"The Trappin's of Eddie Trapp"

 

#1149

 

Alabama Supplejack

 

by: Eddie Trapp

 

     Seems like all my life I’ve known about poison oak/ivy and their hairy, tree climbing vines. Occasionally I would see a smooth, green vine, much different from poison oak. While hog hunting with Floyd Payton near Tira and Sand Hill years ago we ran across some of the vines and he asked me about them. Now, here at our ten acres, Two Tails, I plan to make a nature trail and label as many plants as possible. I know most of the trees but recently asked Roxton’s Syd Newman to walk the trail with me and identify some of the grasses, shrubs, and such. Before Syd arrived I tied plastic ribbons on the items for him to identify. One of them was the aforementioned smooth, green vine. Syd said it was a Rattan vine, also called Alabama supplejack.

 

     After talking to Papa about the Alabama supplejack I also mentioned the other name, Rattan vine. He just hollered out in surprise. Said Uncle Ruth McGuyer had cut a small tree for his sister, Papa’s grandmother, Cynthia Oats to use as a walking stick. The small tree had a vine wrapped around it. The vine twisted around like colors on a barber pole. Papa still has the Rattan vine and the small tree that never was made into a walking stick. I remember seeing it many times over the years.

     Some of the other plants identified had names almost as wild. Here’s a few of the ones now labeled with a ribbon and marking pen: wood oats, parsley hawthorn, Virginia wild rye, farkleberry, coral berry, purpletop triden, littlehip hawthorn, Japanese honeysuckle, rusty blackhaw, beaked panicum and boneset. Many other plants such as trees will also be labeled. Any science classes or other groups are welcome to visit and walk the trail which is about a half mile long. Zack and I walk it often and sometimes see box turtles which I mark. I have used a hacksaw blade to put a small, permanent, and painless mark on the edge of the shell on twenty five of the turtles. Over the entire Charleston area 220 have been marked with individual “names” since 1989. Just one of my hobbies instead of golf. We are learning how far they travel and how long they live. To set up a tour of the Two Tails Nature Trail you may call 903 439 8110.

     While on the subject of identifying things, Jean twice saw an animal last week near our house. When she got back she described it to me and I gave her three choices, ringtail cat, coatimundi, and lemur. After searching those on the internet she declared she had seen a coatimundi. After relating the story to carpenters at our house they said several coatimundis and wallabys had escaped from a zoo type farm near Peerless. As I said many times before, it would not surprise me to see a gorilla or giraffe walking beside the dam at Cooper Lake.

 

 

 

 

 

     Trivia questions of the week: Why did the Lone Ranger wear a mask?  From what was the mask made? Who made his mask? Answers next week.

     Did you know there is a shortage of bees and other pollinators? Farmers may spend thousands on seed and fertilize only to have a disappointing crop yield simply because the bee population has decreased dramatically. In some places to guard against the shortage eighteen wheelers loaded with bee hives have been leased and parked for weeks beside cropland. Some come from as far away as California.

     As Gary Gross and Dale Elmore visited recently a few hummingbirds buzzed nearby at a feeder. Someone told about Rockport’s huge hummingbird population this time of the year. As many as three hundred per residence may be seen. Can you imagine how many feeders it would take to sustain that many! I bet it is a traffic jam of trucks bringing sugar to make enough sugar water for such a high number. Gary then told his hummingbird story. Since he works away from home and doesn’t come home except on weekends, his shop is closed during the week. One Saturday he saw a hummingbird flying around in his shop and for some reason it wouldn’t go out the door. He just left it there thinking it would soon fly away. It was still in the shop when he got ready to lock up Sunday afternoon. Time for more aggressive measures. Gently he tried to guide the tiny bird out with the broom but it seemed to become more confused. Finally it flew head on into the wall and the long, sharp beak stuck in the insulation. There it was, stuck to the wall and its little wings just a flapping. Gary carefully removed the beak and carried the little feller outside where it flew away. Wouldn’t it have been something if that little confused bird had flown into Gary’s forehead and stuck there? Yall call all your local emergency rooms and see if they have a recorded case of anyone being impaled by a confused hummingbird.

     Tragedy from the past: Last Friday night the boiler of Mr. Dillard’s Mill at Direct exploded with terrible consequences. One man was killed and three more seriously injured. Direct is in the edge of Lamar County not far from Monkstown. Since the above was written we learn that two of the injured have also died. (Honey Grove Signal – October 25, 1895)

     Short ones from Rodney Daingerfield: My wife and I lived happily for twenty years and then we met. I asked my daddy if I could go ice skating and he said wait until it gets warmer. When I was born the doctors came out and told my daddy they were sorry and that they had done all they could do but I survived anyway. I come from a stupid family. During the Civil War my uncle fought for the west. My father was stupid. He worked at the bank and got fired for stealing pens.

     My mother had morning sickness after I was born. My parents hated me. My bathtub toys were a radio and a toaster. One year they wanted to make me a poster boy—for birth control. I got kidnapped and the kidnappers cut off one of my fingers and sent it as proof. My dad asked for more proof. My uncle’s dying wish was that I could be in his lap when he died. He was in the electric chair. When I put on my underwear I can hear the Fruit of the Loom guys laughing. My wife kisses our dog on the lips but won’t drink out of my glass.

 

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