Hobo Jungle

[rogruth]

Now I know why I never see the flowers that Wayne photographs.

I can't see anything that small and I'm afraid if I lay down on my belly I won't be able to get up.

[webenda]

Help! I was looking at belly flowers and can't get up.

[rogruth]

You got it.

[webenda]

Somehow, when I was weeding the jungle a couple of weeks ago, I missed this weed.

Astragalus insularis var. harwoodii (Locoweed)


Plants with the word "loco" in their common names are usually poisonous to some degree; several contain behavior-altering toxins.
Locoweeds contain the toxic alkaloid swainsonine and cause widespread poisoning of livestock on western rangelands.
When the seed pod dries out, the seeds become lose inside the pod, making a rattling sound when the wind blows. Another common name for Astragalus insularis var. harwoodii is "rattle weed."



In California the plant is listed as a Rare and Endangered Plant.
I would give California my locoweed seeds to help re-establish their locoweed, but the cattle ranchers there would probably shoot me.

[webenda]

Lyrid meteor shower was a bust in Tucson this year. Three meteors in one half hour, none caught while camera shutter was open.

[rogruth]

Wayne,

Usual comments about your photography.

Do locoweed pods dry out and break open and have the seeds distributed by wind?

[Mitch]

Plants with the word "loco" in their common names are usually poisonous to some degree; several contain behavior-altering toxins.
Locoweeds contain the toxic alkaloid swainsonine and cause widespread poisoning of livestock on western rangelands.

In California the plant is listed as a Rare and Endangered Plant.

You could probably understand preservation if the plant has some type of medicinal purpose, but then again, it is California, the same state that blocked the building of a new ultra-modern hospital to preserve some little bug that lived on the property.

Those people are just crazy out there. Too many graduates of Berkley.

[webenda]

Mitch,

Maybe they are smoking locoweed in California?



Roger,

I see wind blown pods in my yard. References on Astragalus insularis var. harwoodii say nothing about how the seeds are distributed, but they do say it grows in washes. I always imagined the pods floating down the wash during a flash flood.

[webenda]

Making fun of California...

Last Friday I ordered a Williams BL-2 from The Western Depot in Yuba City, California.

Avatar BL-2.png (33.65 KiB) Viewed 1657 times

Here is UPS tracking data:

UPS Progress Report.png (13.46 KiB) Viewed 1654 times

Western Depot shipped same day ordered.
Order made it to The United States from California same day shipped.
Apparently California is not in The United States.

[rogruth]

Making fun of California..
Apparently California is not in The United States.

I have heard that even here.

[webenda]

My nomination for 2012's dumbest commercial: http://youtu.be/05vpTA9OLEk

Hypoxia.jpg (60.69 KiB) Viewed 1655 times

The inhalation of Helium or Sulfur Hexafluoride gas displaces oxygen in the lungs. No problem, we can live for several minutes without oxygen. However, there is danger of hypoxia (low O2 levels in the blood) leading to brain damage. Breathing helium or sulfur hexafluoride displaces both oxygen and CO2 in the blood. Since reflexive breathing is prompted by elevated carbon dioxide levels (rather than diminished blood oxygen levels), breathing a concentrated, inert gas that removes carbon dioxide from the blood without replacing it with oxygen will produce no outward signs of suffocation even when the brain is experiencing hypoxia. Once full symptoms of hypoxia appear, it may be too late to breath without assistance, especially if the gas is heavy enough to lodge in the lungs for extended periods. You will die while talking funny.

Helium density 0.1786 g/L
Air density 1.2 g/L
Sulfur Hexafluoride density of 6.12 g/L

Reference: http://www.inhalants.org/phys.htm
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_dust_off.htm

P.S. The latest kid craze in Tucson is inhaling CO2 from small cartriges. Like the story in second reference, there is not much information on the dangers of CO2 huffing.

[rogruth]

Wayne,

Thanks for the warning.I had not heard of this use of Dust-Off.

[webenda]

Last Friday I ordered a Williams BL-2 from The Western Depot in Yuba City, California.

Arrived today. Set up some track and gave it a run. Here it is pulling some overnight boxcars. Hmmm, I should have pressed the shutter when the engine was closer to the camera.

[rogruth]

Wayne,

I assume you like SP.

Those are nice cars.

[webenda]

I assume you like SP.

You got it.

Four of the cars are from a K-Line 4-Pak I found at the late great Arizona Trains, Tucson.
The one with a black door and the caboose are from Lionel's Limited Edition Series (eBay find.)

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What you see in the photo is the four K-Line cars repeated over and over like a multiple exposure.
Here is the engine by itself: