Bugs!

[altivo]

No, not the computer kind. The real ones with six legs, wings, and often it seems a propensity to bite.

We have so many mosquitoes right now that just going out of the house quickly makes anyone resemble a single retiree who just won the lottery: surrounded by parasites and sycophants looking to suck all the blood they can get.

Myself I tend to see mosquitoes and flies as the bankers and lawyers of the insect world. They produce nothing and serve no useful purpose, but they steal the lifeblood of others in order to make themselves fat. This year we are getting those big horseflies with a bite like a vampire bat, too. I think those must be the politicians.

After guild meeting this morning and having lunch with Gary and his fellow musicians, I put Tess outside and then went to the grocery store. As usual, I had quite a bit of produce in my cart, and I got the same cashier who remarked a couple of weeks back on how "healthy I was eating."

She got to the eggplant and was stuck. It had no sticker on it so she didn't know the magic number to feed to the scale so that it would be weighed and charged appropriately. The customer in line behind me was an assistant manager at the end of her shift, and the cashier held the eggplant up and asked her if she knew the number for it. Ms. Manager (who is generally quite nice and often opens a register herself if there's any kind of backup) shook her head.

"I don't know the number," she said, "but it's an eggplant."

This made sense but also made me laugh. The cashier, who is an elderly woman with gray hair, said "I know that, but I don't know the number to weigh it." Of course they do have an index on which to look it up, and she resorted to that to find the answer.

I suggested that many of the younger women who serve as cashiers wouldn't even recognize the eggplant for what it is, and they both had to agree.

We also heard a similar comment this morning from a friend at the farmers' market in Woodstock. Gary asked if he had any kohlrabi because we like it and weren't able to grow any this summer. Keith's answer was that kohlrabi is easy enough to grow, but he'd have to explain to everyone who passed by his stand both what the vegetable was, and how to prepare it. Unfortunately, I'm afraid he's right.

Comments

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I got stabbed by a horsefly a few months ago. It REALLY hurt.

[altivo]

Yeah, their goal is to sort of rip a hole in you and lick the blood that oozes out. Since they evolved to do that to thick skinned grazing animals, they are equipped to make a nasty job of us thin-skinned apes.

The black fly, scourge of the Canadian north, has a similar strategy and is much smaller so you often don't see it coming. I have no idea what it eats when it can't get human, but it was there before we were.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they are related to the hellfire that is the Scottish midge?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_midge

[altivo]

Same order, different family. The behaviors are similar, as are the habitats.

One significant difference, though. Insect repellents with DEET apparently have some effect with midges, while they actually attract the black fly.

[moonhare]

"I am being eaten alive!" cried Pippin. "Midgewater! There are more midges than water!"

"'What do they live on when they can't get hobbit?" asked Sam, scratching his neck.

[schnee]

I suggested that many of the younger women who serve as cashiers wouldn't even recognize the eggplant for what it is, and they both had to agree.

Kids these days, eh?

[altivo]

Not just kids. I was referring to the thirty year olds just as much as the teens. In general, the US population has become so reliant on take out food and preprocessed and packaged convenience foods that a growning percentage have no idea what the raw ingredients are, let alone what to do with them. It's not just the ethnic fruits and vegetables that are a mystery to them, but issues as basic as telling cabbage from lettuce or parsley from cilantro.

[schnee]

Not just kids. I was referring to the thirty year olds just as much as the teens.

*s* Well, "kids" as in "those (significantly) younger than you".

[moonhare]

There was a huge horsefly on my car's front fender while I unloaded groceries Friday. They're frighteningly quick to rip a hole in you as they buzz by.

...he'd have to explain to everyone who passed by his stand both what the vegetable was, and how to prepare it.

*tisk tisk* The things one takes for granted. *snicker* I recall the first kiwi I tried... and the first pomegranate. How embarrassing, and quite hilarious (at least to me)!

[moonhare]

heh, let me clarify that... kiwifruit here is simply referred to as kiwi. I've not tried the birds!

[altivo]

I figured you meant the fruit. The bird doesn't look at all edible to me. (Though I guess rats find the young ones tasty enough, or the eggs.)