On Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:51:55 -0700, The Real Bev wrote:
On 04/22/2021 12:31 AM, Volker Bartheld wrote:
On Wed, 21 Apr 2021 11:01:21 -0700, The Real Bev wrote:
What are they thinking of doing to the Poison Spider thing near Moab?
We have poison ivy, giant hogweed and asian hornets in Munich now. Makes
the occasional enduro ride much more interesting because
(military/railway) police, neighbourhood groups, environmentalists, dog
owners and shepherds have gotten a bit lame recently.
Long ago my daughter got a miserable case of poison oak. A steroid shot followed by tablets to taper off fixed it really fast. Do you have such things in your country?
Actually, I had to look that critter up in Google. Turns out that it's
called "Toxicodendron diversilobum" or "Eichenbl�ttriger Giftsumach" (how
cool a name is that???) and that it is not very common in Germany outside
of botanic gardens and some hobby gardeners' herbariums. Perhaps (and
luckily) the climate does not fit. Yet. It has been reported that some acclimatization process is going on. *)
We have giant hogweed in some parts of the US. It looks like giant
Queen Anne's Lace, which is very pretty.
Pretty it is indeed. Just wait till it has touched your skin (forearms,
neck, face - enduro riding, you know?) and you get exposed to sunlight -
even days later.
Murder hornets? Damn!
We also have an invasion of chinese^Wasian ladybirds:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatischer_Marienk%C3%A4fer
who has more or less terminated our domestic ones.
There's also the "Eichen-Prozessionsspinner" (processionary moth) that some people call the "Angela-Merkel-Caterpillar" *LOL* because of it's colour, behaviour, toxicity and the damage it does to the German oak:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eichen-Prozessionsspinner
That guy is cool as well as it has stinging hair which can break off and
then irritate skin and respiratory system. You are not supposed to burn
them (for obvious reasons) but rather cover the webs with sticky sugar
glue.
And another - ahem - "guest" from Asia: The "Asiatischer Laubholzbockk�fer" (Anoplophora glabripennis):
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatischer_Laubholzbockk%C3%A4fer
Damages our trees more than the domestic bark beetle.
Do you also have mistletoes over ther in the US?
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misteln
VERY hard to get rid of.
Volker
*) I vaguely remember a rmd rider's report where he fell off the bike,
dropped into some kind of gully, right into a poisonous plant and had one
hell of a time getting himself and the bike out. Was quite fun to read, but probably not so much fun to be in that situation. Anyone knows that story?
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