Pond in the foothills

[j.w]

What a bummer Colleen and hope you can save some of your plants in there. Looking at your temps right now says 0f or -18C. Too cold for me! I am a fair weather lover and could not live in the deep freezes of the North

 

[addy1]

I will remember this info on the jellies and steer clear if ever down on those Florida beaches. Don't need to get stung and ruin a nice trip. How long does the sting last on a human?

The Man of War jellyfish is also known as the bluebottle, blue bubble and the Portuguese Man of War. Due to its jelly-like body it is taken to be a jellyfish, although it is not so. In fact it cannot even be considered to be one animal, as there is a colony of medusoids and polyps living in a physiologically integrated mass. This amazing creature has a bladder of air on top, which helps it to float on the water. It does not have any form of propulsion and can just float on the water or sink by deflating its bladder. This bladder acts as a sail and can stick out 15 cms above the surface of the water. Another feature of the man of war which makes it similar to a jellyfish, are its long tentacles. They can extend to about 30 feet beneath the surface of the water and are armed with stinger cells called nematocysts, which are filled with venom.

The man of war jellyfish sting is extremely painful and can last for more than an hour. If the venom reaches the lymph nodes in the body, then the pain can become even more severe. The skin will start to rise in welts where the man of war has stung and can also develop a serious rash. The welts can also get filled with a fluid. The red lesion will be according to the shape where the tentacles have touched the skin.

The toxicity of the venom rarely causes death, but there have been recorded cases where the sting had proved fatal. This can be also due to the fact that the man of war jellyfish sting causes severe allergic reactions in a person whose immune response is low. The sting can cause the heart and lungs to malfunction, and the person can go into shock. Raging fever is also one of the symptoms of a man of war jellyfish sting.

The sting of the man of war should not be taken as a jellyfish sting, because vinegar which is a neutralizer for jellyfish venom, can worsen the sting of a man of war. The only immediate first aid one can give is to rinse the area first with sea water and then bathe the area of skin in hot or warm water to relieve the pain. The stinger cells which are still embeded in the skin should be carefully taken out, without using bare fingers as they can still sting. If there is a severe reaction to the man of war jellyfish sting, medical help should be immediately sought as it can lead to further complications if left unattended.

The signs of the worsening effect of the sting is a red streak appearing from the stung area extending up to the lymph nodes which are swollen. The rash also can worsen and the person will feel more sick.

Another interesting feature of the man of war is that its tentacle retains its stinging capacity for more than a week even when its severed from the body or even after the creature is dead.

 

[j.w]

EEE GADS that sounds just horrible. It could have killed your pup cuz she is so small. Glad you took her to the vet and got things headed in the right direction! Guess one should always wear some kind of shoes on the beach and in the water even if everything looks just fine. Those things could be buried under the sand and when your foot squishes down look out!

 

[addy1]

We usually walk in the surf or right where the waves are washing in, that seems to be a safe area. But lil missy loves to run, roll, dig way to many chances to get stung. We thought we could keep her away down in the "safe" zone, didn't happen. So we will just stay off the beach for now.

 

[CountryEscape]

When "Jaws" came out, my family went to FL for Christmas vacation. I had just seen the movie with my High school boyfriend before the vacation. All of us kids are excellent swimmers (6 kids in my family) and I was watching my baby sister, who was 8 at the time. She screamed in the shallow surf, maybe 2' deep, dropped to her knees still screaming, I ran to "save" her, thinking a shark was after her, and when I grabbed her, the tide went out, pulling her, and I was SURE it was a shark! You talk about saving mode! I pulled and pulled until I had my sister on shore. THEN I noticed the Man O War wrapped around her legs and body! I picked her up and carried her to the life guard who was running toward me. Dragging her through the sand just pushed those stinging tenacles farther into her skin. I had some on my belly where she wrapped her legs, but I had it light compared to her. The life guard very gently used a tissue to pull the stingers off of her best he could. She was sick with a fever all that night, but then fine the next day. The next day, MOW warning signs everywhere. Just like you said, Addy, they float up everywhere, no part of the beach is safe.
It was 3 here this morning, supposed to go below zero F tonight. This morning, sun shining so bright and light winds, it felt more like 25! This afternoon, winds picked up, much colder feeling. 30's by Sat., then back to 4 Sun. night. Ho hum ... here we go ... STILL!

 

[addy1]

Mitch, I am looking at that website for the weather banner, looks like it is a site to use requires payment. Lots of different dl's. Any hints? lol We are limited data use down here, so don't want to dl a lot of experimental proggies.

in further reading looks like we need to be home to also work with the weather station at the same time. So this is a home project.

 

[addy1]

The very worse pain I ever had from a ocean critter, was a sting ray, stepped on one in the surf, it stung the bottom of my foot flipped over stung the top. Finally three days later I quit wishing they would cut my leg off. A neuro type toxin.


A stingray's venom is not necessarily fatal, but it hurts a lot. It's composed of the enzymes 5-nucleotidase and phosphodiesterase and the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin causes smooth muscle to severely contract, and it is this component that makes the venom so painful. The enzymes cause tissue and cell death. If the venom is introduced into an area like the ankle, it can usually be treated. Heat breaks down stingray venom and limits the amount of damage it can do. If not treated quickly enough, amputation might be necessary.

 

[j.w]

Ya know I think I will just stay out of the wild water and stick to swimming pools

 

[MitchM]

Mitch, I am looking at that website for the weather banner, looks like it is a site to use requires payment. Lots of different dl's. Any hints? lol We are limited data use down here, so don't want to dl a lot of experimental proggies.

in further reading looks like we need to be home to also work with the weather station at the same time. So this is a home project.

Yes, you need to be by your weather console to load the Weather-watch software.
You do need to pay for the software, plus have your own webpage to host the banner from.
With both the Davis and the Weather-watch software, I send my data no charge to the Weather Underground ( http://www.wunderground.com/ ) plus Citizen Weather Observer Program ( http://www.wxqa.com/ )
They may have methods to host your own weather banner, I'm not sure.
You can check out our weather page at www.mitchandbev.com. I hope to have a pond cam up and running there in the near future.
But like I said, setting up a webpage is like learning a whole other language!

 

[addy1]

Thanks for the info. A good later project, web site and everything

 

[MitchM]

I think that software will also integrate a lightening detector, which I'm saving my pennies for.


.

 

[Catfishnut]

Mitch, in the bright side, spring is suposed to come early for us, according to our groundhog and enviorment Canada .... :

Colleen,

Canada has a groundhog, too? Cool! What do you call him (or her)? Can you trust the little varmint? LOL!

I like our most famous varmint... Punxutawney Phil, but I don't think he is very reliable. They wake him up out of a DEEP hibernation sleep and hope that he will stay out and play. BS! If someone woke me up like that, I'd bite the hell out of them and run back to my burrow to sleep for another month or two. There you go, have another six weeks of winter! Damn fools, waking me up from a sound sleep! What the heck is wrong with you people? Can't a woodchuck get a decent hibernation here?

Wouldn't you feel the same? Gotta look at the situation from the woodchuck's perspective.

Hee hee

Gordy

 

[addy1]

Neat Mitch, I need to check into it when we are home and can work on it.

 

[CountryEscape]

Gordy, I think we all say "our groundhog" meaning on the day they pull poor Pux Phil out, IF we had a groundhog at our house, it would see it's shadow or not, and therefore we go by that prediction, all of which are a farce, to decide if spring is still 6 weeks away. It's so funny, actually, that they pull him out. I wonder how many times he has bit that guy, and notice the guy always wears very heavy gloves. Poor Pux .... At my house, on Groundhog Day, he would NOT have seen his shadow, but I'm pretty sure the calendar still says that spring was 6.5 weeks away yet. So, we shall all wait and see when Mother Nature decides to grace us with some warmer weather and get us all out of the deep freeze and back to late winter weather. I'd just like to see the snow gone. This has been a long winter for snow to remain on the ground here in south central IL! Usually if it stays for a week, that's unusual. I've had snow on the ground for about 40 days now. The end of this week, pretty sure we will get a lot of snow melt! Woohoo!!! Now, where's my dancing banana dude???

 

[Big Lou]

No idea how I missed this thread.