Salty taste in a banana wine

[mannye]

Might have been a dangerous banana spider. Pretty potent venom but usually dangerous to grove workers because they put the stalk on their shoulders and get bitten on the neck. Venom has a short trip to the brain and lights out. Bites on lower extremities are dangerous but not necessarily fatal.

I guess it's nice to know that next harvest won't be wasted and that I won't have any worries about pesticides. That tree might as well be the "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" tree. Sprouted by chance and survives by its own sheer will.

 

[pokerfacepablo]

Looked up images of banana spiders and pretty sure I was inches away from death.

 

[GntlKnigt1]

Geeezzz....scary stuff. Never considered that when i buy them in nice, clean grocery store....

Sent from Arthur Dent's towel smothering a volume of Vogon poetry, some of which just leaked out.

 

[mannye]

There are a lot of spiders called banana spiders but the one we are worried about is the Brazilian Wandering Spider which is known to be highly toxic and likes to hide in dark places like shoes and under rocks and of course, a bunch of bananas.

It's probably no fun having one of these guys jump onto your hand. Although I did only cursory research and sometimes toxicity is exaggerated but regardless, an aggressive spider as big as my face will scare the poop out of me no matter how harmless it may or may not be.


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now. G

 

[GntlKnigt1]

I know the feeling. I still remember when I was about 5 and lived near Dallas, barefoot in back yard and looking down to see my bare foot brushing the hairs on the legs of a tarantula.

Sent from the Nexus of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which has been infected with Vogon poetry, some of which leaked out here.

 

[mannye]

So.... did we ever figure out why the wine was salty? Seeing as how lots of the additives we use are salts (correct me if I'm wrong science guys)...could overfeeding be the culprit?

 

[Honeyhog]

If one of those hairy buggers jumped out at me I'd be running so fast it would take two hours for my fear to catch up to me.

 

[mannye]

If one of those hairy buggers jumped out at me I'd be running so fast it would take two hours for my fear to catch up to me.

HAHA! I'm a city boy from NYC where the rats can talk and sell you watches, but the bugs are small. Plentiful but small.

My first few weeks in Miami were a horror show from "Food of the Gods" encountering scorpions (which are only supposed to be in movies) flying cockroaches the size of the Hindenburg, millipedes that were big enough to boil and ants that looked like the second coming of "Them." Even after 20 years down here, a large prehistoric size insect still gives me the willies.

Thankfully we have cool prehistoric style predators that I love. Whenever I'm walking and see a bigger than average lizard I'm crouched and ready to grab that sucker and throw it in the backyard.

These guys are awesome. that's not me.. just a random pic from the net so you can see.

 

[wayneb]

I remember when I first moved down to Houston (I'd only lived in Ohio and Colorado up till that point). I was at a party at a friend's house. Something fluttered past my ear and then landed on my shoulder - I thought at first that it was a hummingbird. Turned out to be something the locals called a "wood roach." Biggest d@*&ed cockroach I'd ever seen - it was nearly 3 inches long!!

 

[Honeyhog]

I've handled 14 ft pythons, lizards, rats, no problem but big hairy spiders, not a chance I want to touch one of those beasts. I find them fascinating but stay over there please, hahahahaha.

 

[mannye]

I've handled 14 ft pythons, lizards, rats, no problem but big hairy spiders, not a chance I want to touch one of those beasts. I find them fascinating but stay over there please, hahahahaha.

Actually, if I'm not surprised by them, most large face huggers aren't all that scary to me. Roaches however, even little ones, will just gross me out. If I see one while I'm eating I lose my appetite. Who knows why?

I'm betting the salty wine came from a little too much buffering agent..

 

[pokerfacepablo]

I lived a very sheltered life when it comes to bugs. MN the only nuisance we have are daddy long legs and mosquitos. The only other place I lived was Denver and it was pretty scarce for any insects... Wayne I know you can vouch.

I have a Costa Rica trip planned this next week. I told my friend that he was on spider detail after seeing Mannye's pic.

 

[mannye]

I lived a very sheltered life when it comes to bugs. MN the only nuisance we have are daddy long legs and mosquitos. The only other place I lived was Denver and it was pretty scarce for any insects... Wayne I know you can vouch.

I have a Costa Rica trip planned this next week. I told my friend that he was on spider detail after seeing Mannye's pic.

Wear bright colors. Wasps are attracted to dark colors. I was in Venezuela once and this thing or something very like it:

Flew into my black t-shirt just at the neckline and got down my back where it proceeded to sting me several times until I ripped the t-shirt off. What flew out of the t-shirt after it hit the ground looked like the above picture and was at least an inch long. Lucky for me I am very un-allergic so all that happened was a story to tell.

 

[pokerfacepablo]

Damn it Mannye! I'm already paranoid about the spiders

 

[Riverat]

Damn it Mannye! I'm already paranoid about the spiders

Sorry but I just can't help myself, been to Costa Rica a few times and don't concern yourself with the spiders, keep an eye out for the scorpions! Last time I was there I found one in the shower, I put it in a glass with an ashtray on top and kept it for a pet during my stay, the housecleaning staff got a kick out of it, let it go in the shrubs on my way out.

 

[mannye]

Sorry but I just can't help myself, been to Costa Rica a few times and don't concern yourself with the spiders, keep an eye out for the scorpions! Last time I was there I found one in the shower, I put it in a glass with an ashtray on top and kept it for a pet during my stay, the housecleaning staff got a kick out of it, let it go in the shrubs on my way out.

Ha! Mine was a beetle-ish sort of insect that crawled into bed with me (that very same night after the wasp) and was on my face. As I sleepily raised me hand to scratch the itch, I was greeted with a "push-back" from this huge insect!

I put it in a glass as well to show everyone the next morning! It was so large it would probably have taken two bites to eat the flesh if I had cooked it and cracked it open! Hmmmmm perhaps next time....