creepy crawlies, things that bite and things that sting

To interrupt my normally scheduled programing, a quick rant on venomous beasties in Texas.

Back in Idaho the list of things that would bite and were poisonous was pretty short (in ascending order of severity):

mosquitoes (not really poisonous but hey)

ticks

bees

wasps

hobo spiders

black widow spiders

rattle snakes

Here in Texas that list is about an order of magnitude bigger:

mosquitoes

ticks

chiggers

centipedes

bees

wasps

scorpions

black ants

fire ants (damn little beasties that inspired this rant)

big ugly spiders

black widow spiders

brown recluse spiders

water moccasin

cotton mouth

copper head

rattle snake

and I am sure I missing hundreds of other venomous bugs and a couple more snakes down here.

I write this as I have been spending a chunk of time eradicating the fire ants from my yard with the hopes that it will become a safe place for my kids to play. I have been bitten by exactly 1 fire ant................. a little tiny thing, teeny really. But the bite hurts, and then swells and then itches like crazy. Oh, not only do they bite, they also sting with their tails and inject some type of acidic venom. They swarm in mass. Who designed these things?

I can not imagine running afoul of a big mound of these nasties. I have been walking about the lawn spot treating the mounds and yesterday spread a broadcast treatment. I guess running into a mound while mowing the lawn is not a fun experience.

I hope to have some Texas fishing content up soon, looking at buying a sit on top kayak and becoming a bass fisherman. I may have to take up noodlin or jugging....................... ;) No cutthroat for at least 10 hours in any direction but there are some trout nearby. I will have to go hit the waters and report.