Thursday, July 23, 2015

We Discover The Culprits ....

As the Beast was in the act of cleaning up the tree that we know now is a type of Evergreen called a Cypress, he discovered what was killing it off.  It's called a tent worm and it's one of the strangest looking things you have ever seen.  It looks like they build themselves a protestive *cocoon* out of the dried up (from their sucking them dry) short-needles they suck dry.  The *cocoons* look almost like little tepees.  Di, who was going to help him move some of the branches to pay him back for letting her use the car to go to gym class twice this week, freaked out when she saw a couple of them moving along the grass.  That was when the Beast checked the branches further and found literally thousands of them on the tree he'd cut down.  Worse, he checked the cypress underneath our bedroom window (a different type) and found it was also full of them and was already half dead but at the back of the tree where it wasn't so noticeable.  

Now we have to try to find this one spray that is made to kill them off because we don't dare drag the branches to where we had planned because there are other pines and cypress trees around here that the worms would just migrate to and create a serious problem to the large ones that are growing at the back of our property,  many are over 40 ft. tall.  The type that was planted out front can grow up to 60 ft. tall.  Not a good thing to have something that tall (already) die off when we get tornadoes around here and they are directly in back of the house as well as forming a kind of conga line at the back of all the properties on this side of the neighborhood.

They are disgusting looking and very weird and interesting at the same time.  But they still creeped me out to realize how many of them it took to kill off the pretty tree out front.

I found the company that made the insecticide we needed to find but couldn't locate any distributors here locally.  The company didn't have anyone listed except themselves and no place else on their site to try to locate where to buy any here.  I checked out Amazon, who carries many of the other products the company makes but not the one we need.  Lowes doesn't carry the brand and neither does Ace Hardware.  Di suggested we go into the local feed store (which also carries many different things used by local farmers, including those for insects and other pests, and has two very knowledgeable people that work there.  So that's where I am headed in the morning while the Beast cuts down the other tree.  He's already bought some stuff to kill off the stumps so he doesn't have to try to dig them up.  It's supposed to slowly cause them to die off and even make the roots rot.  (And, Sis...I DID use Google...but what's up with this  new sending me to new search engines?).

We made the baby back ribs that have been sitting in the freezer for a while.  The Beast didn't want them to get freezer burned so he talked me out of making soup for now.  I have to admit, they tasted wonderful.  There just weren't enough of them...LOL.  They are so pricey these days that you can't afford to buy anything but a small section.  Another good reason to give up red meat...lol.  Although the saying is..Pork, the other white meat, isn't it?  Just looks mighty red when you cook it and slather all that barbeque sauce on it, too.

I'm tired so I am going to close this now.  Love you all and I wish you a really great (and short!) Friday.  Be good.  Be kind.  ***Hugs***

HINT:  Ever heard the one about blonde hair turning green in a swimming pool?  We've seen it happen.  Thankfully, there is a solution: our 40th president's favorite*vegetable*.  Coat your hair with tomato ketchup and lit it sit for a half hour or so before you rinse it off.  Then follow with your regular hair washing and conditioning routine.  Remember to use up those packets stockpiled from fast-food places!

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