Shell

It's been two years since we were graced with this beast,

a rescue from our Aunt Georgette.

The shell had signs of being a dog toy,

now there are only a few light indentations.

The little white scars used to cover at least a third of the shell!

We still don't know if it's a boy or girl.

Supposedly females have a flat plastron,

or bottom part,

males are concave.

Looks like a girl to me.

It's always been grumpy,

hiding out in this long wooden box in the yard.

We were surprised it's lived through two winters.

During the light rains we found the favorite delicacy.

Snails come out by the dozen,

and the tortoise or box turtle gorges.

Yeah not the most exciting pet!

Still cool to have.

TP

Bug Factory

You may remember last year,

we tried a little gardening.

Out of the hundreds of seeds,

only a handful survived.

Enough to fill our spot.

Beans sprouted early,

and we got enough to make one salad,

and a bunch to replant.

The sunflowers really shot up.

That's like 9 feet tall!

We thought we had the green thumbs.

Then we realized the hard truth.

We also built a feast for bugs and birds.

It's one of the fun things about gardening,

as certain plants attract certain insects.

I remember getting cool caterpillars 

from my grandparents tomato plants.

The bummer is these bugs are not cool.

The sunflowers had little nasty maggoty larva,

and the chard had some kind of aphid like creature.

I can see how difficult it is to grow organically.

The cool thing is it's been over a year,

and we still have stragglers continuing to grow.

The one carrot that survived,

is a huge seed making powerhouse.

Attracting it's own grasshopper,

that's been there for 2 days now.

The clear winner is the kale.

There are 3 or 4 plants in here.

They are resilient to bugs,

and don't wilt in the heat.

Good times...

TP

Rat Bauer - series finale

One thing that'll get me to typing is an exciting sequel,

in this case it's the series finale.

During one early morning blog entry,

I was visited by our old frenemy,

we had nicknamed him Rat Bauer.

http://perichbrothers.blogspot.com/2014/08/rat-bauer.html

As a baby he had escaped from a seemingly impossible situation.

I didn't have the cold heart to put him down,

and we've been paying the consequences ever since.

We've seen this a million times in movies,

instead of the quick kill,

characters would rather explain plans to their nemesis,

toying with their mind,

allowing time for escape.

He was cute...

Months later we'd wake up to a gnawing or scratching underneath the house.

After that he gained access inside the walls.

It was like clockwork before dawn,

as he expanded his real life habitrail.

I set up traps all over the place.

During a quiet couple weeks,

we figured he had been snagged by a cat,

or maybe a neighbors poison.

We all slept better.

Then one early evening the wife heard a rustling in the hot oven.

Boom!

He scurried out from the back into an open zone.

We thought we had him cornered,

and like the great Jack Bauer of 24 fame,

he vanished.

I studied up,

and found that rats are very habitual,

using the same trails,

relying on a nest for security,

and living within a relatively small territory.

They don't like change.

Big traps were set up more strategically,

using junk to funnel him into the danger zone.

Well after a week of absence,

he came back in a weird place,

the boys room.

One night Jaxon thought he saw him,

and swore he ran into the closet.

Yeah right.

Way too many hiding spots in there to pursue.

A trap was set at the door.

A day passed...

Nothing.

Then 2am...snap!

A melancholy moment,

who is Batman without the Joker,

or the Coyote without the Roadrunner!?

A worthy opponent...

RIP Rat Bauer.

TP

Creepy Crawlies

We've got a thing for spiders,

you may remember our battle against wasps,

when I realized they were eating our big orb weavers.

Well the other day Jake found a trippy green spider.

I've never seen a green spider before.

I researched online,

maybe it's a Green Lynx Spider.

We added it to our black widow collection,

but since it isn't really dangerous,

may as well let it hunt with it's remaining 5 legs.

Definitely a growing population of black widows over the summers round the yard.

Most were found really close to where hands go.

Halloween is year round at the Perich pad!

TP

Rat Bauer

A couple days ago I was put to the test.

Somehow a baby rat had got into our washing machine.

Yeah.

He survived the wash and spin cycle.

I picked him up and he was reeling,

dizzy from his hellbound fairground ride.

This is when I made my mistake.

Shoulda taken him out right then and there.

Held him by the tail and thunked him on the floor.

Nope.

We recuperated him in this plastic box.

Now miserable in the sauna atmosphere.

Yes we poked holes.

The kids thought he was cute.

Dang it.

They named it "Rat Bauer" after Jack Bauer,

the guy on the show 24 who always gets out of trouble.

 Jinx...

That day we went to sunset cliffs for late lunch.

Hmm.

The perfect place to let him go,

he could grow up to be a big wharf rat.

No that doesn't sound good.

What about the bird eggs and babies.

Definitely overthinking this one.

Back home we dropped him into a 5-gallon bucket.

Gave him some energy food,

granola, nuts and water.

Doesn't seem to smart looking back at it.

The rag covering the top didn't work.

The little f*cker jumped all night,

grabbed that rag,

and used it as a ladder to escape.

Holey Chit.

To top it off,

I've been waking up at 3-4 AM,

nature calls type chit.

I didn't know about the escape at the time,

just sensed something was wrong.

I go to the back porch,

flip on the light switch,

and whose beady eyes are staring at me.

That damn rat somehow thought climbing this little tree was his way to freedom.

We both froze.

Usually the kids have their BB gun by the door.

No luck.

The only thing was that little throwing knife on the ledge.

I tried to smack him with it but he jumped,

and I only got his back half as he popped away.

Now it's game on.

4 traps are set in various locations.

I feel like Elmer Fudd or the Coyote!

TP

rise and fall - a wasp tale

While working on that rowboat project a couple weeks ago,
I discovered a little wasps nest.
Typically I'll brush them away,
basically destroying their little hovels.
Those things have stingers and they seem vicious right?

san diego paper wasp

This time was different,
as the nest was easy to reach.
I picked it off and noticed it was full of tiny little amber eggs.
Dang it.
How could I destroy a little baby wasp crib?
I'm the convenient environmentalist type,
and can appreciate the ecosystem thriving in our backyard.
We've got tons of random butterflies, bees, ladybugs, june bugs,
birds, flies, wasps, big ole orb weaver spiders...
Peaceful to watch from the back stoop.

wasp nest

A couple minutes later,
the wasp flew to the spot the nest should have been,
and hovered around the area for a good couple minutes.
It reminded me of a parent looking for her kids.
Shoot.
I ended up gluing the nest to a piece of wood,
and placed it close to where it had been.
We watched as the wasp found it and went through each hole,
checking on the brood.

wasp nest back side

Here's where the story gets a little skewed.
Another little wasp nest was found in the boat.
(except for the top pic these photos are unrelated to this part of the story!)
Time for an experiment.
Since the glue was out,
I attached the little nest to the side of the first nest.
When the first wasp found it,
there was a little double take,
but it still checked in each hole.
Even the strangers eggs.

paper honey comb

Wouldn't you know it,
but a half hour later the second wasp came looking for it's missing nest.
How it found the spot over 20 feet away is still a mystery.
This nest was hidden and maybe it was resting on it when we moved the boat.

Ok here's where the tale turns to the dark side.
Out of curiosity we slowly moved the glued nest to the second wasp spot,
carrying along with it wasp #1.
The kids and I watched as the wasp #2 flew near the nest,
and wasp #1 went in protector mode,
buzzing its wings and then flying this crazy attack maneuver.

I realized that these wasps were actually intelligent.
They had location memory and parental skills.
As the weeks passed,
instead of destroying each nest we found,
we learned to co-exist.
Even though the wasps looked menacing,
they tended to keep to themselves.

wasp vs spider

Fast forward a couple weeks.
The wasp population was obviously growing.
Many nests were spotted and ignored...
Until...
Yesterday.
I'm in the garage and what flies in but this giant wasp.
The queen?
No this one was carrying something.
It lumbered up to it's nest,
and I was shocked to see it had a huge Orb Weaver spider in its grasp!
The killer was stuffing the spider body into the hole!
Oh no.
You don't screw with our orb weavers.
Our front yard is usually full of intricate webs,
and they greet us every morning and night.
I love the methodical building and the patient way they hunt.
The spiders have really neat markings and colors,
and they grow to be quite large.
But not this year!
All of a sudden I had one of those revelations,
like the end of Fight Club or that "I see dead people" movie.
Holey Chit,
we've been breeding spider killers!

mud wasp nest

The kids and I went on a search and destroy mission.
Within half an hour all the nests were taken down.
There were way more than I had thought.

hack carpentry hiding wasp nest

My hack carpentry work of that shed had hidden two wasp hives
In each corner the nests were easily 10 inches long,
and buzzing with wasps.

hidden wasp hive

These were tough to get.
Check out this fat wasp baby!
No wonder there haven't been many spiders out this summer.
Dang it!

fat wasp larva

So much for our natural bug ecosystem!
We had to balance the playing field.
Hopefully the spider population will bounce back...

TP

phasmatidea

Macey and I went out the other day and visited my parents.
They're not that far,
but it seems like it takes alot of effort to get out of our routine.

san diego walking stick bug

Anyway we took a stroll to the front yard,
and found this crazy walking stick bug.
We spent a couple minutes looking for them in the plants.
Since they are nocturnal,
the big ones aren't too difficult to spot.

I couldn't believe Macey was comfortable with the thing crawling on her.
They are slow enough that they aren't too creepy.

Macey Perich with stick bug

In many areas these are kept as pets,
but in San Diego these are considered pests.
I guess the climate is perfect,
and they'll mass up and eat leaves like snails.
We let this one go!

TP

grass hog

I thought it was an April Fool's joke when Jaxon asked if he could try weed wacking.
It seems like I had been waiting for this moment all my life.
Too good to be true?

perich brothers & sister

We pulled out the trusty electric weedwacker.
This thing had been a workhorse for the past 5 years now,
scrounged up from Papa's Shed.
I'd see it out in the rain and think - well there goes that machine,
but it's just kept on spinning.

riveting

The plastic was so deteriorated that the little razor string cutter had broke off,
about 4 years ago actually.
I can't believe the piece was still floating around.
We finally did a quick rivet repair as I was used to not having it,
but Jaxon was not used to this fine piece of equipment yet.

Jaxon's weekend

Weedwacking is something best learned from experience,
and it didn't take him too long to get the hang of it.
He had enough greenage to practice with.

repair fail

Our little repair lasted about 5 minutes!
I had lost track of time after I figured he wasn't going to hurt himself,
and after a couple hours the little machine over heated.
The motor was so hot the plastic had melted around it.

RT 112 weed eater

This was a common sight.
I think this was taken apart at least 5 times.
The burnt armature was sanded down,
and if you look closely,
a couple bolts were put in to keep the motor from spinning around!

neighbors weeds

In a way we are lucky,
as we are just poor renters,
and our landlord doesn't seem to care about yard maintenance.
In that way he's lucky,
as we try to at least keep the weeds down to a minimum,
especially those dandelions.
I'm not sure why I've got such a thing against those plants.
As a kid it was fun to watch those seeds fly all over...

dandelion bugs

Those dang things spread like,
well they spread like weeds!
Both our neighbors have seed farms in there yards.
So much that I'll send the kids out to pick them before they blow away,
into our yard!

cheap chit

It seemed like April Fools day with all our equipment failure.
Even the push-broom had issues!
The weedwacker quietly gave up the ghost about halfway through the yard.

quick fix

Broom fix - Couple screws - no problem.
Weedwacker fix - Craigslist ad!
I found out these are actually called "string trimmers",
and we scored a cheap replacement for $30!
And it worked!
Thanks craigslist guy!

Jaxon's new toy - grass hog

We'll see how long this new machine lasts.
He's about 2/3 done with the yard so far,
and with spring break here it's a perfect way to get video game credits!

TP