if i had gotten to fly....

i wouldn't have seen this.

thank you, universe.

uprising

hood ornament

so, grasshoppers are a bit of a problem here in la plata county. at the plant nursery where i work, they are one of the top three pests around which customers ask advice (the others? deer, aphids, and then, a very close 4th, gophers). but grasshoppers, in some areas, practically reach plague proportions. for instance, on the way to taos we pulled over for a side-of-the-road pee break, and one foot out of the car sent a wave of grasshoppers bounding through the air.

well, someone has discovered a morbid yet altogether fascinating way of organically combating these creatures. it so happens that there is a fungus that paralyzes grasshoppers (only grasshoppers--not cockroaches or earwigs or anything else). it also happens that grasshoppers tend towards cannibalism. so. this company, called no-lo bait, has monopolized on the fungus. they spray spores of it on oats, and the feed the oats to grasshoppers. the fungus then grows in the bodies of the grasshoppers, who become paralyzed. then, the other grasshoppers in the community feed on the paralyzed grasshoppers, and in doing so, ingest the fungus, which then moves on to paralyze them as well, and the cycle continues.

i hate to draw parallels, so i'll just say: happy fourth of july!