I’ve been having trouble getting any of my posts to the finish line but I have created so many drafts that I feel like I’ve been sharing all kinds of stuff with you all. Work and life have been an emotional struggle-bus for me lately and it’s been eating my ability to think about other things. It’ll work itself out eventually. All things are temporary.
On top of that, I made the poor choice to relisten to Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower” and “Parable of the Talents” back to back to try to drown out my ruminations. They are two of my favorite books after all. But, if you’re trying to preserve your mental health in the face of everything that is going on in the world, maybe don’t do this. They are amazing books and very worth reading. There are even some very helpful ideas in those books for our times but it’s too close to our current reality not to inflict some trauma.
“That’s all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times.” ―Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower
So anyway, those European fire ants.
In all the fabulous information I shared about these guys on our last episode, I neglected to say they are an introduced species in New York State, i.e. not from around here. Currently on iNat they are categorized as introduced and not invasive in New York. Perhaps the “not from around here” part is obvious since European is part of their name.
Invasive vs. Introduced
I believe invasive organisms are organisms that to cause issues or are predicted to cause issues either economic or environmental or... other. Introduced organsisms have not yet been deemed scary or annoying or are in the “we don’t know yet” limbo.
Well Dude, we just don’t know.
Who decides?
I could look up who decides whether something is invasive. Who decides whether it is a tornado warning or a tornado watch? The whether man? Har har. Is it a political designation or is it more complicated than that? I will look this up eventually. Or ask someone who would know. And maybe I’ll even remember to update you all with whatever I learn.
Microscope Picture of a European fire ants
I took the two ants I collected, the ones that didn’t get lost under the freezer burned egg rolls and white castle hamburgers, to work and got some practice taking pictures with the microscope. This one came out pretty good. Look at that stinger! Look at the little spikey bits on its back and the other things that I still lack the vocabulary to describe. Behold this amazing little beast that can inject formic acid and other weird schtuff into you skin and make you itch for days.
I AM annoyed that they are all over many of the places I like to poke around, but I still find them fascinating and impressive.
At this point you may be wondering: “Do you think about anything other than these damn ants?”
Yeah actually.
Bikes
I have this draft post about how much I was loving biking to work and how I had biked 93 miles that week and bikes are life and cars are crud. And I was going to sign up for a 200k brevet on my regular bike knowing full well that there was no way I could even do half of it, just to see. I get overly excited about stuff sometimes and think why not? Just ride until I can’t ride anymore and call for help.
But then we had a heat wave that dampened my enthusasim for biking and for life in general. It was well over 90 with high humidity for a week and I rode zero miles and was mad about it.
So the Saturday after the heat way (actually mostly still during it), to make up for it, I was going to ride the ebike to Josh and Jenn’s house 30+ miles away for their first annual summer solstice hangout. I wanted to see how far I could get with level 2 assist on the ebike, and I had Jason lined up to spot me in case I ran out of juice.
Things were going great, I was 8 miles in. I hadn’t even dropped a bar on my power meter. Some people on a porch waved at me. I waved back. Then I saw they had a flag I associate with white supremacist movements behind them. I wanted to take my wave back. Then my rear tire went POP!!! So loud. Did it pop because I wanted to take my wave back? I really want to know what caused the flat but this may be unknowable information. I don’t think it was my angry thoughts.
Jason picked me up about 40 minutes later. Luckily I had two soggy chillydanas with me to fashion a heat stroke protection hat. I still got a mild headache standing out there but I think I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the mortality compost field trip at all if I hadn’t had those to keep my brain from cooking.
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When I got home from the solstice hangout the next day and started working on my tire I discovered it was a 2 foot long tear in the tube. I decided that I am DONE with slime flat prevention tubes. And then I discovered my replacement tube ALSO had a hole in it. So I guess I can blame everything on crappy tubes? Maybe?
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I did get a new higher quality (I hope) tube and got my bike back on the road a few days later. It wasn’t all that hard to change, except there’s no quick release. Finding the right size wrenches and getting a new tube were the challenging parts. I don’t know why I had such a hard time changing the first time I got a flat. That time I got so frustrated that I decided that it was a very difficult task that would take tremendous emotional fortitude. It was not. Now I’m way less worried about future flats. I do need to assemble a tool kit though.
Mortality Compost Field Trip
We got to the solstice hangout super early because I started early enough to bike the whole way and that didn’t happen. And my cousin wanted to show us his friend’s mortality compost operation. It really was super interesting. It did not smell at all. Why this person did not have a skull stand on the side of the road I do not know. It’s a missed opportunity if you ask me. Skulls and honey.
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I realize I neglected to explain WHAT mortality compost is. Essentially it’s an environmentally friendly way of dealing with livestock remains by composting them.
The first bullet on the page I linked to is Horse Mortality: Carcass Disposal Alternatives— addressing disposal options for your horse. It isn’t funny to lose your horse, but somehow the idea of something like a wikihow article for composting your beloved mount, especially my imagined wikihow article illustration, is.
I know there are a million rules about dealing with human remains and I’m sure there’s some reason I’m not legally allowed to request to be composted when I die but so far this does seem like the most environmentally friendly option. Please lobby for me to get composted if anyone asks someday. It’s ok with me if kids climb on the pile (if their moms are cool with it.)
Red Legged Ham Beetle
I had found the coolest little kneecap bone or something but I set it down to take photos of these beetles and completely lost track of it. There were a lot of bones. Not as many bugs as you might expect, but there were a few of these cool beetles, they looked much more green in person.
According to my internet searches, red legged ham beetles feed on dry or smoked meats, bones, hides, copra, dried egg, cheese, guano, bone meal, dried figs, and palm nut kernels, and mummies1. Also apparently they feed on something called cheese skippers. I feel like I will need to monitor my cheese collection more closely in the future.
The Summer Solstice Hangout
The first annual summer solstice hangout, hosted by my cousins was super fun. I hope they will invite me to the second annual one too. Maybe I’ll successsfullly bike to that one.
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The next day we went to Sugar Hill for a quick hike. I saw a few red efts (or eastern newts). They are some of my favorite little creatures. This orange stage is their juvenile stage when they go rumspringa. They become terresttrial, roam around, find a new pond and then become aquatic again as adults. Also the adults are not fabulously orange. I think they’re kind of greenish brown.
I’m going to end this post now because there are so many things I could write about and I may even have some time in the next couple of days. If I wait for it to be perfect and to say all the stuff I’ve been meaning to say, this will just get stuck in the unpublished draft queue like all the others.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necrobia_rufipes
I do so enjoy your attitude….ruminations on your life
Once again I love this.