Wayne's Trivia Notes #38
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 Wayne's Trivia Notes #38   © W.P. Armstrong    All Facebook Notes & Images   
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Wayne's Trivia Note #829 (29 August 2022)

In case you are wondering: Petrified figs from the badlands of E. Montana are NOT figs. They are sold in curio shops & commonly mislabeled in displays at museums. They are really ancient palm fruits according to Canadian Journal Of Botany. See following link.

  Fossil "Figs" In Montana On Wayne's Word  

Wayne's Trivia Note #830 (30 September 2022)

Historical note about the mountains behind my home in Twin Oaks Valley.

Wayne's Trivia Note #831 (6 October 2022)

It never ceases to amaze me what I find in my insect pitfall traps set in Twin Oaks Valley. The type location for this tiny wingless wasp is the Congo region of Africa! I escape from all the trials and tribulations of southern California in my world of insects! Of course, iNaturalist is a marvelous website for identifying difficult & little known species.

  See Matching Images For This Wasp On WaspWeb.org  

Wayne's Trivia Note #832 (8 October 2022)

I was curious about the ranking of Candy Corn on Halloween candy surveys. In one popular survey it was #18 out of 30. In another it was #40 out of 40. M & M's were ranked #1. Some survey's ranked Reese's Peanut Butter Cups #1. I hope generous candy givers realize that some people are allergic to certain proteins in peanuts due to a severe cell-mediated immune response.

Wayne's Trivia Note #833 (22 October 2022)

To verify ID of a big-headed ant (Pheidole) you often need to see the major worker (soldier). You can sometimes find the remains of a head by carefully sifting through soil around nest. The soldier may have lost her head defending nest against invading ants. This is how I verified ID of San Clemente Island Pheidole near Palomar College!

Wayne's Trivia Note #834 (10 December 2022)

Full moon 7 Dec. 2022: A marvelous lunar eclipse (occultation) of Mars. An exciting event on my road trip to Fontana, CA. When I first saw the red object move behind the moon I thought it was a tiny moon or spaceship in an orbit around our moon, or I was hallucinating!

Wayne's Trivia Note #835 (11 December 2022)

High voltage transmission lines through housing tracts in Fontana, CA provide a refuge for native seed gathering harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex). Argentine ants (Linepithema) can live in the housing tracts and even within the walls of homes.

Wayne's Trivia Note #836 (20 December 2022)

This waxed bulb Christmas gift will sit on your table without any care. I haven't tried removing the wax after flowering & planting it in soil.

Wayne's Trivia Note #837 (27 December 2022)

Fiery clouds over Wayne's Word headquarters at dawn 27 Dec. 2022. Color faded away after a few minutes. (Sony DSC-HX50)

Wayne's Trivia Note #838 (3 January 2023)

This difficult jigsaw puzzle is still unfinished after 2 family parties: Christmas & New Year's 2022-2023. For those interested in the Millennium Calendar, 1 January 2023 is day 8036 of the 3rd Millennium.

Wayne's Trivia Note #839 (7 January 2023)

View of this morning's moonset in the west from my office door in Twin Oaks Valley.

Wayne's Trivia Note #840 (8 January 2023)

Static Websites Like Wayne's Word Are Not Extinct Yet. See My "Interactive" Updated Geologic Time Scale Created In HTML: It was officially placed on Network Solutions on day 8036 of the 3rd Millennium & 21st Century AD which began on 1 Jan. 2001. Click Here: Geologic Time

Wayne's Trivia Note #841 (10 January 2023)

I went on many field trips to Rocky Mtns with Professor R.J. Vogl at Cal State L.A. & Univ. of Montana: A. Massive sedimentary mountains of limestone in Glacier National Park formed in ancient seas. B. One billion-year-old stromatolites embedded in limestone along Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park. The concentric rings are stromatolites, calcareous layers of limestone where ancient colonies of cyanobacteria once thrived in shallow seas. Scroll down to stromatolites in Geologic Time.

Wayne's Trivia Note #842 (12 January 2023)

This lynx spider in my backyard has a very unusual marking on upper side of its abdomen. I can't decide whether it resembles the face of a dog or a cat.

Wayne's Trivia Note #843 (6 February 2023)

Last Sunday's early morning view of San Diego harbor through window on 29th floor of Manchester Grand Hyatt. Image includes descending moon above incoming fog bank, cruise ship, and USS Midway. Sony HX60 (5 Feb. 2023).

Wayne's Trivia Note #844 (12 February 2023)

I was fascinated with models of WWII planes as a child, and recently visited the Museum of Flight in Seattle & USS Midway in San Diego. I also had many collections, including bullet shells (casings). At a dinner party last Sat. the host had a P-38 model made by her father, a US Navy Seabee. My father was also a Seabee. It was constructed entirely of bullets & casings of .50 & .30-06 caliber cartridges. I photographed it with cartridges from my own collection.

Wayne's Trivia Note #845 (15 February 2023)

California poppies are back again this spring near Lake Elsinore. These 2 images were taken 4 years apart from moving vehicle in center lane of I-15: Feb 15, 2023 & March 25, 2019. 2023 promises to be a good spring for wildflowers, but not from the center lane of freeway!

Wayne's Trivia Note #846 (10 March 2023)

A local visitor running down the steps in my backyard at 7:00 AM 10 March 2023: This is why I advise against small pets and unaccompanied todlers. This large coyote was checking for ground squirrels & rabbits. Like a cat, it can jump over my 5 ft. chain link fence with ease. Coyotes live in the hills behind my house. They are valuable predators that control rodent & lagomorph populations.

Wayne's Trivia Note #847 (12 March 2023)

We have ants today in tropical regions of our planet that are almost as large as fossil ants posted on Wikipedia! The tiny rover ant (Brachymyrmex) is a relatively new species at Wayne's Word.

Wayne's Trivia Note #848 (16 March 2023)

I was once told that I am a man with too much time on his hands: Here is my collage of animals at Wayne's Word! The unusual fungus farming ant is related to tropical leaf-cutter ants. The large tarantula escaped into my house for several months until I found it in my office!