Hey guys, they have NOT been found and the Coast Guard has cancelled the search.
Just got back from out West last month. Definitely do Devils Tower...but I was not impressed that much with Mt. Rushmore though the scenic drive below it was fabulous. If you go to the South absolutely do not miss Arches Nat. Park, Bryce Nat. Park, and Zion...but if you do Zion then do not take the bus tour ( it sucks ) and drive through the tunnel to the backside of Zion...then do Utah 12 up to the Capital Reef. Absolutely awesome scenery with pullouts placed nicely. We've done Utah now the last two years and I STILL want to go back. Bryce, Zion, and Arches are all different and all "don't miss" stops. I took 2K pics last year and added another 1900 this year. Since most people aren't interested in someone else's trip I still look at them every couple of months to refresh my memory.
As with any insect capable of stinging, he needs to be careful. I owned a pest control company for around thirty five years and was stung or bitten by just about anything commonly found. Then, after I retired and just started hanging around the fire station I was bitten by fire ants after returning from a call one night and had to go by ambulance to the hospital. They gave me a prescription for benadryl and told me to keep it handy as well as Pepcid...which is an anti-histamine. I started carrying the stuff in my truck as well as keeping some at the fire station and wouldn't you know it??? Haven't been stung since.
Yes, it's a quite common "Southern Thing"! They are totally different from the other bees found around...they don't nest together and they don't make a honeycomb, they don't sting ( as a rule unless they are really messed with...I used to have a pest control tech who would catch them in his hand to impress my customer's kids ) They are rather neat and make great targets for shooting with rat shot, if only they didn't chew into our homes. They rarely do structural damage because they usually burrow into the outer boards, porch seats and railings, window sills, etc.
Carpenter ants leave a pile of frass similar though not in as much volume as a carpenter bee. Up north exterminators get a fortune for treating them while down south they are considered as just another pest and usually a one time treatment takes care of them...that is, if your exterminator knows his job. Carpenter ants will leave galleries in the wood that are visible to you and there will always be ant parts and such in the frass whereas carpenter bees leave a very clean, wood only, frass.
Pellets are left by drywood termites and are usually not noticed by homeowners until major damage has been done. Subterranean termites don't leave visible signs until, once again, major damage has been done. Sometimes with subterraneans you can spot a mud tube going up the inside of the foundation wall or dropping from a floor joist...this usually means that there's going to be some damage.
Yeah, check immediately above the pile. What you are looking for is a hole so perfectly round you would think a neighbor had drilled it there for a prank. What you have found is "frass" from a carpenter bee. A large, generally docile, wood boring bee that has made this hole to lay eggs in. The accepted cure is to shoot some insecticide in the hole and then plug it with liquid wood or bondo or something. It's almost impossible to keep them away from your house and they will bore into even treated wood. They rarely do a lot of damage, though this year there were a cool million of them trying to bore into my log house.
Cellphones save bunches of lives...and take some too. I'm old enough that I remember having to drive down the road to find a house with someone home so I could call for a fire truck or whatever. I was on I-81 a few years ago and spotted an accident happening in front of me...by the time I could get stopped and out of the car my wife was calling 9-11 and she told me she was the third caller. So cellphones do save lives...however I responded a week ago to a Chevy into the rear of an eighteen wheeler on U.S. 1 that should have been a fatal accident. The driver's cellphone was in front of the spare wheel near the front of the truck and he actually survived with only a badly broken arm. But I'll bet he never texts and drives again!! It simply wasn't his time to go.
One of the prettiest places to camp in our state is the Bear Den Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Old age stops me from telling you the mile marker to look for but it was a few miles North of the Apple Orchard overlook which is a few miles North of the Little Switzerland turnoff. It has no sign because they are not allowed on the parkway but if they are still in business you should be able to find a phone number for them. Might even be able to call the Chamber of Commerce at Little Switzerland or even Marion to find the number. We stayed there for years before we got too old to camp any more.
My wife. Because I still think of her as my best friend. How could I go wrong?
Great pictures. Some of the same ones that I took last May when out there. It is a state park so my national pass wouldn't work. In the second photo the road partway down to the right is a downright scary trail that can be accessed from down in the canyon. I didn't know about it in time and had already scared my wife with my 4x4 wanderings...but I'll be going back and will definitely hit it this time. I took over two thousand photos on our trip with a slew in the Moab area. I'll be going back because I'm old and there's not time to waste!! Also check out Bryce...incredible.