Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Texas, Chapter XIII, The Invaders

I'm just starting this chapter about Texas invaders, such as illegal Mexicans, people from other states, and ARMADILLOS (which have migrated from Mexico).

I love this stuff.  Click here to see a video of an Armadillo:
Video of an armadillo wallowing
If you watch the whole video (or fast forward), he comes out of his mud hole and looks around.

I was so excited to be learning about armadillos, that I asked a man who was the shuttle driver (from the car repair shop) for my ride to work today if he knew anything about armadillos, and boy, did he!  I wanted to tell him how they would always give birth to four in a litter, all of the same gender.  He beat me to it!


"I am in the Information business", he said.  "Did you know that the babies...."  etc.  Wow!  Someone who knows about armadillos.  Well, this guy actually seems to know something about everything.  Last ride was a lecture on CIA operations in Vietnam; armadillos followed the intricate workings of a steam locomotive.

He gave me a huge amount of information, including stories about his pet armadillo he caught by the tail as it was digging into its hole by the side of an Oklahoma road.

"They don't bite - have no teeth.  But you should see them suck up ground beef with their tongue!" he explained.

He told me that the first thing an armadillo does when startled  is to jump straight up into the air,  just to the height of a car grill.

"Which is why", he explained, "there are so many squashed armadillo's in the road."

My driver finished the lecture with a joke.

"Texas is not a middle of the road state, politically or otherwise.  Matter of fact, the only thing you will ever find in the middle of the road is a white line and a squashed armadillo! "