Fire Ant Flickers (#24)

Howdy, and welcome. If things go according to plan [Ed. Yeah, like that’s ever going to happnen.], today is Monday, October 26^th. I’m sure you remember that today is Jon Heder‘s birthday and are celebrating appropriately by sneaking a lasagna into the closest zoo and feeding the llamas. But whatever you do, don’t forget to duck.

Also on this day in 2020, NASA announced the discovery of more water on the Moon. Subsequently, in 2021, SpaceX launched a crew of four astronauts into space, with explicit instructions from Elon Musk to build the first lunar swimming pool.

Critical Thinking: Try it…You’ll like it

As you have probably noticed, I don’t write about politics. I did back in the early days, before I realized that (1) no good ever comes from it, and (b) I don’t know anything about politics. So, what you’re about to read shouldn’t be interpreted as a political statement, or at least not a partisan one.

There’s a TV ad currently running in Texas wherein a spokesperson tells us that we should vote for a specific candidate for a statewide governmental position because that person has prevented “hundreds of cities” from increasing property taxes. The final tagline on the ad is something like this: “When big government…comes after you, ____________ goes after big government.”

This ad annoys me (sort of like every single political ad in existence, but that’s another wormy can), because it implies that state government knows better than local government what the local citizenry need and expect from their local officials.

I’m sure that most (many? some?) of us feel that the federal government is overreaching in some (many? most?) areas of life, and we would argue that protection from that overreach is a Good Thing. But if we’re honest with ourselves and each other, “big government” and “overreach” are multi-layered phenomena.

To states, big government is federal. To cities, big government is the state. To home owner associations, big government is the city. And to the individual homeowner…well, you know where that’s going.

So, when you hear or see an ad like I described above, ask yourself whether state government officials know better than your city officials what your city needs to provide you with the services — police, fire department, education, utilities, etc. — that you want and expect in return for your tax dollars.

No one (hardly anyone?) wants to pay more taxes. Just be careful in assuming that “big government” is doing you a big favor by ensuring that you won’t…especially when it doesn’t have the self-awareness to realize that it’s also “big government.”

Workout Buddies

I shared the following video on my Instagram account, so forgive the duplication if you’re one of my five followers over there.

The lizard rested comfortably there through the entirety of my 35 minutes on the bike. I aspire to that level of serenity.

Another job lost to A.I. (Artificial Inflation)

Bucket Yeet

Sorry about that heading. I couldn’t find a suitable rhyme for list. Feel free to suggest something less, well, dumb.

Debbie and I were heading east on Highway 71, a mile or two before Double Horn, when I noticed a bright yellow 5-gallon plastic bucket — like you might find at Lowe’s or the Home Depot, except in a different color — in the middle of the inside lane of the road.

I was in the outside lane so it posed no threat to our car, but I saw in the rearview mirror a white SUV which had been tailing us for a while change lanes just in time to hit the bucket in such a way that it lodged under the front bumper. I assumed that the driver would immediately pull over and extract the bucket. I assumed wrong.

The driver did pull back behind us…but didn’t slow down, and I couldn’t resist periodically checking the bucket’s status in the rearview mirror. As you can see in the photo (which Debbie took from the passenger’s seat, so cool your jets), the bottom of the bucket was slowly being ground away on the pavement — although I suppose that technically, the plastic is being melted by friction. The bucket started out being perfectly rounded before it was captured. Here’s a closer view:

I have no idea whether they kept driving until the bucket wore down enough to slide free; I lost them somewhere just past the Pedernales bridge. But I couldn’t help wondering whether the driver was deaf, or simply clueless — gee…I’ve never heard that sound before; I’d better turn up the music — because it had to make an awful racket. Anyway, if you’re driving to Austin on 71, watch for a sad, half melted yellow bucket lying forlornly on the side of the road…unless it hitched another ride under a low-slung Corvette.

Wildlife Parade

I probably should have saved this for a Neighborhood Nature post, but I’ve had some files on my hard drive for months and I need to do some housekeeping and free up space.

The following is a brief compendium of videos taken by our trail and security cameras of wildlife that has graced us with its presence in our backyard. I didn’t take the time to label the scenes or provide any commentary; you guys are intelligent and creative enough to come up with your own narratives.

I do feel the need to explain that while our deck and sidewalks seem very messy…they are, in reality, absolutely messy. If you’ve ever lived around pecan trees, you know that they are continuously dropping leaves, pollen, nuts, branches, and twigs for ten months out of the year, and the squirrels don’t help. So please feel free to offer your sympathies for my poor, overworked leaf blower.

In case you’re wondering about the bright lights on a couple of those clips, that’s the flash on a trail camera that’s triggered by certain movements. It’s supposed to be invisible to animal (or almost so; I’ve noticed that some critters seem to notice it), but the SimpliSafe security camera picks it up. I’m completely in the dark (ha!) about how or why that is. Feel free to enlighten (double ha!) me if you know.

Closing Shots, Halloweeny-Style