12/30/2011 The Ants Go Marching One By One

Do you remember when you were a kid and singing a song about ants?

(sung to the tune of When Johnnie Comes Marching Home)

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah The ants go marching one by one, the little one stops to suck his thumb And they all go marching down… to the ground…. to get out… of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

And then of course the ants march two by two all the way to the end of the song and along the way the little one stops to do something. Anything from knock on the door to pick up sticks depending on what number it rhymes with. I must have sung this song a hundred times when I was a kid.

There is a reason I brought this up, bear with me.

A couple of days ago Bob came in from taking our trash to the dumpster and said, “Grab your camera and go walk along the back fence. Look at the ground right by the fence.” Well, needless to say he had my attention and off I went.

I was just amazed at what I saw. A line of leaves walking along a forty foot trail. Walking leaves??? I knelt down to get a better look. I snapped of 18 pictures of these walking leaves and raced home to get them on the computer to see what I had captured. I wasn’t impressed with photographic results to say the least. I deleted all but three and even those I wasn’t happy with.

I went back the next day and took a beach towel with me so I could lay on the ground and take some more pictures. Well, the pictures didn’t turn out any better because the street was covered in pebbles and stones and it just hurt to lay there. I couldn’t find a way to position my arms so that I could hold the camera steady because of stones poking in my elbows. The one time I did get somewhat comfortable a darn car came and since I was laying in the street I had to get up quickly and I lost what probably would have been National Geographic worthy photos. (Ha! I crack myself up sometimes!)

So I google cut ants and start reading. Wow, what an amazing and DESTRUCTIVE little group of insects.

Their proper, non-scientific, name is Leaf Cutter Ants. I think it should be changed to, Strip a Tree In No Time Flat Ants.

This is what I saw walking down the forty feet of fence, all in a row, one right after the other. Very methodical, no crowding each other, just hundreds of leaves walking down the street.

This is a pretty good sized leaf!

So what did I find out about ants? Well, these particular ants are found in Central America, Mexico and the southern US. The are two different types of Leaf Cutter ants and 47 sub species.

Next to humans, leafcutter ants form the largest and most complex animal societies on Earth. In a few years, the central mound of their underground nests can grow to more than 98 ft. across, with smaller, radiating mounds extending out to a radius of 260 ft., taking up 320 to 6,500 sq. ft. and containing eight million individuals. (Thank you Wikipedia!)

Click on the picture belong to enlarge it in a new screen. You’ll see ants that aren’t carrying leaves and that is because they are heading back for more or their JOB is to protect the working ants from insect predators.

Now to the WHY of the leaf cutting. It seems the ants grow a fungal garden underground and these leaves feed it. This is way more than I ever wanted to know about ants, let me tell ya!

Here’s how it goes down. Male and female ants are winged as ant “toddlers” if you will. When it is time for the ants to leave the nest they do so en masse and engage in a nuptial flight known as the revoada. Each female mates with multiple males (the slut!) to collect the 300 million sperm to start her colony. Three hundred million!

On the ground, now wingless, the female searches for an underground area in which to lay her eggs and found her colony. The success rate of these young queens is very low, and less than three percent will go on to establish a sustainable colony. Before leaving her birth nest the queen stored a small amount of the parental fungus garden mycelium in her a pocket, which is located within her oral cavity. Oh, I so didn’t want to know all this!

These little ants are workers!

Here is a picture taken by Bandwagonman I took with permission from Wikipedia. This is obviously a huge colony which needs tons of leaves to feed the fungus.

Several times bigger than itself and the ant can still carry the leaf. (Photo by Grey Wulf – U.K. with permission)

This is what our street looked like. Why couldn’t these ants walk on limb so I could get pictures like this??? (Photo by Yuval Gelber – Peru with permission)

These little ants have quite the audience every day as dog walkers stop to watch, cars go by slowly with drivers watching the show and the random woman laying on the ground on top of a large M & M beach towel and trying to take their picture. You have to wonder what they think, ya know?

12/29/2011 Still Under the Weather

We hit eighty degrees today and Bob is just itching to get outside but he’s still feeling pretty bad.

He did try to take a short bike ride today just to get some fresh air but by the time he rode around just one block he was exhausted. Totally wore him out. I hope for his sake this doesn’t last too long. I hope for MY sake this doesn’t last too long. A sick Bob is not a happy Bob.

I took some pictures today. Had to lay in the street to get them and wasn’t happy with any of them. Back out tomorrow to try again. Wait till you see what I’ve got coming…..if I can get the pics!

12/28/2011 Left, Center, Right

First things first! Happy birthday wishes go out to Eugene, Bob’s brother. He is the Dallas Cowboy’s # 1 FAN! I took pictures of his shrine to the team the last time we were home. You can see it here. Shortly after we arrived here in this park, I was in the quilting room one day and saw a teddy bear made from none other than material imprinted with the Dallas Cowboy’s logo. I knew we had to have it to send to Gene for his birthday. Lo and behold it was for sale. Within minutes I had it at home and planning how to surprise him with it. I am so kicking myself for not taking a picture of it before I sent it off. I contacted our niece Lisa to send it to her so that she could take it to him on his birthday. He was quite surprised by it and we’re told he just loves it! I think the thumbs up shows that.

It was a beautiful day here in the Valley, blue skies, sunshine, warm temps. Everyone was busy outside doing things enjoying the summer like weather. Everyone except Bob. It seems that sore throat has blossomed into a sore throat with sore muscles and joints, a runny nose, a cough and the whole feeling of “I’m dying, please God, take me now.” I feel so sorry for him because he’s just miserable. I’m also staying away from him. Whatever this is that he’s got, I don’t want it! I have heard that quite a few in the park have gotten this bug too so its probably only a matter of time for me.

On Wednesday evenings we play a card game in the park called Card Elimination which I explained back on 12/14. Since this game usually takes just an hour or so it was decided that afterwards we would get a game or two of LCR going. We had it announced at the card game that we would playing afterwards and that everyone was welcome.

This is a dice game that I first learned about from my brother when we were home a year and a half ago. We had gone to the Elks Club one evening and gathered around the pool table there. We played for dollars there but here in this Texas RV park we only play for quarters. There were about 18 of us the first game we played. A few people had played or heard of this game before but it was new to most. (We got a game up last weekend so some played then and came back for more) We gathered in the quilting room where there is high table and the game began. Everyone starts with three quarters and the first person throws all three dice. The die have a letter L which stands for Left, a letter R which is for Right and letter C, which of course stands for Center. There is also a black dot which stands for YOU KEEP YOUR MONEY! So the first hand is thrown and let’s say it Comes up L C and “dot”. What this means is that one of the quarters is given to the person on your left, one is put in the pot in the center of the table and one you keep. Play moves to the left and that person has four quarters, the original three and the one you passed to the left. Let’s say that person rolls two R’s and “dot”. Player passes two quarters to the right,,,YOU and keeps one. Play passes to the left. Quarters keep getting passed left and right or put into the pot in the middle of the table or kept the roller all the way around the table. Of course the people on your left want you to roll L’s so they are yelling Left! Left! Left! and the people on the right want you to roll R’s so they are yelling Right! Right! Right! It’s a fast paced game, lots of laughs and Oh NO’s! Remember the C’s for Center? All the quarters that are put in the pot because of of the roller rolling C’s are out of play. This is how the winner is determined. The last one holding a quarter wins the pot. After the first game our numbers increased and we had 22 for the game. This is going to be a weekly game now after Card Elimination. Now all that has to happen is for me to win!

12/272011 To the Airport We Go

After work today, our last day for this work period, we took friends Toni & Eddie to the airport in McAllen. They are going “home” to Nebraska for eight days to see the kids and to get a grandkids fix. I’m already looking forward to the day we pick them back up.

I’ve been talking with friends and family in Delaware and it seems that they are experiencing warmer than normal temperatures. Sixty two in December? Unheard of!

Our weather has been cloudy and dreary for what seems forever now and I’m happy to report that today we are back in shorts and tees. In fact, the weather man says eighty by the end of the week. Eighty is good!

Bob is complaining of a sore throat, I hope he’s not coming down with something.

That’s it for today.

12/26/2011 The Day After

It’s over. Christmas is done for another year. I’m glad. I’m not a fan of Christmas. The commercial Christmas that is. I don’t like Christmas displays before the Halloween pumpkins are put away. I don’t like hearing Jingle Bells before we’re done with Over the River and Through the Woods…. I don’t like what Christmas has become. We, as a people, have gotten so far away from the reason for the season.

Its sad really. Families who can ill afford it spend recklessly to provide their kids with the latest toys and electronics because nowadays parents are even teaching their children to play keep up with the Joneses. Woe be to the ”un” or under-employed who cannot buy the latest and greatest for their child. The guilt associated this time of year can prove to be too much for some of them.

How did it get this way? When I was a kid you didn’t think about Christmas until just before Thanksgiving, if then. Stores kept their hours, maybe staying open late on weekends two weeks before Christmas and still closed on Sundays no matter what. Now stores are open till midnight or straight through to 5a.m. Christmas morning to get that last almighty dollar. There used to be Black Friday and now there’s that and Cyber Monday. Where does it all end? When do get back to the reason for the season? I am by no means saying gift giving is a bad thing, quite the contrary. Within reason. Within means. With thought to what you are buying and giving. I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Yesterday we had dinner with about 385 others in the Friendship Hall over at the Mission Bell side. To be perfectly honest, we and a lot of others were disappointed. The turkey and ham were delicious but unless you were in the first two tables (think about 140 people) who were called to go through the buffet line, well, whatever was left was cold. It also didn’t help that we got started 15 minutes late. I think the whole serving process needs to be revamped.

After dinner Bob retired to his recliner and I went to our clubhouse for a rousing game of Mexican Train with Games Gang.

A nice Christmas Day I suppose, I just wish whole thing was different, perhaps back to simpler times.

12/25/2011 Merry Christmas

Bob & I would like to take this time

to wish you and yours

a very Merry Christmas.

Our wish for you this holiday season

and the whole year through is

health and happiness.

We appreciate your loyalty in reading our blog,

some of you since the beginning.

We appreciate every one of you.

Merry Christmas dear friends.

12/24/2011 A Little of This, A Little of That

Christmas Eve.

We’ll spending the evening playing games with several friends of ours here in the park. After the evening Christmas Eve service the park puts on Game Night on this side. Trade Winds that is. The “other” park, Mission Bell will have a Talent Show and then the Christmas Eve service.

It’s cold here. Not so much cold as damp, chilly and just miserable. Our friend Marv called and told us he was enjoying his best year ever in Florida. We wish we were with him. We’re tired of rain and cloudy days.

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Santa Ana Wild Life Preserve with Eddie & Toni. It had been the third of fourth cloudy day in a row and we all just had to get out and DO something. We walked down a trail and looked at the duck pond but it was so wet and cloudy the pictures didn’t turn out as well I had hoped. All the same, here’s a few from that day.

We thought it odd that the bark was just falling away from the tree trunk.

Lots of moss hanging from the trees.

The duck pond.

I took these pictures of Toni & Eddie and can’t decide which one I like better.

Have you seen the latest in the Modern Day Family Christmas Card?

Since we’ve been on the road we have been introduced to some new things to eat. Fiddleheads in Canada, halibut when we were in Alaska but this “new” thing we’ve found advertised in the grocery store circular will NEVER grace our table! GUARANTEED! I mean, what do you DO with it? WHY would anyone want to eat this?

On that note I’ll close this.