I was a little hyped by my bug find. Only to find out that my partner not only found his Mexican Fruit Fly but he also found a Gypsy Moth, Oriental, and Med fly. Well so much for my skills, so today I was sure I would find another - but no …nothing. I am little worried, but I just have to be careful and go through those traps with a discerning eye.
Here is a picture of my partner, George.
That’s what makes my job fun. I don’t know if I’m going to find a bug or if the state is going to plant a bug so every day I go to work looking desparately into a pan of flies making sure that no bug escapes.
Today I was driving a borrowed truck. I’ve had a little bit of a truck issue since I started. The first truck was in the shop about 3 times. Then my second truck which I really like had a week of weird things happen. I had the mirror in the 118 degree heat fall off in my lap, and the emergency brake handle come off in my hand and my water tank sprung leaks from all the seams. I got a 2001 truck and was so grateful but then the battery went dead in it. I got it jump started from one of the biologist in the office and was driving it down to where they work on our trucks in Martinez when it stalled in the intersection.
Well with Matt on redial (see picture above) and me scared to death I jumped out of the truck and pushed it across Hwy 4 onto laurel; some men came running but I was so scared that I must have been running cause I was able to get it to the curb before they even got to me.
So with all the truck issues I’ve been having, I have felt pretty distracted. Today, I was trying to work with confidence and I was doing okay but still you want to work as efficently as possible and as fast as you can and not make paper mistakes or miss a bug. I was using a siph to sort the bugs from the yeast water, when I spotted what looked like a Mexican fruitfly. You use a clean pan with water to float your bugs and sure enough it was one.
I called Roxanne at our main office and told her that I had found the plant. The plants have a section of wing snipped so you can tell it’s a plant.
I was thinking you always need to paint something you love. I have this Cooke’s Wisteria that blooms three times a year in our backyard. For wisteria, this is pretty unusual as they typically only bloom once. So I think it’s one of my favorites plants. I have only been water coloring for a short time but I love to do it. 
I work with a lot of different people. Out in our satellite office there are three trappers and several biologists that rotate into the office. One of the biologists is really into bugs and has a couple of boxes of them. He is the one that we all come to when we have a bug we just can’t id.
These are just a few of his bugs. I promise to get better pictures and I really would like to share more about this.
I asked Matt where he found these and he said “Some I have even found here in our county in the Artichoke thistle” which is one of the weeds the biologist have to control in our county.
I started this morning about 6:30 and it’s was already pretty warm. I had my six McPhail Traps which are glass traps that can catch all kinds of bugs. We use a yeast tab and water as the lure. As you might imagine, bug trapping isn’t that glamourous but it’s really interesting if you pay attention. This is my first year as a trapper and I am constantly surprised with how many bugs I drag in to be id’d.
I think my least favorite trap is called the Champ trap. By the time you’re done, you’re a sticky mess. (Come on: just imagine Garrett with a two sided sticky trap and a couple of paper clips and a metal hanger.) The only way to get the sticky stuff off you is to take baby oil or lotion and that gets most of it off.
We also use Jackson Traps and we can set those in trio’s. The Jackson traps are a teepee shaped trap, with different lures for different bugs. I am hunting for Med Fly, Apple Maggot, Oriental Fruit Fly, Mediterrean Fruit Fly, and Sharp Shooter.
These are the Mcphails
Today while trading out my truck I got to look at some Dodder, a plant used for medicinal purposes in Asian cultures. It has taken over some common areas of Antioch and city workers have been maintaining it, not knowing it needs to be eradicated. Our county biologists were out looking for the source. It can grow up to six inches a day and needs a host to survive; it is a parasite that attaches on to another plant because it has no leaves it needs the chorophyll of the other plant. If it doesn’t find a host in six days it will die. It’s seed can live up to sixty years in the ground! Our county has never had viable seed produced. It is very aggressive and a amazing thing to see.
I got a new truck today. It’s actually temporary but it was great. It was about 102 out there in the orchards and the new truck had air conditioning that could have made ice cubes. It was such a relief from my older truck that gets one radio station (conservative talk radio) and has moderatly cool air blowing out of the vents. Speaking of radio, today I listen to India Arie. She really touch something in my spirit. She has a sultry voice and simple thoughts about complicated messages. I think I’ll have to listen to more of her music.
Today’s the day I go to Don and Gail Della Nina’s. They are old customers of Dell’s Nursery (where I used to work) and I have known them a long time. A few weeks ago I had knocked on Don’s door and he stood there in shock, thinking “what are you doing here?” I told him after fourteen years I had changed jobs and I was working for the county as a bug trapper. As all good farmers do, Don told me to “Trap away”. I set the Jackson Trio and I thought about how happy I was to see Don.
Well today when I showed up, Don was out in the field, he was pulling his garlic up. Gail is going to make it in to those really pretty braids that you see. These two are the most unlikely farmers. Both of them are corporate people and to see them work the earth is so amazing it has just made them incredible. I liked them before but I just love them to death now. They decided to grow olives; their soil out there in Byron isn’t the greatest so it’s hard to find a crop that will work. This is really an important part of gardening - not to fight the earth but to work with it. I think Don learned that out in Discovery Bay where he was determined to grow birch trees in Alkaline soil. He was so cute he would have done anything to make those trees grow: put them on mounds of good soil, use chemicals to adjust the ph, etc. They struggled, but they grew.
As Don stood up from his garlic pulling he was tired and hot and he saw me and started engaging me in the most wonderful conversation about Father Joseph blessing his field. At the same time I was changing out my traps (I have about 8 mins on each property so I move pretty quickly while trying not to be rude). He started to well up in tears as he told me about how Father Joseph was really sick but that he still took the time to bless his field. As I looked at his traps I didn’t see one bad bug in them, only the beneficial kind. I decided to mention that to him and then he was really brought to tears. He truly felt that he had been blessed and that his olives were protected and that he owed it to a greater good. To me it was such a personal moment I’m not sure we always get those moments. I’m not sure why but I felt that he had the commitment in his heart to see his project though and I wondered: “is this the passion we need to make something happen?”
So if your looking for international rated olive oil from a small farmer who is passionate check out there site: Belloolio. They are also importing Balsamic vinegar from Italy and they are going to be making red wine vinegar.
Motto for the day: “Always be passionate.”