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| Willie P. Openshaw |
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I'd Like to Dispel a Couple of Widespread Myths...
I was born and raised in East Houston and have spent my entire life (other than my years in the military) in the southeast vicinity of Texas. When I was a young teen, my parents moved us to Kenefick, then later to Dayton, then back to Houston. After doing overseas duty in the Army followed by state side duty, I finished up my time in the military and married a few years later. In 1991, my wife and I moved to Polk County to have a better place (than Houston) to raise our babies. Having spent most my years here in Texas, there's a couple of myths out there that seem to be pretty widespread, and I have to be honest, it annoys me when I hear these myths that people swear by. The myths are so prevalent, that I hear them among those I work around and those I work with. So without further ado, let the myth dispelling begin...
Widespread Myth Number 1: Grandaddy Longleg spiders are the most poisonous spiders in the world, but they can't bite us...
Of the two myths that I'm attempting to dispel today, this one annoys me the most. Okay, first of all, grandaddy longlegs ARE NOT spiders. Spiders have two body segments, while grandaddy longlegs only have one body segment. Spiders have eight eyes (most of them), grandaddy longlegs only have two eyes. Grandaddy longlegs are actually called "harvesters". They do have small fangs, but they're not venomous, and they mostly eat decaying plants or other dead bugs and animals. They don't have any poison at all. CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRUTH ABOUT GRANDADDY LONGLEGS.
Widespread Myth Number 2: It's a cicada (not a locust)...
This one bothers me alot because I think that Cicadas are really cool. They're totally harmless, they live for years, they're very pretty, and they make that beautiful summertime noise (the male cicadas) that you hear in trees. I've often heard people erroneously refer to a cicada as a locust. Even though I try to explain, they don't really believe me, I guess because that's what their parents taught them (because their parents were taught the same, etc.) Cicadas have a life span anywhere from 3 to 17 years depending on which species of cicada. They eat sap from trees. CLICK HERE TO SEE PICTURES AND READ MORE ABOUT CICADAS.
I know that there's probably more pressing annoying things out there that I could've wrote about, but hey, these ones really "bugged" me, and there's no need too get to doomy gloomy (there's plenty of that with all the wrecks we cover). Have a great Wednesday!
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