Bug Babble!

Here is a link to a thorough fire ant discussion from over a year ago
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/588191/

We use Splenda - but not in tea and never in baked goods... the baked goods just never taste right. My wife watches her sugar and was told by several doctors that a tiny piece of the real thing is better then any of the fake stuff - just keep it in control.

That said we have grown the stevia plant and love it to make tea.

That's what my mother called an "asp"....stings really bad.

I had an asp fall out of tree and into the collar of my shirt. That's been about five years back, and still ranks as the #1 most unpleasant outdoor experience of my life!

It's been a very good year for cats, they are everywhere here. Some I can identify such as the saddlebacks, others are so creepy looking I'm not touching them wether they sting or not.

I showed my youngest their first huge horn worm a few days ago. They reacted like it was an alien from another planet...good times. lol

Gymgirl, there is an all-natural cure for the nausea and dizzines, but our government has outlawed it. Shame.

Gymgirl, try stevia. NONE of the chemical sweeteners are good for you. My main horror story is the aspartame one -- headaches and all kinds of things.

pod, that is indeed an asp. We used to have them in the oak tree out back. MEAN critters.

My passiflora looks like messy brown string now from the Gulf Frittilary caterpillars. Ah, well. As Mehitabel would relate -- a bird's gotta eat, said the robin to the worm.

Gymgirl, I was diagnosed with a Meniere's-like syndrome, but without the accompanying hearing loss, when I was in my early 20s. The nausea, dizziness and vertigo are due to the extra fluid in the inner ear. That extra fluid excites many more nerve cells than normal sending the brain confusing motion information. The goal is to reduce the amount of liquid in the inner ear. I was put on a sodium substitute and a diuretic. I turned out to be allergic to the substitute and I lost too much water and sodium on the diuretic. I would daydream of potato chips and other salty things. Going on a low low sodium diet got rid of the nausea, dizziness and vertigo. It took time, but I haven't had a problem since that first year after diagnosis. I have to be sure I read the content of everything I eat. I don't eat many canned or prepared foods because of the usual high sodium content. I also drink plenty of water to help flush that extra bit sodium I sometimes indulge in. :-)

I can't take diuretics, but now a days there are a few that are very mild and they do help people who have a tendency to retain extra water.

Thanks, Bettydee. My DH just had a stroke two weeks ago (totally recovered from initial paralysis on right side), and I'm learning the joys of low(no) sodium cooking. I determined we'd both each the same thing, so I'm looking forward to lowering my sodium intake for more reasons than one!

Discovered a neat herb shop here and am excited about learning how to cook with fresh herbs for different flavors, instead of just "salty" all the time. Although, it will be different for this New Orleans girl!

Linda

We fight to keep everything herbal here... not easy but we try. Meds are just covering a problem - at least on the whole.


Never seen an Asp... will keep my eye out now!

Cocoa_Lulu ~ I can visualize that asp on a tree limb laying in wait for you... lol How scarey that must have been!
The hornworms do look totally prehistoric ~ I am sure even more so when seen thru your kiddos eyes... 8 ))

Incidentally, I have vertigo on occasion and the herbal recommendation is ginger capsules or fresh ginger. It does seem to work although I find I need to take it with food.

I am wondering if these cats are the same thing that I am expiercing. The trees are full of the nest and the furry worms are everywhere. I was told by a DGer friend in Idaho that they are called Bag worms and the on way to get rid of them was to smoke them out. So I called the fire dept for help ... you cant do that here unless its an emergency. I got a hold of the fire Marshall office ... they were suppose to get back with me. yeah! sure! So now I am trying to get a hold of the Society for the preservation of trees ... that is when they find the right one who handles this area! Go figure!

Vertigo, its amazing how many reasons they can come up with for this condition. When I was younger, it was my ears and I had lost the little antler on the right hand side of my brain ... and over a peroid of time my brain will get use to having only one these things. Next it was too much blood pressure medicine, this bout put me into the hospital.Now that I am older I have a pinched nerve! Its a neusance! I cant hold my hands over my head, I cant move too fast ... sometimes I dont do anything and I fall flat on my face. Actually I dont think the doctors know what cause vertigo and I had a couple tell me so. Sometimes I pop Antivert like candy ... sometimes it work and sometimes it dont. Soo.. I just go someplace and sit down and let it have its way with me until I can move around again.

Sylvia, the cats you are experiencing are everywhere this year. We called them "army worms", "tent cats","web worms". They won't hurt you but will drive you crazy. Usually come in waves about 6 weeks apart...three times a summer. Very, very prolific this year....may have something to do with all the rain. Our pecan and mulberry trees especially are suffering.
They can really make a mess....their poop is on our patio furniture and everywhere. Best I can tell there is absolutely no good reason for them. Come from a small, white moth that lives just to make the cats. The trees will recover but it just tries your nerves. By the time you get an opportunity to DO SOMETHING, they are gone anyway. Last about 2-3 weeks at a time. Late as it is, this most probably our last go round for 2007. If you find a solution, please, please share it. I have heard of the fire method but that it is too dangerous....might burn my house down.

No.... I couldn't stand to let it have its' way. I'd be hugging the commode. I find that if I get up at night and unknowingly walk into a wall, my balance is off. I will take benadryl which I hate and go back to bed. When I get up in the morning, I feel hungover but no vertigo. I started doing that assuming that my eustachian tubes were causing this from sinuses and allergies. The pharmacist said benadryl does work on dizziness. If I didn't take anything ~ just go back to bed, I will be soooo sick I can't stand up by morning. Hungover is better.

Related, I've always been motion sick, no amusement park rides for me not even the merry go round. The back seat of a car does me in and no way I could read on the road. I think it was inherited as a few other siblings share the problem.

Sylvia ~ there are excercises you can do to gradually regain your balance. Had a friend with a head injury and he went thru that therapy. It really helps him as long as he continues the excercises.

LOL I know Lou, my friends husband is a fireman... so they had help. I did call the fire dept too. I dont remember seeing any poop tho. My problem is i live in a an area where there are a lot of these trees, so I wonder how much do the neighbors care.Especially since all the trees are in the back where the drive thru is. I thought Bronco had a solution up there, is this not what he was talking about?
Anyway Lou I sure hate you are not going to be at the bash next month ... Do you promise to be at the spring one? :)

Yeah Pod I heard about the therapy ... I really need to take some time to do that. When I had my hip replaced my therapist told me about it. I better do it before I get on medicare ... you know they are going to pay too much ... if anything! :)

If you can break the bag in which the caterpillars hide, birds usually take care of the problem. A little creativity with a slingshot, small rocks tied to a length of string or light rope would help tear the bag worm tents located higher up.

Pod, Sylvia, have you tried a low sodium diet or at least lowering the amount of sodium you consume?

Sodium is not a problem here. We have been on low for many years but it is interesting to know what works for different folks.

I dol believe mine is allergy (sinus) related as its' timing is predictable. Always problems at specific times of year. Motion sickness is probably a related factor in the equilibrium.

Pod, for allergies, 1 table spoon of local honey each morning works great.

I'm blessed that I don't have enough allergies to count....mainly just Poison Ivy. Bronc, I have read that the honey works because it has all the traces of pollen from your area....somewhat like taking allergy shots. However, when I get the worst croup of all is when we have a blue norther and whatever comes with it hits hard. Thankfully that is not often. My grandchildren have terrible asthma and I sympathize with all of you that contend with allergies. I would think that the love of the garden and being in it would really be a challenge some days.

It can be miserable

I've found basil to be a relatively good substitute for salt. NOT the same, but it helps the flavor a LOT.

Thanks for all your feedback, guys!

GymG, so sorry to hear about your husband. That must have been very scary for the both of you. Glad he is doing better.

Pod, i can get quite car sick myself. I never thought it could be related to sinus problems....makes perfect sense.


Bronc, it hard to find, but if you get the chance try local bee pollen. It's slightly sweet and crunchy. Wonderful mixed in a banana and apple cider smoothy.

It's a well known fact that bee pollen is harvested by placing tiny welcome mats in front of their hives;)

Broncbuster ~ I have done honey for many years ~ for allergens native to this area but also just because I love it! It really does help me. Before honey, eyes would itch ferociously, tears would stream uncontrollably down my face ~ runny nose too. I cannot tell that honey has had an affect on my vertigo but definitely on the respiratory system.

edited to add ~ a tspn of honey daily ~ minimum!

This message was edited Sep 27, 2007 7:00 PM

just a teaspoon of honey makes the medicine go down...the medicine go down...just a teaspoon of honey makes the medicine go down in a most delightful way...Sound of Music...Ms. Julie Anderson

You know my DM used to do that for the kiddos. No baby aspirin but she would split an aspirin. Crunch it between a soup spoon and a table spoon, stir in a little syrup and give us our "treat" when sick. Worked!

What's for dinner? This is a view of the skeletonized leaves on the red oak...

Grew up with a bad case of bronchitis...probably the open gas heaters....anyway....we were from a teetotaler Baptist family. Only thing that would settle me down was a tody....warm honey with a little whiskey....lol Probably just knocked me out.

*giggles* I was just getting ready to post about the cough syrup I grew up on
tsp honey ,tsp lemon juice and a tsp whiskey warm it up and down it goes.
Of course being an adult I up it to a tablespoon now lol
I would get bronchitis/phenomena every winter until I started school.
I remember one time I slept in a chaise lounge in the heated garage with my mom so not to keep everyone else awake in the house coughing

We have very simialar memories...forgot about the lemon juice.....always included...but it was fresh squeezed as there was no such thing as concentrate in my young days.

Friends here tell of breaking up peppermint sticks in liquor and let stand till dissolved for a cough remedy. Seems like they would add other ingredients too.

LOL at LOUC! I never knew the Baptist was Teetotalers ... thought it just the opposite. ... anyway that was a good way to slip one in. lol My granny did something with the lemon and Honey and candid prickly pears. The worse thing she did was make us wear those Tallow jackets ... its no telling what wrong with us back then, she treated everything as if you had the flu. LOL Back in those days , no one knew anything about allergies. lol

Bettydee ... if its salt I have real problem! I am really heavy on the salt if I am not careful. I love to buy different spices to cook with and most all contain. I have a collection of salts. I need to think about this salt seriously.

Sylvia, I sympathize. I have several containers of sea salts as well, but I have to ration their use — only on certain foods every once in a while. You get used to it. The consequences are very real. I used to crave salty things when I was put on diuretics. I would eat a little salt by itself at times. That stopped when I stopped taking the diuretics. I still salt my eggs and potatoes, but lightly. Because I'm also diabetic, I've become an expert label reader. It's a bummer as most canned goods and frozen meals use way too much salt so I have to cook from scratch. When I do buy canned goods, I try to buy the low sodium ones and I don't add any extra salt.

Bettydee ~ do you do any home canning?

I used to can ages ago when we lived in Ohio and when the boys were small. Then they learned to walk! Not quite, but it seemed like I had less time after my younger one learned to walk. I had a big vegetable garden back then. Then we moved back to California and I had to shift my gardening focus. The backyard had a lot of cement and a retaining wall on two sides to contain a steep slope covered in foot-deep in English Ivy. It took me years to get that ivy under control and to kill most of it. That stuff is so tenacious that 22 years later when we moved to Texas, I still didn't have a 100% kill rate on that ivy. I planted dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees instead. Vegetables were tucked in here and there. Enough to keep us in fresh veggies, but not enough to can. And here in Texas, I tend our herd of Angus cattle. It started out by default. Now, I've fallen in love with the little ones and hate it when we have to sell any. Anyway, I don't any more. I was never really comfortable canning vegetables and don't really like the color of canned veggies.

For some local honey - check out your county fair.

Ft. Bend is this weekend - we'll be there Saturday - honey is on our list of things to buy (we do this every year).

Think I posted this somewhere.....I repeat myself a lot anyway......never give honey to a baby under 2....there is botulism in some that could be fatal to a child that does nothing to an adult.

I've noticed that when I eat plenty of onions and/or garlic the mosquitos don't get me. Unfortunately, I smell like an onion, too. Have any of you experienced this?

Have read about that Bronc. There was something in the paper about a study that it didn't hold true. If it works for you..that is all that matters.

I do eat a lot of garlic here too - for heart health- and bugs dont bite me but they sure get my wife... and she cannot stand the garlic...