The monsoon rains have finally started. The yard was awash and lightning forked all around us, driving all sorts of interesting things onto higher ground. I’m not sure I can put pictures on this website, but I’m going to try.
THIS was in the bathtub. It is a half-grown Giant Arizona Centipede. It was trying to catch crickets. The adults (9 inches) can eat mice. Underneath, at the top end, are pinchers that can inject painful venom. Each of the legs has a little black claw that can also inject venom. When I was a child one of these ran across my arm in the middle of the night and left what looked like a tiny tire track. There were two rows of red blisters. My mother told me it was a centipede and that I was lucky not to have waked up.
We are on high ground and not at risk for flash floods, but most of the people here are not so lucky. They have been given heaps of bright yellow sand bags to keep water away from their houses. A picky-poo sand bag isn’t going to stop a flash flood. There was one in a canyon a couple of days ago and boulders the size of recycling bins skipped along the flood like pebbles.
THIS was in the bathtub. It is a half-grown Giant Arizona Centipede. It was trying to catch crickets. The adults (9 inches) can eat mice. Underneath, at the top end, are pinchers that can inject painful venom. Each of the legs has a little black claw that can also inject venom. When I was a child one of these ran across my arm in the middle of the night and left what looked like a tiny tire track. There were two rows of red blisters. My mother told me it was a centipede and that I was lucky not to have waked up.
We are on high ground and not at risk for flash floods, but most of the people here are not so lucky. They have been given heaps of bright yellow sand bags to keep water away from their houses. A picky-poo sand bag isn’t going to stop a flash flood. There was one in a canyon a couple of days ago and boulders the size of recycling bins skipped along the flood like pebbles.