Greetings, all. My wife and I just got back from a road trip to liberate my beloved bike from the wonderful people at Kissel Motor Sports in State College PA, where she's rested comfortably since breaking down on I80 in September. We used this opportunity to visit blog-buddies in Philly and an old high school/college buddy in D.C., and I managed to add two more states to my "been there" list (Delaware & West Virginia). We took two coolers packed full of meat products to everyone (Kathy & MRN can testify to the tastiness of Iowa deer products), including the mechanics at the dealership who stored my bike for no charge after fixing the busted piston.
Steve & Robbo, maybe the two of you could help me figure out something I saw in Southern Pennsylvania & Western Maryland. We were traveling down route 322 Southeast of Lewistown and I noticed what appeared to be large spider funnels in trees along the interstate. I saw the same thing on I68 in Western Maryland West of Cumberland, but they were more prevalent in Southern Pennsylvania. They were about 12-18" in diameter, and appeared to be made of white silk. Wherever I saw a nest, there were always more than one of them in a tree, but it seemed to only be in certain trees (I didn't see any in evergreens or pines) and always at the point where branches form a "Vee". In the back of my mind, I seem to remember this being a bird nest, but I'm not sure. Is it a bird nest, some sort of fungal growth, or do the spiders in that part of the country grow to the size of Jack Russell Terriers?
Posted by Russ from Winterset at May 8, 2006 08:32 AM | TrackBackSounds more like tent-worm to me. And they're eeeee-vile. Eeeevile, I tell you! Whenever you see one, you should immediately douse it with gasoline and set it alight. Sure, you may burn down the tree, but as Scotty said of Spock in the radiation chamber, "He's dead already."
Posted by: Robbo the Cake Eater at May 8, 2006 10:02 AMtent-worm? That sounds like a plausible answer. I don't know why I didn't think of worms, since silk cocoons are already associated with butterflies. I couldn't tell which trees were afflicted, but it did appear to be mostly concentrated along the highways.
BTW, we managed to travel from Philly to Baltimore to Dee Cee on 95 and navigate the whole "495 to the GW Parkway to Arlington" while towing a trailered motorcycle. Nary an accident, but maybe the locals were avoiding the "tourons" with Iowa plates out of self-preservation.
Posted by: Russ from Winterset at May 8, 2006 10:18 AMGyspy moths---same treatment as Robbo describes, unless you are licensed for a home flame thrower.
I hate gypsy moths.
Posted by: Steve the LLamabutchers at May 16, 2006 03:49 PM