The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning
Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.
Other creatures in our world
Spiders know how to handle much larger prey:
Apparently the stink bug’s armor doesn’t count for much when the spider has the luxury of attacking through a weak spot in the underbelly after the critter stops struggling.
Stink bugs cause considerable damage to crops (notably apples) in the Hudson Valley, but they haven’t been the existential catastrophe we all expected when they first arrived.
An approaching cyclist warned to watch out for the snapping turtle:
This one claims the pond near Page Industrial Park along the Dutchess Rail Trail:
We’ll not dispute any snapper’s territory!
I’m hauling PYO apples from Prospect Hill Orchards in the hills on the west side of the Hudson; it was a lovely fall day for a 25 mile ride!
The beaver family living in their pond along the Dutchess Rail Trail near Titusville Rd is doing so well they’ve erected a second lodge:
It’s 500 feet (-ish) upstream from the first lodge and seems somewhat smaller, so perhaps it’s for the kids.
Spotted over a fast food emporium’s parking lot:
It’s hard to be sure, but I think there’s a paper wasp nest around the bundle of wires just above the transformer / ballast / whatever. Perhaps the repair tech departed with the job unfinished?
As with traffic signals, flashlights, and automotive lighting, the LEDs surely work long after the driver circuitry has given up.
I passed another dead deer on New Hackensack Rd while hauling groceries home:
The next day I walked past the other side of the collision at the corner gas station’s dead car collection:
A closer look at that nice rounded dent links the two contestants:
The impact didn’t blow the airbags, so maybe the car isn’t a total loss, despite extensive front end damage and some scrap metal inside the engine compartment.
As far as I can tell, Vassar College has been holding a deer cull every January, but taking out a few dozen deer definitely hasn’t eliminated the road hazard. If the folks objecting to the cull set up a fund to help drivers damaged by the objects of their affection, it’d demonstrate their understanding of the problem.
We rolled up to a pair of walkers who had just watched a long-dead tree fall across the Dutchess Rail Trail ahead of them:
Which is why I now carry a fold-out pruning saw in my tool kit:
The mowing crew we encountered half a mile ahead had a chainsaw and cleared the remainder.
Stay alert out there!
Although I don’t have a picture, there was a freshly dead bat lying underneath the main trunk. I think it rode the tree down, only to get slapped hard against the gravel beside the trail. I’m sure bats power up faster than I do, but not quite fast enough.
We found this critter while checking for water after Hurricane Ida drenched the area:
It’s on the outside of the vent screen and we have no objection.
We should put up a bat house to encourage more of its friends to hang out with us …
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 