jhetley: (Default)
jhetley ([personal profile] jhetley) wrote2005-09-22 11:03 am

Why did the woolly bear cross the road?

He didn't. He got squashed halfway across. (At least judging by my informal survey of the local asphalt.) I shall have to ask The Naturalist if the tiny woolly bears I'm seeing are the same species as the larger ones, just hatched late and DOOMED.*

Other roadkill included a raccoon up by the golf course. I wonder how many armadillos the Tejas Evacuation has wiped out? (Warped priorities, I know, but that's the way my mind works.)

A beautiful Autumnal Equinox day outside except for the brisk breeze, rather more than a bicyclist would ask. The poison ivy is turning a most attractive crimson on the roadsides.

15.46 miles, 1:03:42

*Edited -- the Naturalist says the small woolly bears are the same species. Since they winter-over that way, it's Mother Nature's way of providing a range of responses to unknown future conditions. The old Anthropomorphic Representative Goddess is a ruthless bitch. Like, so what if half of them die in a given year? Deep snow or open winter, early or late spring, wet or dry, _some_ of the variants will make it.

[identity profile] nathelmi.livejournal.com 2005-09-22 03:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Small woolly bears?

[identity profile] jhetley.livejournal.com 2005-09-22 04:21 pm (UTC)(link)
They don't have them in Canada?

Caterpillars, fat and furry, brown with black band in the middle (band varies in width, sometimes used as a folklore forecast of how severe the winter will be) or sometimes black with brown band, or even all brown. Normal size ('round heah) would be about 1.5"/40 mm in length. The small ones I was describing are 1/2" to 3/4" or 12-20mm long and proportionally narrower.