Did You know - outdoor edition

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that Velcro was designed after the inventor noticed Burdock seeds stuck to his wool socks? It is the same system of hooks and loops used by beggar tick and other clinging seeds that stick to cloth or an animals fur for transport. 

[Hilltop366]

My niece's husband is a decadent of Gorge de Mestral the inventor of velcro, he (niece's husband) is a biomedical engineer who has made a few medical inventions, one is a miniature ultrasound that he made for the ear (ear drum if I recall correctly). He and my nephew who is a computer engineer are now working for a company that is developing a lobster trap buoy system that the buoy goes to the bottom with the traps and is released to the top when signalled. The idea is to prevent the buoy ropes from entanglement in other marine life such as whales and sea turtles.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know a large group of tortoises is called a creep?

[doc henderson]

Do they move very slow?

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know a group of skunks is called a Surfeit, an Array or a Stench? (I know - I thought they would be called politicians. :)

https://a-z-animals.com/blog/what-is-a-group-of-skunks-called/

EDIT: Actually I would like to apologize to all the skunks out there for my previous comment. It was thoughtless and inconsiderate.

[JD Guy]

  Did you know a group of skunks is called a Surfeit, an Array or a Stench? (I know - I thought they would be called politicians. :)

https://a-z-animals.com/blog/what-is-a-group-of-skunks-called/

EDIT: Actually I would like to apologize to all the skunks out there for my previous comment. It was thoughtless and inconsiderate.

This just made my day!!  smiley_clapping smiley_clapping

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know a group of squirrels is called a Scurry or a Dray? A dray is also the term often used for a mother squirrel and her young.

[Old Greenhorn]

  Did you know a group of skunks is called a Surfeit, an Array or a Stench? (I know - I thought they would be called politicians. :)

https://a-z-animals.com/blog/what-is-a-group-of-skunks-called/

EDIT: Actually I would like to apologize to all the skunks out there for my previous comment. It was thoughtless and inconsiderate.

I don't think you need to apologize. I actually thought a group of skunks would (appropriately)  be called a 'congress', but that term is used to describe a group of crows on the roost. Which I guess also fits, because both groups are sitting on they haunches, making occasional squawks about nothing, and accomplishing little if anything.  ;D

[barbender]

What bothers me is when they do accomplish something😬

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, crows can be real rascals when they get into something and they can make a racket while doing it.
 Oh wait, you meant the other group. Well yeah, that's rarely good.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that when there is a sharp decline in a population of animals such as after a big die-off or such and the carrying capacity of the area far exceeds the population, the animals will breed at an earlier age and often have more litters per year than in normal times? Part of the reason for this is the young that do raise have a greater food supply and mature sooner.
.
  Studies I have seen indicate that is carrying over into the human population with young girls with excess food and heavier weights starting to ovulate at younger ages than in poor regions. For example in Europe, America, or other wealthier regions the girls often ovulate before their teens while in poor regions of the world they mature later. This would also hold true for children of wealthy families in otherwise poorer regions of the world.

  Maybe our resident doctors and medical experts can comment on more official studies and their observations than those I am referencing.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that deer in WV turn very red in the summer months then turn dark gray or brown in the winter months? I do not know the advantage of them turning red as it makes them much more visible to people anyway. Their winter coats blend in very well with the surrounding Fall and Winter colors but they really stand out in the summer greenery.

   While sawing today a big old doe and the neighbor's gray cat came out a few feet from the mill after I had left it for a minute or two. The cat ran off quickly the doe just stood there while I talked to her. She walked a few feet and started browsing till I I cranked the mill then she left but not at a very high rate of speed and apparently not very far. Two of the were feeding 75' away on the top of a poplar I had felled and was bucking into logs. The chainsaw running did not bother them at all.

[KEC]

Over the years I have read many accounts of deer learning that the sound of a chainsaw is a dinner bell. Especially in areas of heavy woods and high deer numbers and in the winter when food is scarce. Loggers in New Yorks' Tug Hill area reported deer in winter browsing on Black Cherry tops. DEC deer biologists did not believe that deer would browse cherry until the loggers took the biologists out and showed them.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I know every beat up, rundown pulpwood and log truck I used to see in N. Fla and S. Alabama growing up had an old single shot .12 gauge shotgun on a rack in the back window and they got used. Those guys knew their chainsaw was a dinner bell for local deer and they took advantage of it.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know there are some written and many unwritten rules of etiquette when driving on narrow mountain roads in WV? Many of our local roads are not wide enough to pass another vehicle when you meet. Typical will be a sheer mountain face on one side and a sharp drop off on the other. Often there will not be any guardrail. Also there will frequently be one paved lane down the middle with half a lane of graded/gravel on each side. You drive down the middle of the road till you meet someone coming then you slow down and pull your right wheel off on the right side on the graded area if it is wide enough to do so. If you see another vehicle coming the first one to come to a wider shoulder pulls off to let the other driver pass because there may not be a spot on his side of the road wide enough for him to do so. If you meet unexpectedly without room for either to pull off the driver on the downhill side backs up until he comes to a wide spot because it is easier to back downhill than uphill. If the driver on the downhill slope is pulling a trailer or such then the uphill driver will back up. Don't forget to wave to the other driver to acknowledge their courtesy.

I met a lady at a flea market a week or so back and she was not from around here. She said she pulled off on the grass somewhere and got stuck and almost immediately 5-6 locals in pick up trucks stopped, each with a cable, chain or tow strap and offered to pull her out. That is normal here as almost everyone carries a chain or tow cable in their truck.

[KEC]

These days you have to hope that the stuck vehicle has something to hook the chain or strap to. I carry a 4" wide nylon strap like they use to pick up stuff with overhead cranes. I keep a smaller strap in our Jeep Patriot.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I assume you are talking about a choker or sling. Handy item to have.

[RetiredTech]

rules of etiquette when driving

  Glad to hear there are still some places where driving etiquette is still applied. I'm frequently aggravated by rude drivers that tailgate, swerve in and out of traffic or won't let someone else merge over into "their" lane. It's not just in the city anymore either. I was nearly headended by another pickup on a gravel road recently. He came around a blind curve so fast he was sliding sideways. When I saw him coming I pulled as far off the road as I could and stopped. He barley regained enough control to miss hitting the front of my truck. It was so close that his side mirror hit mine when he passed. He never even slowed down and was gone in a cloud of dust.

[WV Sawmiller]

   A big factor for good driving etiquette up here is if you wreck or slide off the road you are not simply sliding over on to a shoulder or into a ditch. It may be a couple hundred feet before you stop rolling and flipping unless you are lucky enough to land in a big tree on the way down.

[Ron Scott]

The truckers say that "one hasn't driven until they have driven in 
West Virginia".

[WV Sawmiller]

  We are (Actually just me) are drifting a little far afield here but since we are talking about driving issues Did you know when you see big tractor trailer rigs parked on the entrance or exit ramps of the interstate highways that they are parked illegally? They are not supposed to park there but the number of trucks on the road any given night far exceeds the safe parking spots at truck stops and rest areas. If a trucker is not parked in a rest area or truck stop well before midnight there is a very good chance they will not find one and will have to drive all night, if they have the hours to drive and are physically safe to do so. If not they may just have to pull over on to the next entrance/exit ramp and hope the diesel cops are understanding (and most are). I think most of the cops realize it is safer to have a sleepy trucker illegally parked on an entrance/exit ramp of the interstate than driving on it.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I think we mentioned this before but did you know skunks like to dig up and eat yellowjackets? 

   I was reminded today as I was stacking wood and general clean up around the barn. Right in front of my tractor shed door I spotted several large pieces of paper nests scattered around on the ground then behind them next to/between a small walnut and a section of wood fence there was a fresh dug hole where the skunk had evidently dug them up. In this case having a skunk around is a good thing as my wife and I walk past that spot several times a week and she is allergic to such stings and I ain't real fond of them.

[beenthere]

 :D :D :D
They do it for the larvae and honeycomb, but not sure that they like digging them up.  ;)

[WV Sawmiller]

  I don't know if they like the digging but that is the only way they can get to the larva. (I don't think there is any honeycomb in a yellowjacket nest.) Skunks will stand at the front of a bee hive eat the adult bees coming and going into/from the hive.

    This hole was well over a foot deep and I have seen them several feet deep.

[beenthere]

(I don't think there is any honeycomb in a yellowjacket nest.)

True that.. do not store honey. My bad