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25 March, 2009

Oh Myyy Gawd!!!

Now, here's something you don't see every day. This is a big bug. Certainly not the biggest, but still, BIG.

The past few days we've noticed some pencil-diameter holes (about 3 or 4) appearing in our porch railing woodwork. We didn't have a clue what was causing it.

In any case, I took my trusty spray can of Baygone (or Begone, as we call it) and attached a thin plastic tube, much like you'd do with a can of WD-40 that comes with the thin red tube for precision applications, and stuck it into the holes. Gently pressing the button, I'd get a small cloud of powdered wood dust, then I'd fill the hole with Begone, let it dry, then patch the hole with Plastic Wood, since we will be painting the railing anyway in a couple of weeks.

I assumed it was either a termite or some wood-boring bug. Bug was right. Beyond my wildest expectations.

This afternoon, after Dianna and I got done with our obligatory dip in the pool for a couple of hours, as we were coming back up the stairs to the porch, I noticed a couple of new holes, which I began looking at closely. One of them looked like there was something still inside it. So, being the manly man that I am, I grabbed my trusty pen knife and jabbed gently into the hole. All of a sudden something started moving in there. It looked like an arm or leg or something was wiggling. i really expected it to be a small worm or beetle. But, all of a sudden, out comes this thing.
One Big-Ass Wood-Eating Bug
As he started coming out, I expected maybe even a small spider. This guy, once he started coming out, kept coming, and coming, and coming. He's dusty gray in color, about an inch long, and with feelers easily two-inches long.

Wow! Surprised the sh** right out of me. Of course he fell down between the wall and the stairs, so I had to run downstairs to try to locate him on the ground. I hollared for Dianna to find some sort of jar for me to capture him in, which she did.

I promptly took a couple of pictures of him. I have no idea what he is. Anyone that does, I'd appreciate it if you'd comment on this posting and let all of us know what he is - or what you think he is.
Another View Without the Thumb for Scale
As Dianna said, "That is one ugly bug!" And big too!

2 comments:

Sandy A. said...

where did you other blog links go? I was following one of them.
Plus, I can't seem to click on any of your other links like "Lookouts" or "vibes".

Dave Rider said...

Hi Sandy,

They should be there. I noticed when I brought up the blog this time that they were really slow to load. Blogger must be having some issues.

Dave