Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-31-2009, 10:01 PM   #21
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
NW-Bound's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
When living in my first house, bought when I was in my early 20s, I had some tough time with some gophers. The darn creatures burrowed through my nice front lawn that I covered with "Tif", a hybrid Bermuda that was often used for golf courses. They tormented me, and caused grief to no end. I tried poisoned grains and traps but nothing worked. They just pushed these out of the holes, along with a fresh mound of dirt. Remember the movie Caddyshack. It was not funny when I watched it.

One afternoon after work, I smoked their burrows with several gas bombs. My neighbor ran out to watch. As we stood there watching, we saw smoke coming out from his yard, actually at the base of one of his yucca plants. Cursing, he ran back to investigate. The gophers had dug over to his yard and ate all the roots of his plants, which fell over as he shook them.



PS. Found the following in Wikepedia. Sounds like FUN.

A concussion method kills gophers instantly with a shock wave. Specialized equipment used by trained operators wearing personal protective equipment injects a mixture of propane and oxygen into the gopher burrow. An igniter on the end of the injection probe explodes the fuel mixture, destroying not only the gophers, but the burrows as well. It sends a fireball and intense shock wave throughout the tunnel network.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
NW-Bound is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 06-01-2009, 05:08 AM   #22
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Midpack's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,206
I spent a few years as a kid growing up in San Antonio, presumably somewhere near REW. Was playing at a construction site and slide down a pile of dirt right into a fire ant pile. Got the little buggers all over me and in my jeans. Ran all the way home and jumped in the shower fully clothed. Still hurts thinking about it some 45 years later...
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57

Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
Midpack is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 05:38 AM   #23
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Dawg52's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Central MS/Orange Beach, AL
Posts: 9,067
Quote:
Originally Posted by NW-Bound View Post
As an adult, do you use your shotgun?
Actually it's a sport down south.

__________________
Retired 3/31/2007@52
Investing style: Full time wuss.
Dawg52 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 08:43 AM   #24
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Hardscrabble Texas
Posts: 372
For whatever reason the ants up here in hardscrabble (Ellis County) seem to be on the decline. People in the area always do the usual treatments of various baits and stuff to keep them in check, but every spring it was like starting over again.
Over the last two years I've noticed a big difference though. Five years ago I would treat over 20 mounds on my 1/4 acre joining lot. This spring I've had to hunt to find one. None of the properties or pastures near me look to be as infested as in the past.
__________________
.....#.....
Poundkey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 08:48 AM   #25
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
REWahoo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,004
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poundkey View Post
For whatever reason the ants up here in hardscrabble (Ellis County) seem to be on the decline.
Same here. I suspect it is due to the prolonged lack of rainfall.
__________________
Numbers is hard
REWahoo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 08:48 AM   #26
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 7,746
This motivated me to proactively put out ant killing insecticide 2x a year ('bait' as they call it). We have a horrible fire ant problem in our backyard.
FUEGO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 09:06 AM   #27
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
bbbamI's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Collin County, TX
Posts: 9,294
I think our fire ants have washed away with the rain.....
__________________
There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
bbbamI is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 09:15 AM   #28
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
REWahoo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,004
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbbamI View Post
I think our fire ants have washed away with the rain.....
I think someone caught it on video:

Floating Fire ant raft
__________________
Numbers is hard
REWahoo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 09:55 AM   #29
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
freebird5825's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: East Nowhere, 43N Latitude, NY
Posts: 9,037
Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo View Post
I think someone caught it on video:

Floating Fire ant raft
OMG!
I'm assuming there is something underneath them to float on. Right?
__________________
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney
freebird5825 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 10:14 AM   #30
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
REWahoo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,004
Quote:
Originally Posted by freebird5825 View Post
OMG!
I'm assuming there is something underneath them to float on. Right?
Nope. In a flood situation fire ants cling to each other to form large floating masses of angry fury, looking for a target for their aggression. You can imagine the unpleasant end result if you happen to be in their path as they float by.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg fire ant raft.jpg (116.5 KB, 5 views)
__________________
Numbers is hard
REWahoo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 10:44 AM   #31
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Rustic23's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,203
Fewer fire ants must be the result of Swine Flue, everything else is!
__________________
If it is after 5:00 when I post I reserve the right to disavow anything I posted.
Rustic23 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 11:02 AM   #32
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Hardscrabble Texas
Posts: 372
This is interesting.

Parasite turns fire ants into zombies

"Researchers have released four types of Phorid flies across Central Texas. They are hoping to release more. So far, they believe the results are promising.
Researchers do not think the parasites will eradicate fire ants from Central Texas for good, but they do think the Phorid flies will help to keep fire ants under control."
__________________
.....#.....
Poundkey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 11:11 AM   #33
Moderator Emeritus
W2R's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,474
Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo View Post
Nope. In a flood situation fire ants cling to each other to form large floating masses of angry fury, looking for a target for their aggression. You can imagine the unpleasant end result if you happen to be in their path as they float by.
On my first weekend in Texas some 25 years ago, my ex's work had a picnic out by a little lake just north of Bryan. After saying hello to everyone I jumped into some shallow water to cool off, wearing nothing but my Hawaiian bikini. By the time I noticed the fire ants all over me, they were stinging me - - so I tried to get rid of them by washing them off. I ended up with over 300 bites (I counted them). Each developed into a little mini-boil filled with pus. Ewww.

What an awful first experience with fire ants! The moral of the story is that fire ants simply do not drown. They float around looking for somebody to bite.

True story - - Not even an exaggeration.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.

Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
W2R is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 11:44 AM   #34
gone traveling
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 3,864
Quote:
Originally Posted by Want2retire View Post
...wearing nothing but my Hawaiian bikini. True story - - Not even an exaggeration.
...this thread is USELESS without Pics.
Westernskies is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 11:49 AM   #35
Moderator Emeritus
W2R's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,474
Quote:
Originally Posted by Westernskies View Post
...this thread is USELESS without Pics.
No pics of that day, but it was probably the same blue bikini that I was wearing in the photographs I included in the scuba diving thread.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.

Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
W2R is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 01:33 PM   #36
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
bbbamI's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Collin County, TX
Posts: 9,294
How about some fire ant earrings....
__________________
There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
bbbamI is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 06:42 PM   #37
Moderator Emeritus
Nords's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Oahu
Posts: 26,856
Quote:
Originally Posted by NW-Bound View Post
PS. Found the following in Wikepedia. Sounds like FUN.
That reads like it was written by Bill Murray...

Quote:
Originally Posted by bbbamI View Post
How about some fire ant earrings....
Of course they're for pierced ears, and you just squeeze their little mandibles gently together into the hole.
__________________
*

Co-author (with my daughter) of “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
Author of the book written on E-R.org: "The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement."

I don't spend much time here— please send a PM.
Nords is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 07:33 PM   #38
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
NW-Bound's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dawg54 View Post
Actually it's a sport down south.
We have hunters too here in Arizona. In Mississipi, I am sure you have better critters to aim that shortgun to than fire ants. By the way, it's not you in the picture is it?
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
NW-Bound is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 08:22 PM   #39
Moderator Emeritus
CuppaJoe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: At The Cafe
Posts: 6,873
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poundkey View Post
For whatever reason the ants up here in hardscrabble (Ellis County) seem to be on the decline. ....
Maybe that's why they're on the route to the nursing home.

Thanks, Ziggy, I was itching by the third post.
CuppaJoe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2009, 10:52 PM   #40
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Telly's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,395
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poundkey View Post
For whatever reason the ants up here in hardscrabble (Ellis County) seem to be on the decline. People in the area always do the usual treatments of various baits and stuff to keep them in check, but every spring it was like starting over again.
Over the last two years I've noticed a big difference though. Five years ago I would treat over 20 mounds on my 1/4 acre joining lot. This spring I've had to hunt to find one. None of the properties or pastures near me look to be as infested as in the past.
It happened slowly at first, but I have noticed the same thing. I think the fire ant population started to go down sometime after 2000 (maybe they got a Y2K bug?).

What got me thinking of fire ant decline was the new critter that started up... chiggers. Bad. Real bad. Got first chigger bites of this season last week. Last year, first chigger bites were about the end of the first week of May.

The chiggers are everywhere - grass, bushes, concrete... yes, even on concrete far from grass there are chiggers. Lay down on the concrete to work under a car, and the next day, arrrgh! Putting down a carpet piece to lay on doesn't help, they get over that soon.

Never got them years ago here. Somewhere I was reading once that with a high density of fire ants, the crawling insect population goes mono-culture (or something like that), the fire ants prevent other species from taking off.

With the decline of fire ants, have been seeing a lot of Texas-type of carpenter ants, and small red food ants that like to get into kitchens. Never saw any of them before with lots of fire ants.

Sitting here with itchy scratchy oozing chigger bites all over me, and that was even through heavy applications of OFF (my blood alcohol level is zero, but my Deet level has got to be > .1 %). I want the fire ant population back up!

For the last few years, I have only been using Amdro on very select places: Mounds next to concrete, as they dig out dirt or sand underneath it, weakening it. Or on the weird places like opening a window, to be met by a mad flurry of fire ants that have made a nest inside the hollow aluminum frame of a window screen.

I used to go through pound jugs of Amdro per year, but I have been using the pound I have now, into the third year. Wow, that's a real decrease. I never realized that. I have no idea what Amdro costs per pound now.

Never thought that I would think of fire ants as a positive!
__________________
-- Telly, the D-I-Y guy --
Two fools dancing on the hands of time
Telly is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Six Weeks: A Taste of FIRE Canadian FIRE Young Dreamers 13 05-07-2008 10:52 AM
A taste of ER, sort of brewer12345 Young Dreamers 13 05-14-2007 08:55 AM
a taste of things to come? astromeria FIRE and Money 17 08-21-2006 03:00 PM
Does Your Broccoli Taste Better? haha FIRE and Money 7 12-23-2004 12:15 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:02 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.