Gordon Grice's Blog, page 46

Sentimental Journey: Mantis

Photo by Lori McLaughlin





My parents drove me to our old farmhouse. We lived there only a year and half or so; it was a small episode in long lives. Somehow, though, it holds all the best of my childhood memories. It holds a disproportionate number of the stories I tell in my books, too. This is the place where I learned to listen with love to the songs of coyotes, where the neighbor’s dog slaughtered our chickens, the place where a cougar climbed an elm in our front yard. Little incidents of rural life, but they have held onto me. 



My parents had been here not long before to photograph it for me. Their photos showed little, or at least too little to make sense of. Mostly they showed the flat face of the earth beneath the immense sky. But it had been greener then. Now we arrived at a stand of dead elms. That was all that distinguished this stretch of barbed wire from the contiguous miles of it. 



At a glance, nothing was left but some remnants of the corral. (I remembered the splinters I’d got from it; the meteor that had fractured on the ground next to it; the salt lick set out for the cattle, which we were told was not for kids to lick. The warning itself was invitation enough, and I found it bitter and not salty enough.)



I studied the barbed wire for a place to enter. My father suggested the thick post, like a sawn-off telephone pole, that held a gate. I could use the gate itself for support. But no. The gate sagged beneath my weight, and the wire seemed no more eager to support me. I lamented wearing my new carpenter pants. 







Photo by Parker Grice



Then, as if to tell me I was on the right track, I noticed the oothecum—the egg case of a mantis. I wrote of these in The Red Hourglass—of the mother mantid’s way of pressing out eggs in a foam that solidifies into something harder than brick. It had to be an old one, for the November landscape was brown beyond the reach of the eye, inhospitable to the predator and its insect prey. I pried it off the post with my thumb—it snapped audibly and left a good bit of itself attached. Close up, I could see the pinpoint holes through which the mantid nymphs had escaped from their hatching cells. 



“Huh,” my dad said. “It’s not locked.” Sure enough, the chain that held the gate was easily unlatched. More discoveries waited within. 





Photo by Parker Grice

Blue Butterfly

Eastern tailed-blue, photographed by Dee Puett. (When it comes to butterflies, blue is a noun.)

Cougar Mauls Boy in British Columbia

A seven-year-old on a camping trip has been badly hurt by a cougar. 



Alberni Valley News - Cougar shot after mauling Alberni boy: 



""His father heard him scream and he ran and fought the cat off," Doyle said.



The boy suffered significant injuries to his head and neck and was transported by BC Ambulance to West Coast General Hospital where he remains. According to Vancouver Island Health Authority spokesperson Anya Nimmon the boy is is stable condition. "



More from CBC:

Asian Black Bear Injures Girl

The Asian black bear is generally regarded as more dangerous than its similar-sized North American cousin. Occasionally it attacks people in the wild. This, however, is the familiar story of a zoo visitor with poor judgment. 



Bear Attacks Girl in Private Zoo | Russia | RIA Novosti: 



"An Asian black bear at a private zoo in Blagoveshchensk attacked the girl when the she tried to give the animal a drink from a bottle.



“The operation, to treat a deep wound in the back of her head, lasted several hours," her doctor said. "The girl is now in the intensive care ward where she is in critical condition.” "

Beaver Battles Boy Scout Leader

Oscar Wilde in a Beaver Coat





Another beaver attack--the second one I've heard about in recent weeks. 



Rabid beaver attacks NY Scout leader swimming in Pa. river; Scouts use rocks to kill animal - The Washington Post: 



"Fifty-one-year-old Normand Brousseau, of Pine Plains, was swimming in eastern Pennsylvania on Aug. 2 when a beaver swam through his legs and bit him in the chest. The animal then bit him in the leg, buttocks, arm, hand and torso before he managed to grab it and hold its jaw closed.



One Boy Scout pulled Brousseau to shore, where he tossed the beaver away from him. The Scouts then used rocks to kill the animal.



A doctor confirmed the beaver had rabies."



No word on whether the beaver was gay. 



Thanks to Bob Z. for the news tip.

Hand-Wringing from Florida: Record Burmese Python

Eggs removed from a Burmese python at autopsy



A big snake with lots of eggs.



Holy Herpetology! Burmese Python Found With Record 87 Eggs - Yahoo! News: 



"At 17 feet, 7 inches (5.3 meters) in length, it is the largest snake of its kind found in the state and it was carrying a record 87 eggs. Scientists say the finding highlights how dangerously comfortable the invasive species has become in its new home.



"This thing is monstrous, it's about a foot wide," said Kenneth Krysko, of the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. "It means these snakes are surviving a long time in the wild."



Related Post: Python Eats Alligator. . . And Other Possibilities

White-Tailed Deer Attacks Farmer

Photo by Dee Puett



Several hostile encounters in the yard, then finally outright violence. The man says the buck sounded unhealthy. 



Deer attacks farmer, who shoots it after tussle | Duluth News Tribune | Duluth, Minnesota: 



"“I was going out to finish spraying the soybeans,” he said. “I stepped out a side door, and we saw each other, and he started coming closer.



“He was pummeling me, standing on his hind legs and hitting me with the front ones. He hammered me good, rapid fire, and I thought, ‘Well, this isn’t good.’"

Alligator Bites Trainer at County Fair

At a county fair in Ohio, a man successfully placed his hand in an alligator's mouth. . . once. 

A Young Heron

Photography by Dee Puett

The Spider Wars

Funny photo essay about sleeping with brown recluse spiders, featuring our old friend the harvestman in a guest-starring role. Thanks to Dan for the tip. 



The Spider Wars - Imgur: 



"I awaken to several of these fellows crawling across my blanket throughout the night. The house is in the heart of brown recluse country, and most bites occur from encounters in bed; I become worried. A closer examination reveals the telltale eye structure and color pattern that confirm my fears. This place crawls, I think as panic grips me."