Bits of this and that
Back in July of this year, I was walking with some friends on a trail at Rend Lake. At a wide spot in the trail we stopped to look around, and I noticed this unusual flower:
I wish I knew the name of it. I thought the shape of it was pretty cool. We don’t have too many exotic flowers in Illinois, so spotting this seemed rather special.
Last Sabbath, August 30, I went hiking at a place my friends and I have been to many times. On this visit, however, we did something we don’t usually do, and went for a walk around the lake. The weeds were kind of high along parts of the trail. What I didn’t realize until later was that I had picked up some hitchhikers: chiggers.
Unfortunately, chiggers are nearly microscopic, and chigger bites only appear after the damage is done. By then the chigger has already packed up and said goodbye. After feeding, chiggers drop off and turn into harmless adults. Sometimes extra chiggers may tag along, hiding in your shoes, socks, carpet, bedding, etc., and come out for dinner later. For this reason, if you’ve been in chigger country, it’s a good idea to take a shower and put your clothes in the wash after you get home. (If you’ve had a bad experience with chiggers in the past, you may be tempted to burn your clothes.) Using insect repellent works well at keeping them off.
Like their relatives, ticks, chiggers seem to prefer tight, warm places between skin and clothing, and so socks and waists are frequent targets. They leave behind extremely itchy welts, lasting a few days to a week or so.
On this occasion I ended up with about 30 chigger bites, mostly around my ankles, as well as a little poison ivy rash on my right ankle for good measure.
This experience got me to thinking about chiggers: what they are, where they live, what they do in their free time.
After all, there are only so many hosts for a chigger to choose from, and one can never know when a host might come by. Life as a young chigger must have its long, lonely moments. I imagine groups of intellectual young chiggers passionately debating whether it’s better to “wait” or be more proactive. You only go through the life cycle once, and whoever you pick, you’re stuck with.
Of course, whether a chigger chooses to wait or hunt probably depends on its location. Country chiggers who choose to hunt could end up on wild goose chases or chasing rabbits. There’s lots of wild, open spaces, and it can be hard to catch someone who’s just passing through. On the other hand, waiting could go on for a long, long time. A suitable match might never swing by. Life can seem hard and a bit random for the chigger trying to make it in the country.
But things are different if you’re a city chigger. For the lucky chigger living near the big city, life is constant action. You hardly need to do anything. In fact, you can practically just sit there, looking pretty, and some sweet dear might come along and practically sit on you. On the other hand, if you jump at the first bite, you might miss a better option. A new one comes by every few minutes sometimes, so it’s safe to bide one’s time and wait. You just don’t want to get into a habit of waiting, because you’re only young for so long, and you need to get busy and start a family while you still can. Of course, with increased opportunities come increased risks. The environment can be quite toxic. The city isn’t the ideal place you’d want to raise larva.
For some reason, once chiggers reach adulthood (at which point they are no longer chiggers, but full fledged mites), they all go vegan. I suppose a fast-paced lifestyle of living off cellular fluids eventually catches up with you, and it’s nice to just sit back and sip vegetable juices. “They goes grandpa,” the young chiggers say, “drinking his green grass juice.” Meanwhile, their eyes are on the legs of a pretty young woman passing by. Here she comes, here she comes…. Bite!
Since moving to Illinois about nine years ago, one place I’ve often heard about but had never visited is Cave-in-Rock. It was a little further distance to drive than the places our young adult group usually visits, but I was glad I went.
I put a collection of photos up on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40771&l=afab0&id=809418097
On May 17, I went with some friends to Garden of the Gods, one of our favorite spots. I’ve posted some photos over on Facebook, which you can see at the following address. These were all taken by Monique, who works in the production department at 3ABN.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40258&l=6d15c&id=809418097
This news goes back a couple weeks, but I thought I ought to bring everyone up to speed on the happenings here.
First, my hopeful prediction on February 3 that we might be nearing the end of winter weather turned out to be grimly mistaken. In the several days leading up to 2/11, we had warnings that a severe winter storm was afoot. Nevertheless, the morning of that day wasn’t too bad. I started to see snow and a bit of sleet coming down on the way home for lunch. Still, I was somewhat surprised to be caught at home after lunch, when I learned that 3ABN was closing due to badly deteriorating road conditions.
Sleet and freezing rain fell all afternoon and into the night. On top of a couple inches of snow, we had a 1/4 to 1/2 inch layer of ice. The ice covered my wireless internet antenna, knocking out my internet access, which left me without a convenient source of news and information for the next several days. (Not to mention no chatting with friends!)
I remained stuck at home Tuesday morning. The mound of snow on the windshield of my Jeep was encased in a hard shell of ice, and presented quite a challenge when I tried to clear it off. I tried to get to work, but Hernando and I couldn’t get the Jeep unstuck. We finally managed to back it out of the space where it was parked, but then it became caught in a thick mixture of slush and mud. We worked for maybe 30 minutes or more, and with the aid of a snow shovel loaned to us by the Troys, we were finally able to free it. But by then Hernando had given up on going to work. It was nearly lunchtime, so I decided to just wait and try again after lunch. I did make it in to 3ABN in the afternoon. Only about half the employees were there. Greg and Jill were running the Call Center by themselves.
Ice storm nature pics:
Carving out the snow under the ice on my Jeep’s hood and windshield:
With cold temperatures, the snow lasted nearly a week. On Friday, 2/15, I got stuck in the slush twice: once at the T’ville post office, and once on the road that connects Main Street to the curve on 149; but was able to get myself out in both cases. The snow was mostly melted by the next Monday, 2/18, but there were still mounds of snow where it was plowed.
As explained in previous posts, the last week of January I had been taped for the 3ABN Today “Behind the Scenes” program, to air on Valentine’s Day, February 14. I was on the set with Jim Gilley, Mollie Steenson, and John Lomacang. My topic was the viewer survey we were preparing to release. Mollie was talking about camp meeting, and John about a series, “Where Are All His Miracles?”, soon to be taped at the Thompsonville church. But 3ABN overbooked its guests, and Lonnie Melashenko took that date on a live program instead. Because my taping included topics that were dated, the producers decided to reshoot it. We were scheduled to do it again on February 21.
However, on February 21, another ice storm rolled in, and the taping was canceled. Kenton, Adam, and I worked until about 4:00, or a little later, and then went home. It was sleeting, and we knew the roads would soon turn slick. By this time I had developed a good technique for removing ice from my vehicle’s windshields, but it was starting to get a bit tedious. We all came in a little late on Friday morning, and found again that many employees were missing. But the main roads were not too bad this time.
A really short video of the February 21 storm:
This storm knocked out my internet connection again, but this time I had two things going for me: I had learned how to connect via by cell phone (sloooooow … 14.4 kbps). And, lastly, after one cold, tiring, and unproductive experiment, I found a fast way to de-ice my antenna. (I knew that water cannon was good for something.) But, for next time, I think I’m going to invest in the aerosol de-icing spray.
Saturday was warm enough to melt off some of the ice and snow, but we got a couple inches more Sunday morning, which began melting later that day. As of Monday, 2/25, most of it had melted, but a little still lingers.
Apparently my “Behind the Scenes” segment will still be taped, but I have not been told the new taping date yet. I know some of you may be tired of hearing about it already, but it’s my first significant appearance, so I guess I’m just excited. (I’m not sure if I should be; I’m not the TV type.)
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