It’s that time of year again. And we’re not talking about hurricane season.
News 6 viewer Joel Mathis shared a picture of a fuzzy caterpillar after Hurricane Milton stormed through the area. Mathis said he found it on his fence while cleaning up debris.
“Be very careful picking up debris and/or hand tools that lay in the backyard,” he wrote.
It’s a sound piece of advice, as these furry-looking “Puss Caterpillars” are actually incredibly dangerous.
Growing up down there, I can attest to the level of pain. It can be overwhelming.
ReplyDelete"While a prick can require medical attention" . . . .
ReplyDelete"You can prick your finger, but you can't finger your prick."
DeleteGeorge Carlin.
We used to call them Asps in South Texas.
ReplyDeleteIt's hurricanes, gators, snakes, scorpions, earthquakes, 110° heat, 90°+ nights, giant centipedes, rampant diversity and now Puss Caterpillars that are among the reasons I live in the Land of 10,000 Swamps.
ReplyDeleteI'll take -40°, blizzards, a few brown recluses and living between reservations over that shit anyday.
The 6 months I spent working in LA and southern Georgia it was 3 months straight of more over 110° than under 90° including at night, and Finlanders aren't built like radiators.
Us southerners feel the same about the frozen north.. A winter in Chicago and another in Nebraska told me all I needed to know about winter.. Give me 4 days below freezing a year anytime over months of it at a time
DeleteJD
I'm with Anon @10:25. Born and raised in Atlanta, I spent two Winters in Bavaria as a young soldier - got there in late November '81 and there was already foot-deep snow and black ice on the roads. That was enough Winter to last me the rest of my days. I'll go North to visit but only in Spring or Summer.
DeleteAwesome! The tacobenders feel the same way, so more room for me, and more beavers to trap in case of emergency!
DeleteMaybe back to the Copper Country after things sort out, but I like seeing the sun in the winter...
Steel
DeleteThe tacobenders end up wherever the government drops them off so no excape for those cockroaches.
Enjoy breaking ice for your beaver traps, I enjoy taking my January walks in tee shirts and shorts .
To each their own
JD
Yeah, I remember calling them Asps too, born and raised South Texas. I don't remember ever going to a hospital although I was tagged a few times by them. We were just told to tough it out and not be so stupid. Between those, rattlesnakes, cotton mouths, wasps, yellow jackets, tarantulas, scorpions, gators and sharks, it's a surprise any of us made to adulthood. FAFO rules were full in force back in the 70s.
ReplyDeleteI find Florida to be nice January through March, though we stay through April to give Michigan a chance to warm up a bit.
ReplyDeleteI tell people I was kicked out of Michigan because I couldn't stand Florida.
DeleteThey just had to go full metric. Couldn't say an inch in size. Oh no. May they never find their 10mm.
ReplyDeleteThe "Puss Caterpillar" is the larval stage of the Southern Flannel Moth, actually a beautiful moth. There is an excellent article at https://www.southernliving.com/garden/pests/southern-flannel-moth-caterpillar . Brushing up against the caterpillar while mowing is possibly the most painful thing that has ever happened to me. I thought I was having a heart attack and a 3rd degree burn at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI have a dog who would try to eat one, go through the worst day of his life, and then try to eat another one. I base this on his experience with trying to eat bees.
ReplyDeleteI'm also reminded of something I saw recently in a forum I read. Someone posting along the lines of "We're all praying for you Florida. TWO hurricanes in two weeks! How could this happen? Things are just getting insane!" And two people from Florida replying along the lines of "Nah, it's not that unusual really."