I snuck back to Texas for a week just as the snow started in Yankee Land. My brother works on a cattle ranch [remember the Beef Cake?] and we spent a little time out there. I really loved this picture of a hornet's nest on a mesquite branch... "Don't Mess with Texas," indeed.
[FYI: Mesquite is not native to Texas but was brought with the Spaniards, probably as seeds in the stomachs of their cows. Those thorns are thick and sharp enough to puncture a car tire.]
http://texnat.tamu.edu/symposia/sculptor/8.htm
ReplyDeleteWow. Thanks. I guess that was an old wives' tale so deeply ingrained in my west texas upbringing that I didn't even consider looking it up.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it proliferated after the Spaniards came up from South America? Or not.