RonTom dug up some dirt last week – not dirt on somebody, but dirt in our compost pile. He summoned me and my iPhone camera. Neither of us knew the identity of the thumb-sized grubs he found. They looked like June bug grubs on steroids.
Checking “giant grubs Texas”, I first read a post by a lawn chemical company suggesting lawn service.
Then, I found a question posed to “The Dirt Doctor”, Howard Garrett, from a Hondo resident who found giant worms in a bag of compost from (of all places) Buda. Garrett answered, “Excellent! Those are the larvae of the rhinoceros beetle. The grubs and the adults are beneficial in helping break down organic matter and do not hurt plants in any way.”
At the time, we did not know their value, so Ron and I headed to the garage to find a container, in order to offer the grubs to wildlife. Lo and behold (yikes!), in a terra cotta clay pot, we found a scorpion carrying scores of babies on her back, illustrating a mid-July tidbit.
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Last week, I mentioned a presumption, scores of “American Goldfinch” on my thistle feeders, along with lesser goldfinch. Checking “Merlin”, the new free app available through Cornell Lab of Ornithology, goldfinch here at the end of August were almost for certain all lesser goldfinch.
Last week I mentioned a search to find the source of a blood-curdling scream in wee hours. Jessica Shelton, who lives near the city’s entrance on Live Oak Drive, responded that she and Clay heard the “shrill scream” a few months ago and after looking out all the windows they saw an Axis doe stomping the ground and making that sound. “Scared me to death! She was facing some tall shrubs at our neighbor’s house, so I’m guessing something was in the shrubs she didn’t like.”
Jessica went on to say Clay’s boss, with hunting guide experience, “has seen grown men pretty terrified upon hearing an Axis deer scream either as a warning or after being wounded in a hunt.”
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Only a quick yelp was heard by a neighbor from The Johnsons’ wounded dog, shot in their front yard (after escaping from gated backyard) on Pin Oak during Back to School night. With severe injuries, Miah passed away at the emergency clinic a few hours later. The Hays County Sheriff opened a criminal investigation on the firearm shot in a residential community.
Messages of sympathy have poured in on Loving Mountain City’s Facebook page.
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Should you receive a jury summons from Hays County District Court, notice the sentence that tells you to phone the day before. When RonTom brought this to my attention, I avoided a trip into San Marcos.
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Retired French teacher Marjie Kelley (marjiek@yahoo.com) summons you to email her if interested in a 2-week trip to Europe during September 2015.
The itinerary includes Paris (a cooking class, too!), Lucerne, Neuschwanstein, Munich, Dachau, Prague, Dresden, and Berlin. The approximate cost of $5,300 covers round-trip air from Austin, hotels, 3-course dinners, and much more. Marjie says, “Merci! Danke! Dekuji!”
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I’ll say “Thanks!” upon receipt of any tidbits sent to ptom5678@gmail.com (Subject: TIDBIT) or leave a message at 512-268-5678. Thanks! Love, Pauline
