Presidential Election 2008

Congratulations, America!

Regardless of who you voted for, the waiting is over. Here at the Veggy House , and like so many other places, people gathered to welcome the election results. There was wine and snacks, champagne and toasting. But it was subdued, with little of the cheering and whooping I'd imagined. Our gathering of twenty plus was a gorgeous cornucopia of skin colors from white, to olive, brown and black, including ages two to...much-older. There were tenants, neighbors, friends and guests, each one fell solemn during Obama's acceptance speech as we absorbed the levity of the election finally over, the implications of the history being made, the weight of the work ahead. Finally...hope! I found it interesting that those from other countries (there were several) expressed as much joy over the outcome as anyone.

For some, like myself, it's been eight years coming. To avoid the suffocation of irrevocable disappointment, I've been living underground when it comes to national politics, surviving my scorn and America's descent in, well, just about every way possible. Lamenting -- at times fearing -- our country's declining reputation by others around the world in a way that is unprecedented for my generation. Feeling bitter over not being heard, over my neighbors not being heard. Watching the few (who cut corners) rise at the expense of the many who don't. I'm too young to be jaded! My panacea has come from volunteering for causes I consider solution-focused, and reframing my hope in this country through the power of communities and local politics -- both values I learned in AmeriCorps. But finally...today I exhaled. Aahhhhh. Deep and full, awkward and unfamiliar. Eight years coming. The jeering and whooping can wait, I don't mind. Tonight and for many to come, I fall asleep feeling...re-enchanted!

Bugless in Corvallis

HOLY CRAP! Graduate school is really crazy. I'm on borrowed seconds just being here! In fact, amidst the TON of reading, meetings, fixing a crashed (yet new) computer, classes, new-hire logistics, and studying, I have yet to molest any insects.

Check that. Yesterday, while passing in front of Cordley Hall, I found a yellow jacket nest on the sidewalk (Vespula or Dolichovespula are the genera). As large as a watermelon and lighter than a dinner plate, the pliable nest boasted a concentric pattern of tan and dark brown woven into layers, like a croissant. Exquisitely beautiful. The pliable pulp usually doesn't last the winter, unfortunately, and tends to break down. Queens overwinter, other adults typically die.

I lifted the top off like a tupee to view five or six tiers of larval chambers inside, which looked a lot like stacks of honeycomb without the honey. Several lovely ladies, chilled and slow-moving, sat unmoved. We go way back, they and I. Lots of stingings during lots of wildlife jobs. They are all-powerful, and can even make grown men scream like a woman, swatting and running, crashing haphazardly through forests, abandoning all sense and decorum (not to mention expensive equipment). One turned from her protective perch on the top tier to face me. Our eyes met, and I swear she growled.

I wanted to take the nest home, freeze it/them, and use it for decor... But instead I placed it beneath the benevolent bows of a nearby Western red cedar and covered it with loose leaves and branches. Who knows, maybe they'll survive the winter if they stay warm and dry. After five years in the low desert, it's nice to see some of my old friends again. :)

Roadtrip Home

I made it to my new home in Oregon! The car, the kitties, my stuff... This move back to the greater PacNW is permanent, and I cannot express how glad I am for that. Never, ever will I ever move cross country again (so much for being a hobo). Bone China and other such goodies from grandmas, etc., are lovely keepsakes which I'm very glad to have. But there were times during this move when I truly questioned whether moving things was worth all the stress. It was! But I wouldn't do it again!

Here's a video I put together with some of my favorite people/memories in Arizona followed by a few pix of the move...



Music: Ellis Paul, "Roadtrip"


My home in Corvallis is awesome! I live in a big beautiful "vegetarian house" just one block from campus. It's a converted fraternity house. In fact, we're surrounded by frats and sororities, so real-life episodes of Gossip Girl and the OC are played out each evening on the sidewalks and yards, and waft in through my open windows during these last warm and lazy days of summer. It's humorous. But it's altogether impossible to be frustrated by this or any other distraction because the neighborhood is just beautiful. The trees are nothing short of glorious, and dwarf even the largest of homes. My room is similarly voluminous, with a fireplace and two windows on the second floor. But the best part of living in the veggy house, the part anyone like me coming from Phoenix could appreciate, are the people. They range from two years old to over sixty. Composters, bicyclers, community activitists, AmeriCorps members (a kindred spirit there), oceanography students, retirees, you name it. It is the quintessential cornucopia of the best of the Pacific Northwest. And I get to call them housemates, each one.

After this week's orientation and other logistical tidbits get tied up this week, I'll dive into the bug stuff once again. For that I can hardly wait. I also plan to find at least one of the more than 25 species of scorpions that live in the Northwest -- none of which I or anyone I know has ever seen.

I'm sorry to say my plans to experience a scorpion sting were smartly abandoned. A lot -- I mean a LOT -- of kooky things popped up over the past 8 weeks while gearing up for this move. At one point I was even poisoned by some structural "upgrades" at my apt resulting in an emergency room visit and temporarily having to move out. Flukey, eh? Inconvenient, to say the least. As other major things also began to go awry, I decided not to tempt fate with a bark scorpion sting; with my luck it would have induced a RARE allergic reaction or some such.

Cool. Wierd.

It'd be so easy to make this blog all about fringe music and cool You Tube videos. I'm tickled to have found both in one. In a rare moment of weakness induced by an evening of wine tasting and a carafe of roses, I'm posting. If you haven't laughed yet today, here's your chance...

If the shoe fits...

A tenebrio beetle (adult form of a mealworm) on my shoe. SO cute.

My most recent experience with educating the public came the other day NOT while at work, but when I went to the mall to buy shoes. I was looking for a pair of dress sandals, something comfortable, I told the lady, because I'll be doing a lot of walking in grad school.

"Oh, grad school?" she asked. "What subject?" And when she heard bugs, she and the other sales lady launched into a full blown story of their cockroach problem. "We've had people come out and spray... But it didn't do anything!"

And that launched me into a full blown discussion on integrated pest management (IPM). They...were...fascinated. They'd never heard of IPM. They asked a ton of questions, repeated the advice and steps I gave for remediation like it was an incantation, and wrote down what they couldn't remember. It was great. Then they began asking questions about using IPM methods on pests in and around their homes. They seemed so relieved to know there were other options, ones that addressed the source of pest problems and nipped 'em where they start. They couldn't wait to go home and try out some new approaches to long-standing frustrations.

I looked down and realized I was still in the shoes I tried on more than 30 minutes prior. So comfy I didn't even realize it. How 'bout that. Given half a chance, they sold themselves... Just like IPM!

I'll miss my job in Arizona. But it's nice to realize I don't have to leave the work behind when I move to Oregon.

No Kidding

I got this link in my inbox the other day: http://www.kidsbegone.com/. It's for a product called "The Mosquito" which is supposed to deter loitering youth. I thought it was a gag -- shared with me, appropriately, because I work in pest management. Kids as pests. Ha, ha, cute (kinda).

I went ahead and clicked on the site. As I looked over the product details, I kept waiting for the "...gotcha!" moment. It never came. Dry humor, sure. I dig that. But clicking further I discovered they even list phone numbers for product ordering and links for media coverage. I followed up on both in a state of complete agog.

Could it be? An audio device geared to deter loitering youth? That's legal? That emits a sound which adults over 25 yrs. cannot hear?

True, true. True. And true. Amazing. At $1400 bucks a pop, it'd have to be.


{Related FYI: this product is called the "Mosquito", but it is not for mosquitoes. Devices that are designed to deter mosquitoes by emitting an ultrasonic or non-ultrasonic sound are bogus. They've never been scientifically proven to work. ...Though someone's buying them because new ones keep coming out. Guess quick-fix technology is too sexy to resist.}

Best Olympic Moment

I don't follow wrestling, but I do follow the Olympics. This is my favorite Olympic moment and story. Even if you know how it ends for Henry Cejudo, the video is just great.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0819_SD_WRM_HL_L0999

Friday Sky

A bit blurry, as were my eyes for this 5:40 AM photo.
It'll still do for a Sky Watch Friday post.


Still in monsoon season, this front was a teaser
for all but those in Northern Arizona.

Velvet Visitor

Do blondes really have more fun?

This is an ant... Of a velvet variety. Velvet ants belong to the family mutillidae. There are over 150 species in North America, several dozen live in the desert southwest. My favorite VA looks like a rolling ball of cotton and even walks in a hurried, erratic fashion. It's also compared to thistle down, or a creosote seed blowing in wind. Female velvet ants are furry and scamper about on the ground, doing their business during daylight hours. They also pack a painful sting. I've been fortunate enough to avoid discovering this.

The males fly, do not sting, and apparently look very little like conspecific females. I've never seen a male, but I've encountered plenty of females in my travels around the country, and each individual was equally captivating. Perhaps it's the striking colors that say "watch out" or their covering of fuzzy hair (setae) that says "I'm awfully cute". I can't figure out which message draws me more.


This female was found on my second story living room floor. Odd. She has very short setae and subdued coloring compared to other VAs -- quite unlike any other I've seen. After some light poking and prodding, she proved herself every bit the feisty and fast VA. I could not resist enjoying her before sending her back outside.

Still, I'm anything but

Still some regular flooding around the valley of the sun with monsoon season. Still lots of alate (winged/reproductive) termites after rains, and the toads are still hoppin'. I'm still planning on stinging myself before leaving town. And yep, I'm still going to graduate school in Oregon. Still moving next month. Still a lotta work. Lots of stillness. I'll post as I can...

Flooding, Termites and Toads...Oh My!

Just to create a little contrast to today's events, two weeks ago the Ethan fire was ignited by lightening from a dry thunderstorm. The monsoon season commonly delivers cloud-to-ground lightening strikes and high winds. But when the only moisture is a hint of virga, the Sonoran desert brush can flare up like a gasoline saturated torch.

The Ethan fire, not far from where I live, blocks late afternoon sun

Today...the monsoon season delivered a much wetter one that boasts a new record rainfall for this date: 1" in one hour. The storm wasn't even on forecaster's radar this morning, but by 4 PM the Phoenix valley was rumbling and drenched without warning. Flooded (and closed) freeways, lake-like parking lots and stranded shoppers, and saturated homes sprung up before news casters could give proper warning.

The two storm cells first converged over my neighborhood (interesting, what is it with my area?) and dumped for an extended period whilst battling over which direction to go next. A number of cars in my complex -- including Jack's, parked next to mine -- were overcome with flood waters. (Thank goodness Blanca is a RAV4 and has high clearance.) Several apartments at the base of this hill behind us were flooded with a foot of water. Rain in the desert comes down fast and moves fast once on the ground. It is also fast to recede; the pic below is nothing compared to a moment before.

Apartments flooded momentarily...
Flash floods aren't just for desert back country.

Whatever you're doing, monsoon season thunderstorms are worth stopping to observe. People get downright giddy. At the very least, storms deliver a momentary drop in temperature and the opportunity to step outside without ducking for shade. For others, the storms are entertaining and break up the monotony of predictable weather. For me, it's all that plus the bugs. Monsoon critters are just the coolest. Moments after the 40-minute downpour let up, an Anna's hummingbird ventured out to to dine on flying termites ("alates"). These reproductive forms emerge en masse following summer thunderstorms. I've seen these insects thick as snow, from ground level to more than a hundred feet up...Crazy! The little Anna's belly bulged as he (she? fledgling?) gorged on fluttering termites, then washed them down with a swig from my feeder.

A hungry hummer washes down
a mouthful of flying termites

Termites aren't the only thing emerging en masse. Spadefoot toad's are abundant, too. Every summer they emerge from their long respite underground, called to the surface by the vibration of heavy rain and thunder. Temporary ponds, like the spill pond behind my building, are their preferred location. The idea is to emerge and breed for the monsoon season, then be gone again. Their call is likened to a bleating lamb; however, my neighbors asked if it wasn't a cat in distress (a comparison I'd have to agree with). Louder than anything I've heard in the desert, Spadefoot toads begin calling in the early evening and go all...night...long. The stereo, dryer and a/c combined can't drown them out from behind closed doors. I wonder...do they make "scaretoads"?

The 2008 monsoon season has already delivered more than twice the amount of rainfall to parts of Phoenix than the entire 2007 season. And it's only half over! A beheaded lizard and a 3" beetle were at my stairs the other night... I can't wait to see what the season brings next.

Monday Myth: Cockroaches...They Ain't No Fly

Cockroaches get a bum wrap. They "creep" and "crawl", but then so does every other arthropod. They come into our homes, offices and schools... But so do fleas, spiders and the like. And for reasons I don't fully understand, cockroaches take the cake on the "ew" factor of filth. But in fact, cockroaches are NOT the dirtiest insect around, and indoor infestations are often indicative of "dirty" conditions on our part (throwing the "ew" factor right back at us).

The truth: cockroaches are not the slum-lords of the insect world. They aren't to blame for the filth; they just stop by to help clean it up, adding their two bits here and there. To find true ew, you have to look elsewhere. There is probably one in your home right now. They have been proven to carry more species of bacteria than a cockroach. It belongs to one of the largest orders of insects (Diptera, personally my least favorite): the House fly, Musca domestica.

Why? How comes here this evil? House flies breed in decaying organic matter -- especially feces. As adults, they feed readily on sewage, garbage, and your lunch -- landing on all three indiscriminately. In addition, House flies have sponging mouth parts which means they can only lap up liquid. So after landing on a food source, they regurgitate to soften it, and then use their spongy labella to feed like a dog drinking water. They also defecate on their food at the same time. Lovely. With all this landing and regurgitating and crapping, the perfect storm of pathogen transfer is created. In addition to a variety of the nastiest bacteria affecting humans, the House fly may also transmit typhoid, cholera, polio and other intestinal diseases, as well as protozoan parasites such as Toxoplasma and Giardia. In essence: the House fly puts cockroaches to shame.

Yet we shoo them away like a minor nuisance. Or go overboard and 'zap' them, spewing their guts and bacteria far and wide with greater efficiency than even they could have realized. But there is a middle ground... Fly swatters work great, as do tight-fitting window screens and closed screen doors. There are light traps (that don't zap) with sticky boards and pheromone traps of all sorts one can hang up, too. Managing breeding and feeding sources (garbage, feces, moist piles of lawn clippings) greatly helps reduce House fly numbers considering that a single female produces 75-150 eggs PER BATCH (with 5-6 batches in her life of less than a month). s Biological controls in the form of parasitic wasps, which kill fly larvae, can be released in large numbers on farms (dairies and feedlots are are often acquainted with this option).

Pesticides are not an inherent part of successful fly management. Fly strips, automatic spray dispensers, and other pesticide employments are reactive and do not address the source of the problem. Discovering and eliminating the feeding and breeding sources of House flies is cheaper in the long run, and a better investment of time.

Cockroaches are also known to carry a variety of bacteria. And they sport proteins in their exoskeletons which irritate asthmatics. But at least they're not...House flies. There's more good stuff on fly management at UC Davis.