So, it took me a week to post this...let's review what has been going on. New neighbors, Ken and Karen are all moved in...The McHargues are moving out. I was thinking we could just call the boys by the cars that Vern has. Here goes, in order of age: Mercedes, Expedition, BMW and Jaguar. McB is really going to miss Expedition!! Speaking of them moving...had dinner last Monday night at the trips house. It was a going away dinner...a bit interesting. TV (big ol' flat screen) is in the pass thru, so you watch it in the kitchen, on our old couch we sold them via Craigslist. When it's on, the sound projects into the living room, which is where we were...eating our second dinners! Margarita, Pat (up past her bedtime, Anita and myself). At 9 I was beat and had to go home. Good food, but totally stuffed. The trips have 'basement people' that rent and live down there, talk about not having much room, them or the trips! I will say, awesome pottery, the trips mom is an amazing artist. More on basement people as I learn more...who knew? Besides Fatma of course.
So, onto other profound thoughts, some of the Porch Girls went to Let's Dish! It was quite fun, Tooch's mom shoo-shoo'd her out of the way and took over...so Tooch kind of made dinner. :-) On Tuesday night, it was a special gathering of Porch Girls for one last get together with Anita, (again, Pat up past her bedtime and Val too!). It was a good gathering, with chocolate mousse pie that Pizza man had given me.
Then, on Thursday we went to NYC, and I took McB to the Natural History Museum, and I learned something very interesting. The gross looking larvae I have been seeing on the ground the past few weeks, is really gross acorn larvae that hatch and become weevils! Yuck! Here is a picture I took at the museum in the biodiversity section. I got home and looked it up and this is what it says: Every year acorns become temporary homes for some insects. Acorn weevils overwinter in the ground. In the summer, they emerge to look for a mate. Mating usually takes place very soon after the weevils emerge. The female acorn weevil uses the small jaws at the end of her long snout to drill a hole in the shell of the developing nut. Then she backs up and lays 2 to 4 eggs inside.
The young acorn weevil larvae hatch inside the acorn after one or two weeks. The larvae develop inside the acorn, feeding on the nutmeat for about 3 weeks. The more larvae inside an acorn, the slower they develop because they must share the available food.
The infested acorn falls from the tree about the time that the weevil larvae are fully grown. When the acorn hits the ground, it is a signal to the acorn weevil larvae that it is time to chew their way out. This process can take from 2 hours to 3 days, depending on the thickness of the acorn shell. Once the acorn weevil larva breaks free of the acorn, it tunnels down into the ground and makes an earthen cell in which to spend the winter. The larva will stay in its winter home for up to 5 years before it emerges one summer as an adult acorn weevil.
The empty acorn can be used by other insects for food and shelter. A different insect, the acorn moth, may lay an egg near the exit hole left by the acorn weevil larva. After the egg hatches, the acorn moth caterpillar climbs through the hole into the acorn, where it spends the winter. The following spring it leaves the acorn before turning into an acorn moth.
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