CLOSED: Ok then, what the heck is this thing?

lol croclover...I've wrangled with a few stink bugs myself as a child...nasty little critters.. :p

Turquoise,

I think my nephew is the pied piper of bugs because I have found the most bizarre insects since I've been watching him this week. We had a cicada in our apricot tree and they are not very common around here, or at least they aren't LOUD and droning like this one!

lol croclover,
Being a native South Texan, I grew up with that cicada "drone" every summer...and to this day, the sound makes me homesick for evening swims, and bbq, lol.

When I was a child at home, (up into my teens as well), I use to catch cicadas at nightfall as they were coming up out of the ground. Then I would let them crawl up onto the screen of our screened-in porch.I'd sit for hours and watch them emerge from the shell and slllloooowwlly unfold their wings. Couldn't wait to catch them and watch em' fly away in the morning. :)

Whenever I call my parents at home (still in the same house for 41 years), I can hear cicadas so loud when my mother is outside, that I can barely hear her! lol

lol Croclover
Yeah those ol 'stank bugz' are not my favorite toys . . . I used to prefer the praying mantis and walking sticks - which reminds me, those (walking sticks) have gotten almost as rare as horned toads or it seems that way. But I did see one on my screen a couple of nights ago, so I guess there's still a few around.

TxT, your folks must live out near me somewhere. We've got those lil 'hummmmm dingers' around here that thick too. Can hear them singing to each other all through the evening out here.

lol GD,
Speaking of walking sticks...I use to have one come around for an occasional visit at the apartment that we lived in on Vance Jackson. This guy was a pretty good size...but I've seen REAL big ones. I actually named him "churro" for the Mexican pastry..lol...Take a look at his photo.. lol...I use to walk around with praying mantises myself as a child. About a month ago I had a big green female hang around on my huge crown of thorns, but only for a few days. I actually had a pet female lay some eggs in our house when I was a child...and my mother recently admitted to me that when she told me that she had taken all of the babies outside....she had actually vacuumed them all up! lol...

Actually, my parents are just west shy of Corpus...'tween Corpus and Laredo. The brush country is beautiful when the powers that be decide to remember it...but brutal when their attentions are elsewhere...lol :)

Ahh ok . . . that's so true, I love that brush country down that way. And it's even nicer when they get a little rain, which it appears they did yesterday :) Or at least that general area seemed to get a nice shower down there.

lol @ vacuumed eggs - some times it takes forever for the truth to come out huh? lol btw - great pic of that walk'n stick . . . it was a fat sucker huh? :D

That's what I thought too. I've never seen one so large.

lol GD, billyporter
I've seen walking sticks that look like cigars with legs.... Churro was a mid-sized edition...lol I was sitting in our patio reading one day at the apartment and heard a big clunk..I saw some movement inside of an empty flower pot and there was Churro! lol...I helped the little guy out and onto my bouganvillea...and he visited me about 6 more times. :)

My Mom told me that they got about an inch and a half there yesterday, GD. Which is a definite blessing. The brush country is heaven on earth (I think!) after a rain storm...everything just sort of wakes up and smells wonderful. I use to love just sitting in a deer stand and watching it all come alive. :) *I sure do get nostalgic on these threads.* :)

Nostalgia makes good stories!

lol billyporter...true.. :)

lol indeed it does ;)

Heck yeah . . . I was never a big deer hunter, but I do enjoy sitting in a deer stand with my camera. And this time of year, after a rain . . . it's surely much nicer. :)

Glad to hear they got that much down there. We're hope'n we get a little more than fell today.

yep...no rain at this end of town. A little sprinkle here and there and then it decided that it was done..lol My Desert Willow is still blooming and I just couldn't resist sniffing a damp bloom this evening. Unfortunately, I also sniffed a sugar ant into my nose...lol *ouch* *aaaacchhoooo!*

Yeah, I never hunted either...tho my parents would both get into a stand at one end of the lease...and I would climb into another on the other end. Dusky times were chilly..and so exciting, just watching everything come out onto the senderras. And the quiet...! phew...could hear your heart beat...lol *gettin' misty eyed* lol... :) Dad actually had a black cougar sit under his stand one cold evening...

Oh wow . . . now I'm jealous :P In case you didn't see my mountain lion painting . . . you may never guess that's one of my favorite creatures and to see a black one - in person and in the wild even? Dannnng . . . did he happen to have a camera handy?

I've only ever seen one in the wild and it was not black and not really close enough to get a photo. That was down around Falerton about 10 years ago . . . leaving a ranch after hog hunting all night . . . lol

My Father never got to take a photo of that black mountain lion (cougar). He enjoyed shooting deer and such with the real thing. :) But he swears that it did indeed sit under his deer stand. We teased him until a few other hunters on the lease admitted to seeing one too. Since the lease was sort of close to Tildon and Dilley...they actually saw some baboons out in the brush that had escaped from a primate facility in Dilley. THAT use to worry me while I poked around on my knees lookin' for arrowheads, lol Nothing like seeing a big male hamadryas baboon coming at you with its fangs showing...lol

Awww well . . . that's cool . . . at least he didn't shoot it with the real thing . . . lol

I know that area fairly well, having hunted those parts for wild hogs most of my life. And I know "of" those monkeys you spoke of also. Though I've never seen any of them in the wild, I know of a few people that have. One friend of mine nearly got into a feud with the guys on his neighboring lease because of them . . . lol

As you may know, coons are also pretty thick in those parts and will typically raid a deer camp and have their way with anything eatable. So most of the folks that have deer camps tend to do what they can to lock, bolt, tie and fasten down any and everything in sight, including all openings to their camp houses. Well . . . when my friend and his buds arrived at their camp one season, they found their camp house had been broken into by something or someone. At first they said it looked like coons raided their site, but they couldn't figure out how the coons could loosen the nuts and bolts on the openings they had secured everything with. They were left to assume it had to be the guys on the next lease over and went over and confronted them. After a pretty heated exchange and some nasty words and what was nearly a shooting . . . they left and warned them never to set foot on their lease again bla bla bla . . . lol

Well as weekend warriors tend to do, when the weekend was over they packed up and bolted things down again and headed home. The following weekend, one of the guys went down ahead of the group and caught the culprits red-handed. Only it wasn't the neighbors, nor the coons . . . it was those little monkeys that you mentioned that had been terrorizing their camp . . . lol

Only they're not regular baboons, they're actually Japanese Snow Monkeys that (as you said) escaped from a ranch around Dilley. It seems they are adapting well to their new environment. Besides being pretty smart, they are also incredibly strong. They were able to loosen the nuts that were tightened with a wrench with their bare fingers and get into the camp house.

This all happened back in the early 90s when they were first starting to become a nuisance in that area. Since then, I've seen a documentary about them and apparently the young males, like most teenage boys will do . . . reach the age to go looking for teenage girl monkeys. lol Only there are none to be found out in the brush country of South Texas. So they get into all sorts of mischief while out traipsing the woods.

They're pretty interesting actually. The film I saw showed how they've developed a new call that means "Rattlesnake" to the others in the group. When one of the members makes this "new" danger alert sound, the others all head for the trees. The people doing the film said they played a recording to the same type monkeys back in Japan and they didn't seem to respond to it as a danger signal at all. Proving that it was something that they developed specially for their new home. . . .
I thought that was pretty interesting and thought I'd share that with ya'll in case you hadn't heard.

By the way, those little rascals are still running around down in those parts, so if you go deer hunting in that area be sure to lock things down real good . . . ;)

I never thought a nostalgic story would lead to these. How neat to be so close to a black cougar. I didn't even know they could be black.

Baboons - gives me the creepy shivers!

Japanese Snow Monkeys. Oh my gosh! They are a huge problem! I was always glad to not live where they do and here they were/are, right in Texas?

Wonderful story ya gave us there, GD, lol...
You're absolutely right...I had forgotten that most of the sightings down that way were actually Japanese Macaques or Snow Monkeys and only a few baboons. Having minored in Primatology, I am reeeaalll familiar with them, lol. They are our most northern group of monkeys...and as you say...have adapted their lifestyles to suit the rugged mountains and snow of Japan. You've probably heard of them just sittin' around having a group hot tub get-to-gether and washin' sand from their veggies and other edibles. All learned behavior that is now part of their bio lifestyle.

As for their Texan brothers....now THAT is alot of different "learned" behavior, lol I had heard that as well about the rattlesnake warning call. They range in groups, sort of like meerkats in Africa, so SOMEONE has to be the lookout. These young bachelors must be finding some lady monkeys somewhere or about..because their numbers are a bit on the increase. lol...I detest Primate Research Facilities...so I figure this is a little bit of revenge because of all of the pokin' and proddin'. It definitely has the authorities scratchin' their heads and hunters getting angry..lol

lol about the deer camps. I've spent a few nights amidst the rat scurryings and coon nosyings at the "Deer Hut" as the hunters called it. I loved it of course...could have a bonfire on a cold night and feel just mighty fine. lol, Friends in Boston could never quite figure out the concept of "the brush country." :D

And another thing, I am dadnabbedly happy to report that its raining a fairly good amount as I type... :):)...

Glad to hear you've got rain, Turquoise! I know you need it out there! I soemhow missed that there were more comments on this page so this is a little late, but OH MY GOODNESS! Churro is a giant! I had no idea they could grow as big or bigger than that! Sorry- had to comment!

lol croclover...this thread has covered a whole lot of topics... :D
Yeah, our walking sticks can get reeaall big. But like GD said, we don't see them like we use to...I use to see a whole lot of them hanging out in my sister's Red Tipped Phostina (sp?) For some reason, they were really attracted to that large shrub. In fact...that is where Churro came from..after I rescued him from the flower pot. lol I had alot of it growing in front of our patio wall.

lol BillyPorter . . . yeah they can be a bit spookier than even the dreaded Water Scorpions huh? ;)
Actually I was always a bit worried that my dogs would come upon a group of these Maxaques while searching for wild hogs. And I'm not sure they didn't on one occasion. There was no tussle so there's no way to know for sure what was in the brush this one particular day, but there were a couple of dogs by me and they smelled something 'odd' in the brush and refused to go in there. The hair on their backs was all bristled up and the never barked . . . just made some low town growls and kind of side stepped the area as we passed by . . . it wasn't until later that day that I learned these monkeys were said to be in the area. That's when I put two and two together and figured that's what it must have been in there that spooked them. Obviously that would be a strange smell to the dogs and they were uncertain how to react. Since there is obviously a large variety of game in the woods, our 'hog dogs' are trained to hunt ONLY the hogs. And with Dogos, they fear nothing and will take on a huge bore even if they are the only dog in the area. So when they didn't go in after what they were smelling, I knew that it wasn't a big boar. It may have been a mountain lion, but my guess is that it was one of those little groups of monkeys.

Ty TxT, glad ya enjoyed ;) and I hope I wasn't remembering anything bassackwards . . . lol
I didn't realize we had a Primate expert 'hang'n around' - no pun intended - well ok maybe just a little ;) :D
Indeed I saw the bit about them washing the sand off the sweet potatoes in the sea and then they discovered that they actually tasted better with the sea salt on them and keep dipping them to add that flavor . . . pretty smart lil buggers huh?

PS. We got rain here too :) :) :) 1.5" so far and counting :) :) :)

lol GD,
My father knew a lady who was the sister of the lease owner who owned that actual lease. (wow...its one of those "my brother knew the cousin of your uncle's niece who knew the son of the neighbor down the street" kind of thingys, lol) Anyhoo, we use to visit her when my parents and I went arrowhead hunting during the off-season. She lived way outside of Tilden in a trailer house...and had a fine arrowhead collection herself. She use to regale us with stories about her close encounters with monkeys..and we'd sit around and laugh about them...lol... She even mentioned one sitting on the caliche road that led from her trailer to the FM road into Tilden. It wouldn't budge until she honked at it...lol Off into the brush it went! I had forgotten about all of that until you mentioned the macaques...lol

I have another unusual sighting near Tilden that was certainly as surprising as black mountain lions, baboons and macaques. We were driving into town to go to the lease....and after crossing the Nueces river, my mother exclaimed that she had just seen an alligator. Well, we teased her about her probably seeing a log...so my father turned around and we went back to see her "gator." And there was her gator sunning itself on the mud bank.... :D This is way out in the brush country, remember..! We've also seen weird lights late at night in the sky, while driving home...but thats another story...lol

hmmm with these strange lights . . . I think I better mark this thread as "Unsolved" again :D lol

I've seen a few of those strange lights in the night sky myself, but like you say . . . that's another story all together ;)

I'd like to meet your lady friend with the arrow head collection. I bet she's got some cool stories to tell :)

That's pretty interesting about the gator be'n way down south like that . . . a bit out of his element I'd think. But hey . . . where there's water . . . I don't guess he minded a little thorns and heat. ;)

lol..I guess that poor old gator followed some tributary from around Aransas Pass...and went up the Nueces to Tilden..

Yeah...its dark next to nothing out that way at night...which I love. My parents saw a blue fire ball after we left Tilden....while my head was down no less..lol ..I did see a falling star tonight tho while sitting on my front porch. :)

Yeah...unfortunately, Mildred passed away some years back. Sort of sad..she lived way out there with only her cats for company. We would drive by her trailer..and I couldn't wait to show her my arrowhead finds... :)

This message was edited Jul 2, 2006 11:49 PM

Indeed . . . ya gotta love getting away from the glow of the city lights . . . it's amazing how many more stars you can see out there . . . not to mention other things that find their way into our sky :O

Sorry to hear Mildred is no longer with us . . . bet she had some good tales to tell. I really enjoy listen'n to elders tell stories :)

You forgot to mention . . . did your dad make gator soup? :D lol

lol...nooo...No gator soup... A handbag maybe! But no soup...lol
I always wondered what happened to that guy on the riverbank..

Stars were gorgeous tonight...was hoping to see some lightning bugs...but another no-show..The air was cool outside...just mighty fine.. :)

lol @ handbag :P

Yes indeed . . . and another beautiful sunset after the storms this evening too :) What a great way to celibrate the 4th . . . some very nice and much needed rain and some cooler weather for a change. :)

indeed... :) Apple pie is on the menu for the 4th... lol

Woooooo Hoooooo . . . what time is lunch? I'll bring the ice cream :D

GD, if you told me you painted the sunset, I would believe you. It is beautiful. I love to look into other peoples ''back yards'' since we don't travel.

TxTurquoize, I'll take a little vanilla ice cream on mine too!

howdy guys...phew..looong day at work. What?? Vanilla ice cream? Naw...I like my pie as natural as it can get...no a'la'mode for me... :)
My favorite is peeekan tho.

Well, since we're all in Texas...I guess most folks here will have a bbq get-to-gether for the 4th. I know the ribs are gonna be grillin' here...lol Happy 4th..ya'll... :)

Aww well thanks BillyPorter . . . and as much as I'd like to take credit for that lovely scene, I was only a witness to another spectacular show put on by my favorite artist - Mother Nature ;)

Oh and TxT . . . if that's fresh homemade Apple Pie . . . I'd be content with a little dab of melting butter on there while it's still nice and hot and fresh outta the oven :D

Hope everyone's 4th is a safe and happy one and don't burn those ribs :D

Hey- what kind of ribs are you BBQ ing in TX? We are grilling pork ribs up here this year. (They were on sale). My Momma used to do some mean beef ribs when we lived in Okla.

lol Ivy1...it was hard to find some good ribs around Boston! We managed tho...and my Boston honey made (and still makes) some pretty darn good pork ribs. Beef is of course - king- around here in these parts...but pork seems to be creepin' up the popularity ladder. Beef ribs are great...but they look like dinosaur ribs, lol...and to me, they don't have as much meat on em'. I still love a good veggie ka-bob too...Load on them jalapenos...!

lol, I'm with ya on the front yard peeking thing, billyporter. One of my many favorite past times is driving around the neighborhood and lookin' at the neighbor's yards, good AND bad...lol (I live a very quiet life, lol)

lol GD, that would definitely have to be a pecan pie.....my absolute all time favorite. I had forgotten...and Ivy may know this (livin' in CT) that people in the Northeast always eat a wedge of sharp cheddar cheese with their apple pie. I mean...its REAL common up that way. I could never adopt that custom...but it goes back a long way. (colonial times?) lol...My pecan pie always looked out of place amidst the fresh blueberry, apple and homemade pumpkin pies during the holidays in Boston. Being a Southern woman, I HAD to have my pecan pie. :):)

I agree with GD on nature's portrait-makin' talents. I don't go to movies or parties, or such stuff...nature and her own productions are all of the entertainments that I need. I guess that happens to some of us as we get older...lol

lol...was just looking over this thread again, GD. Wow...! waterbugs, cicadas, roaches, paintings, hogs, monkeys,bbq and pies...lol
Keep em' coming :)

I don't get the cheese and apple pie thing- I like my pie straight! If so many people eat it, you'd think it was something special, like make a new flavor together, but it doesn't do a thing for me. Just tastes like cheese and pie.....

lol Ivy....I agree! It just seems sacreligious to do that to a perfectly good apple pie, homemade no less! :D

lol yeah . . . I'm with ya'll on that one . . . even though I LOVE cheese on about everything . . . I don't think I want any on my Apple Pie!! :P

Indeed this thread has covered lots of bases. It's funny how that works . . . what started out as a question about a funky look'n bug down in the paint shop turned into an array of topics :D

It's all good . . . almost as good as this lemonaid break ;) Dang it's warm and muggy out there today!!!

I know what ya mean...tis hot! I'm takin' a tea break myself...trying to transplant some cactus which had some bad scale on the mother plant. I've got a few pups that I'm replanting without the dadgum scale.

Sittin' here chucklin' at the neighbor across the street...he's mowing his yard REAL short...being from Illinois...I don't think he knows that that is a bad idea this time of year....Yikes...he's shaving it....lol..I best lower the blinds..tis painful to watch..lol

lol yeah . . . they think the shorter they cut it - the less often they'll have to cut it. When they may have a point, when they burn it all up, they won't have much left to cut . . . lol

Cheers

My parents had a lawn like that in Okla. Worst yard in the neighborhood.... :)

brown grass and full of those round stickers with big thorns all over them. You'd come in with those stickers all over you socks or worse stuck into your foot.

I think that is why I garden today- I don't want to have the worst yard anymore!