Railroad picnic

[altivo]

Was a good day in spite of the gloomy skies. It didn't actually rain, but was a bit cool and we could have used a little more breeze to blow away the mosquitoes. Otherwise, I think everyone had a great time at the Illinois Railway Museum today, and thanks to casey382 for organizing it. We even did get around to riding a couple of trains. I particularly enjoyed visiting the railroad post office car and talking briefly with the old timers who actually worked in the mail service on the roads back in the 1960s.

Watched The Voyage of the Dawn Treader tonight and while some of the scenery and costumes were worthwhile as usual I found it disappointing that they felt they had to alter the story for no particular reason except to insert a lot of extra violence and muddy the original plot line. I give it no more than three out of five possible apples.

Comments

[hrrunka]

Mosquitos are quite plentiful here (in Kenya) at present, too. I expect the rain we've had in the last couple of days will further encourage them. The flying-ants were out in large numbers a couple of nights back, too. Some of the smaller dogs made a bit of a meal of them, and, apparently, Treacle the chocolate labrador next door goes absolutely crazy for them...

[altivo]

No accounting for taste, is there? ;p

I'd have thought the formic acid in ants would render them rather unpalatable. Not to mention the large number of ants required to make even a small meal for a labrador retriever.

[hrrunka]

The flying-ants are quite large, maybe half an inch from eyes to tip of abdomen, and apparently make a very good food, which is why they tend to emerge in large numbers all at once. When they emerge, birds and animals seem to get quite enthusiastic about eating as many as they can catch. I guess 99.something% of the flying-ants end up as food, but it only takes one surviving pair to set up a new termite nest (or re-establish a colony in an old termite burrow).

[altivo]

Ah, termites. Close relatives but not-quite-ants. That makes more sense. We get plagues of flying ants here in the spring occasionally, but they are really ants on a nuptial flight. There are a couple of ant varieties that even humans find tasty, but most seem to be unpalatable to mammals other than the ones adapted specifically to ant diets. Birds, of course, have different opinions in the matter. ;p