Day 922

The dreaded white grubs have returned to our yard. Later in the Summer they will become June Bugs. Right now they are still in the larval stage, feasting on the roots of our new St. Augustine grass. These little beasties are hard to get rid of without harsh chemicals. Janet found something on the Internet today that was supposed to be effective at controlling the grubs while being completely harmless to dogs and other animals. My mission this afternoon was to go to garden stores and get some of this stuff. It didn't take me long to discover that Milky Spore, the grub eradicating bacteria that Janet found, wasn't effective on our kind of grub. Milky Spore was meant for controlling the grubs that turn into Japanese beetles. Since we don't have many Japanese beetles in Texas, the garden stores didn't carry any of the stuff.

I did discover that beneficial nematodes were the safest, most effective way to control grubs in Texas. Unfortunately, you are supposed to introduce the nematodes to your environment in February. It's too late in the season for them to do any good now. As so often happens, I acquired the right knowledge at the wrong time.

I've been trying to acquire the right knowledge at the right time before I buy a guitar. I've been learning all sorts of fascinating things about Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters. When you go into a music store, you will see a huge variety of Stratocasters at prices ranging from under $300 to well over $3,000 dollars. All of these guitars look identical. At first this odd pricing structure mystified me, but apparently Fender is determined to make something for everybody. The $300 Stratocaster Squire may look pretty much the same as the $3,000 Custom Shop Stratocaster, but there are a myriad of subtle differences.

If Land Rover followed this kind of marketing strategy, you could buy a very inexpensive Range Rover that had vinyl covered seats, a Honda Civic engine, and no four wheel drive at all. For a little more you could get a car that looked the same, but had a better engine and leather seats. Pay yet a bit more and you could get the normal Range Rover you buy today. At the top of the scale would be a Range Rover that was hand assembled using titanium screws by technicians with a minimum of thirty years experience. I can't decide whether Fender's pricing strategy is brilliant or idiotic. It does allow a kid just learning to play to have a guitar that looks essentially the same as the customized rarity that some rich collector just paid $10,000 for.

It's getting hotter at the dog park. This means that there are a lot of clean, well groomed dogs that head straight for the nearest mud puddle to cool off. Labs and Goldens seem to be the first to occupy these mud puddles that appear near all the park water fountains. Luckily, Dot and Dash won't get anywhere near these muddy areas. They won't even drink out of the doggie water fountains. We have to take their own water bowl along with us and fill it up for them before they will drink anything. You may think the Dalmatians are spoiled, but I suspect they are just trying to avoid all the dog spit left behind in the common bowls by the messy Labs.

Rio is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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