Monday, June 23, 2008

Dung Beetles and Other Invertebrates

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Trying to post all day, now I am having problems with pictures. Sorry.

What do dung beetles have to do with living in Mexico and boondocking? Directly, not very much and at the same time quite a bit.

Yesterday, some friends came by with their three kids and spent the afternoon. The kids spent most of the time in the pool. It has been over 100F for the last three weeks and there is little if no sign of rain. As the kids were playing in the pool, wasps and dragonflies would take a dip as they were looking for some refreshment. The kids began to scream and worry about being eaten by the awful creatures. I told them to grab the net and scoop them out. Fine, now everyone wanted to grab the net but that's as story of discipline. As the bugs are coming out so do the screams of "kill them, kill them". I told them you don't need to kill them, they won't hurt you and least of all are they looking to eat you.

This morning, I was reading a wonderful article in the June 9th, 2008 issue of Newsweek titled, "Praise the Humble Dung Beetle". A truly amazing creature that we could never live without. Nature has provided for everything, literally. They take care of all the excrement of the world. They roll it, tenderize it, bury it, and make it into harmless matter that fertilizes the soil. Just like us, everything returns to the Earth. Include in this mix, all the other invertebrates that do the work we could never do much less would want to but we are always on the kill.

Read the article if you can. Nature is a truly amazing thing and as I said, it has taken care of everything if we would just leave our gritty little hands out of the mix. So for rving and boondocking, they love my grey water and my yucky black water so long as it doesn't have any harmful chemicals.

Viva la Dung Beetle!

Bridge Update
I passed by the bridge today and took a shot. Like busy beavers building a dam these guys are working 24/7. The walls of the overpass are at the level of the bridge and fill has been done. Now it looks like the bridge top, rebar and cement will be poured. Take a look.The rain just doesn't want to fall. The sky has looked like this for three days. It did sprinkle a bit yesterday but that was about it. Maybe it's too hot?
Summer Vacation Schedule
We will be taking off on July 7th touring the state and reporting to you from every possible town that has an Internet cafe. Return date will be August 4th. This is the longest vacation I have ever had since I was a kid. Stay tuned.

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