.
All bats are protected here, and it's illegal to kill them. I really like them.
But NOT blooming spiders! :(

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Sep 18 - 08:45 AM

I had a midnight blue car that would attract dragon flies . Maybe they thought it was a small body of water.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Charmion
Date: 24 Sep 18 - 09:57 AM

Whenever I find a bat in the house, I open a window and get out of the way. That usually does the job.

The church my family attended back in the '60s had a huge pipe organ that housed a colony of bats. The sexton, a large man name of Kenward, caught them by means of a tennis racquet and a dustpan, with which he had developed a surprising dexterity.

They made their most dramatic appearances after the Sunday morning anthem, blown out of the long pipes by the organist's choice of an infrequently used sound effect. I remember one drifting groggily out of the decani-side pipe loft, behind and over the Arch-Deacon's head as he reached the high point of his sermon. The ever-vigilant Kenward nabbed it in the west side aisle with barely a flutter of his cassock, much to the approval of the boys in the choir.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Sep 18 - 06:34 PM

Just recalled the phrase,
"there's a fungus among us."

But a fungus, I suppose, is no varmint.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 26 Sep 18 - 07:04 PM

Then, today, I drive my car past a grassy slope
and am startled to observe
a single line of tall mushrooms :
they grow forming a single line DOWN the slope in the grass.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Senoufou
Date: 27 Sep 18 - 04:09 AM

We get mushrooms all growing in a circle. It's called a 'fairy ring'. We were told as children that they grew where fairies danced in a circle. (I personally thought this was terribly 'wet' and never believed it!)

The reason for mushrooms growing along a line or a circle is that they're probably feeding off an old tree root, or their mycelium is spreading outwards symmetrically.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 Oct 18 - 06:34 PM

Mid-October, the night are heading down to frost.
And, in time, freeze.

So this is what I call
"The Moths' Last Gasp."

At this transition of the seasons,
in the evening and through the night,
the moths will be attracted, as never before,
to the doors into my apartment building.
They are after not only light but warmth.
One has to be really careful heading in or out.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Senoufou
Date: 15 Oct 18 - 04:01 AM

Same with the blooming spiders keberoxu. They're creeping in through every slightly-open window. Husband is being kept busy removing them and gently putting them outside, but I'm sure they just turn round and head back in once he goes indoors.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 15 Oct 18 - 12:06 PM

And talking of varmints:

"First actual case of bug being found."

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Apr 19 - 07:24 PM

Spring has arrived in New England,
and the squirrels are busy, busy, busy.

My apartment building has got balconies.
And one squirrel has become quite adept
at climbing an evergreen tree near the building,
and SWOOP! going from the tree to one balcony.

Wonder if the tenants know what's dropping in on occasion? outside?

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Apr 19 - 12:06 AM

I think we should write a folksong about Varmints. (When i was a kid Davy Crocket used to call Injuns varmints. this caused no offence in our house cos we didn't know any red injuns and didn't know what a varmint was.)

Varmints

Don't let varmints get in your trousers
Fear and discomfort it arouses
Never get a grass snake in your pants
If you sit down and by and by
The grass snakes head sticks out your fly
this could cause acute embarrassment.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Jos
Date: 03 Apr 19 - 09:12 AM

I was thinking 'embarrassment' could be rhymed with 'harassment' - then I remembered that nowadays people don't pronounce it the way I do.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Apr 19 - 11:09 AM

I tend not to get bogged down in the songwriter's art...

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 04 Apr 19 - 06:31 PM

True or false:
Tumbleweeds
are not Varmints.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: frogprince
Date: 04 Apr 19 - 07:53 PM

"True or false:
Tumbleweeds
are not Varmints"
Perhaps that question is somewhat analogous to "are viruses actually living things?"

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Apr 19 - 04:38 PM

Why Earthworms Come Out When It Rains.
No, this is not poetry.
This is in response to fellow Mudcatter Donuel,
who asserts that
they don't want to drown underground.

Rhonda Sherman, at
North Carolina State University's
Department of Horticultural Science,
begs to differ.


"Worms don't have lungs, and instead, breathe through their skin.
Their skin must stay moist
for oxygen to pass through it."

What the worms wnat, when they come out like this, it seems,
is oxygen.

"A lot of people assume
that earthworms come out of the burrows when it rains
because they are drowning.
But they can't drown like humans
and can stay completely submerged in water for several days
if there is oxygen in the water."

Worms on the pavement are in serious trouble
when the sun comes back out;
exposure to light causes temporary paralysis.
Meanwhile the pavement moisture evaporates,
the worm can't breathe through dry skin,
and consequently the worm dies.

How to lend a helpful hand
to a worm on the pavement?

" ... gently picking it up and
putting it back on the grass or in leaves,
shielding it from direct sunlight,
so it will go back underground."

Learned something new today.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 09 Apr 19 - 11:28 PM

That gives me an idea for a song.

The earthworm coming out when it rains means this
Its like the earth whipping out its penis
'Get a load of this! All these knobs!
They're what nature needs - they're just the job!'
They're long and floppy - like pieces of string!
But some women like that sort of thing!'

you could do a whole musical.....

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 10 Apr 19 - 06:31 PM

On the commuter traffic rush-hour report
this morning around Greater Boston,
a traffic back-up was reported on a commuter artery
for
"a rafter of turkeys."

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 May 19 - 10:52 PM

it's gotten warm.
the termites are out.
where i can see them.
i hate termites.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Donuel
Date: 13 May 19 - 08:33 AM

I like Varmints. They are better than Star Mints
Little animal shapes like armadillo, platapus and otters.
They come in textures like crunchy and liquid filled.
Mint Chocolate bombadier beetles in a thin minty shell mmmm.
They even had a limited edition of extinct Varmints

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 May 19 - 05:57 PM

MORE TERMITES

must be the rain

expletive expletive gRRRRRRRRRRR

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 May 19 - 06:30 PM

Stopping by the Golden Arches today,
I spotted a healthy full-grown grey squirrel,
who really really wanted to get inside
one of the trash cans in the parking lot near the autos.

He scampered away, though,
when a driver strode to the nearest parked car.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 May 19 - 07:48 PM

Keneroxu you reminded me of a great scifi story called, I think, the rammer. I also think it is by Larry Niven. Kid puts a worm back...

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Stanron
Date: 20 May 19 - 08:28 PM

The pesky varmint featured in a Louis Lamour novel. I forget which one. I did enjoy his novels.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 May 19 - 02:22 PM

Well, Louis L'Amour wrote
How the West was Won,
in which men
do a lot of muttering about
"goin' to see the varmint."

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Jos
Date: 21 May 19 - 02:29 PM

Without an explanation being offered, I am left wondering what "goin' to see the varmint" means, and whether it might be a transatlantic version of "going to see a man about a dog."

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Stanron
Date: 21 May 19 - 03:49 PM

Wasn't it about a fur trapper being tricked? He was invited to see the varmint and when he tried to see he was struck from behind and then robbed.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 May 19 - 03:57 PM

Pirates, Stanron and Jos,
if I read right:
and the plot development
is in both the film and the book.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 May 19 - 05:11 PM

Is the quokka a varmint?

or is the quokka an innocent victim

of human selfies with quokkas

and are the selfies the REAL varmints?


-- as if I can't see that the selfies
depend on getting the quokka up front before the lens,
and the human carefully behind the quokka ...
were people born yesterday?!

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 May 19 - 10:51 AM

Fat glossy black ANTS.
One chewed on my leg overnight in bed.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 27 May 19 - 02:13 PM

I just watched a portion of a television cable-network broadcast
of the Pixar film
"Ratatouille."

Very fluid work they did with the regiments of little rats in
the restaurant kitchen.

I most appreciated the voices.
RIP Peter O'Toole.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 30 May 19 - 01:34 PM

Oh, and
Janeane Garofalo
does
a MEAN French-accented English -- at French speeds, to boot.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Jun 19 - 01:25 PM

It's a wonder that I don't have to report
to the roadkill thread about flattened bunny rabbits.

Because, at the rate that the local cottontail rabbits
are racing around where I live,
there is going to be rabbit roadkill sooner rather than later.

And the cottontails WILL run in front of the moving car.
It seems to go with the soaking wet spring rains,
now turning into early summer rains,
which are encouraging all the green growing things to go mad.

Can the local mule deer, with their
Lyme-Disease-carrying deer ticks,
be far behind?

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 17 Jun 19 - 03:00 PM

talking of deer,
I fear the prodigious growth of green growing things
during this very rainy spring and summer
is going to encourage the deer and their parasites
in the worst way.

Not to speak of the rodents and THEIR parasites, ugh.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Jul 19 - 05:39 PM

You watch, anytime soon
I will have to update the roadkill thread ...

but not of late,
thank goodness.
All the little beasties I see as I drive,
for some odd reason,
are alive and fleeing.

Cottontail rabbits
near the private school campus,
and groundhogs/woodchucks near the railroad tracks.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Jul 19 - 06:48 PM

Varmints am just critters what you ain't comfy with...but as the songs says:
All God's critters got a place in the choir
Some sing low, some sing higher
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire
Some just clap their hands, or paws
Or anything they got now.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 04 Jul 19 - 02:38 PM

What is it with the woodchucks/groundhogs?

The darned things are all over the back roads --

alive and scurrying, NOT roadkill.
Young, dark-furred, and skinny, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 29 Jul 19 - 02:21 PM

Today I spotted some sort of
chipmunk or ground squirrel.

The little critter narrowly avoided Mudcat's roadkill thread
as it sped across the main street,
right in front of my moving car.
He cleared it, though.

Not a conventional tree squirrel with its plumed tail;
as hard as it was to see him for his considerable speed,
I could still see a really skinny little tail.

He was reddish-brown and probably a full-size ground-squirrel
but much smaller overall then the adult tree squirrels.

Those grey squirrels in the trees
can be seen in any park or public garden,

but the little ground squirrel, hereabouts,
stays away from cultivated areas and
prefers the stands of undeveloped trees, woods, and forests.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 19 Aug 19 - 01:41 PM

Can you imagine?

rat falls from ceiling onto restaurant table

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Apr 20 - 09:37 AM

The earthworms are out!
if that scientist told the truth
(earlier post on this thread),
the earthworms need oxygen and they come out when it rains.
Now they are oozing their slow and steady way
around on the sidewalk pavement,
in the puddles, while a drenching rain is falling.

Not certain if the earthworms get their oxygen
by being out of the ground,
or by searching out rainwater which is rich in oxygen, or what.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Apr 20 - 12:25 PM

They obtain oxygen and eliminate carbon dioxide via diffusion through their skin. Oxygen must dissolve in the moisture on the skin first, so worms must never dry out. There is a rich bed of capillaries under the skin to facilitate this gas exchange. Earthworms come to the surface to get food, decaying leaves for example, which they drag down. I suppose they may find it easier to obtain oxygen by coming up to the top when the soil is saturated by rain, but in decently-aerated soil they don't need to come up for air. And worm burrows are a major contribution to that aeration.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 May 20 - 06:31 PM

Last year, it was high summer by the time
a ground squirrel turned up where I could spot it,
and it was on the paved road.

Today's ground squirrel I saw by
looking out the window where I am staying presently,
and the little beastie was right where
the grassy lawn comes up to a building;
it scampered swiftly around the corner and out of sight.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Jun 20 - 03:19 PM

Another little ground squirrel or chipmunk.
They are amusing when they dash across the road,
what really looks comical is the
straight narrow tail which sticks out on the diagonal,
almost exactly 45 degrees, from the racing little body.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Senoufou
Date: 05 Jun 20 - 03:59 PM

SPIDERS!!!!!
Gaaaaagh!!! I have never ever seen such enormous spiders in my entire life. Three now, jet black and quite hairy. In the house. In our bedroom. In our hall.
Are they a new arrival from abroad? Could they please go back immediately?
Husband has absolutely no fear (I have a phobia) and he gently picks them off the wall (shudder) and puts them out in the garden.
Can anyone suggest what type of spider this is?
I swear one looked as if it was wearing four pairs of football boots.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Jun 20 - 08:26 PM

Quite a few species of British spider will give you a nip if provoked. But none can do you any real harm. They are very useful beasts and should never be killed. Mrs Steve is scared of them and requires me to evict them. I do that only if she's looking, otherwise I secretly release them back into the house.

Subject: RE: BS: Varmints
From: Senoufou
Date: 06 Jun 20 - 04:31 AM

I know Steve, and I do love learning about wildlife etc. (Norfolk Wildlife Trust) I don't want them squashed, but I can't tolerate them inside the house. If I get up in the night for the loo and there's one in the bathroom I can't help but scream, so husband prefers to put them outside.
He says the latest one is a new signing for Norwich City FC, a super-striker, hence the football boots.