When we were out on the interstate yesterday, two things happened in short order: a semi went by us and tossed a rock at our windshield. A big rock! A big chip and bulls eye cracks appeared. About the size of loonie! Maybe even bigger! It was 4:15pm...and of course all the autoglass places close at 5pm! So we hustled over to the nearest shop. They took us right away! And fixed it in no time! The second thing was I noticed a burning smell...like burning brakes. So as the windshield was being repaired, I did a quick circle check of the truck and I thought the rear driver side wheel was a lot hotter than normal. A seized wheel bearing will do that :-( It was about 4:55pm when we left the glass shop so we slowly drove home in hoping to find a garage in the morning. Took the truck back into Hammond this morning hoping to find a garage. Found a place that was open, and they took me right away. They checked the truck all over, wheel bearing, brakes, rear end differential, universal joints. Everything was good. Nothing was wrong, nothing that would generate any amount of heat. Surprisingly, they didn't charge me a cent. I couldn't believe it!
So you might be wondering if I was going to get back to the giant paw prints. Okay, as I was leaving the garage I noticed them. Someone spent a LOT of time painting these! You can't miss them! So curiosity got the best of me, and I followed them. As it turns out, it's their way to promote the local university sports team. I followed them for a couple of miles. Eventually ending up at the Southeastern Louisiana University sports field. The home of the Lions! AHA!
Thought we'd take a walk around the campground this afternoon before the rain starts...looks like something's brewing.
During our little stroll around the campground, we came across these odd looking burrows that we hadn't seen before.
As near as we can tell, they're crayfish (or crawfish) burrows! Say what? These are in the middle of a field! A marshy field, but a field nonetheless! Apparently, these tunnels may extend down into the earth 3 ft or more, sometimes being a single burrow going straight down, but more often being a main tunnel with a couple of side tunnels, each with a room at the end. They are normally full of water so that the crawfish will be submerged and safe from most predators. I haven't seen any creatures yet, but Sheila did. From within their burrow, they use their legs and mouths to dig up mud and form it into a little ball called a pellet. Each pellet is taken to the surface and they layer them like bricks. This is called the "chimney".
These burrows and chimneys are quite common near water sources (like the lake at the campground), especially following a period of wet weather. Cool, right? Your wildlife lesson for today!
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