I got my hands on some CO2 under darn high pressure. It is mighty cool stuff, literally.
What should I do with it? I could freeze a grape and slingshot it through somebody's kitchen window, but that could get me into trouble.
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I got my hands on some CO2 under darn high pressure. It is mighty cool stuff, literally. What should I do with it? I could freeze a grape and slingshot it through somebody's kitchen window, but that could get me into trouble. |
I could use it to battle my arch-nemesis, the Gypsy Moth! My county
sprays a bacteria onto trees that kills many of their caterpillars when
they eat the leaves; the bacteria alters the pH inside the caterpillar
and crystallizes thier guts. It must be a painful death, so that
is good, but it doesn't get them all.
My next approach was to buy this sticky stuff you put around your treetrunks.
It's called tanglefoot and it stops any little critter from climbing
your trees. Now this is cool too, but some of the adult moths put
their egg sacs up high in the tree, so the little buggers are already up
there above the tanglefoot line. They also spin silk parachutes and
let the wind blow them around.
Here is one on a maple tree. He won't get far! You can
see the tanglefoot ring above him. One of my new hobbies is walking
around my yard with a propane torch, inspecting the tanglefoot barriers.
They'll die anyway, but cooking them is great fun. I can cook a thousand
worms in ten minutes. I don't have a picture that shows hundreds of
caterpillars on one tree, huddled just below the line of tanglefoot... but if
you saw it, you'd go out and buy some today! Whoever came up with it is a
genius! I got it at our local McDonald's Nursery.
Anyway, after a windy day I found one happily munching an oak leaf that had fallen into my yard...
Here he is, having lunch.
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And here he is again, frozen solid.
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(Insert diabolical laugh here)
Perhaps you think I am cruel. You are right. My defense? I have stood helplessly on the ground while these
little devils ate every single leaf on my huge oak trees. I have
had to avoid walking barefoot in my yard and driveway because of all the
caterpillar poop. (don't ask what happens to the neighbor's pool, yuck!)
I have sat on my deck at night and listened to them furiously eating,
YES YOU CAN REALLY HEAR THEM EATING! (Or maybe I have gone
insane; no the little voices in my head say I am just fine)
I was driven to see what makes my frozen enemy tick...
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