6 in other words july17 2014 Diggin’ in the Dirt: Scorpions in Columbia County? By Chip Bubl Oregon State University Extension Service - Columbia County Food preservation and food safety Want to learn how to safely preserve produce from your garden this summer? The OSU Extension Service in Columbia County offers food preservation information and resources. Here is a list of services that we provide: • Free Printed Publications and Safe Canning Recipes • Online Publications and Recipes: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/fch/ food-preservation • Free Pressure Canner Gauge Testing (call ahead before bringing in your gauge) • Food Preservation and Food Safety Hotline from July 14 through October 17, 2014, 9 AM – 4 PM Monday- Friday. 1-800-354-7319 • A list of our hands-on canning classes can be found on our website: http:// extension.oregonstate.edu/columbia or call our office at 503 397-3462 Jenny Rudolph, MPA OSU/Columbia County Extension Educator 2014 Home Food Preservation Class Series Offered in Scappoose Have you thought about learning to preserve fruits, vegetables, fish or game this summer? Are you an experienced canner who would like an update on the latest USDA recommendations? Then plan to attend one or more of the canning classes offered by the Oregon State University Extension Service this summer. Class sessions will be held at the Scappoose Grace Lutheran Church, 51737 Columbia River Hwy, Scappoose, OR 97056. Each class will cost $25.00 or $90 if you sign up for all four. Some scholarships are available. Participants will receive instruction and hands-on experience with safe methods of food preservation. Class size is limited, so sign up today. Pre-registration and pre- payment of class fees are required. • Thursday, July 31st 3:00 to 6:00 pm – Canning Fruits and Pie Fillings • Thursday, August 7th 3:00 to 6:00 pm – Pressure Canning Meat, Fish and Vegetables • Thursday, August 14th 3:00 to 6:00 pm – Pickling and Fermenting Vegetables • Thursday, August 21sr 3:00 to 6:00 pm – Canning Tomatoes, Sauces and Salsas For more information and to register for classes, please call or visit the OSU Extension Service office at: 505 N. Columbia River Highway, St. Helens, OR. 503-397-3462 They feed on crawling insects like beetles, crickets, and larval insects of various types. They need 3-8 inches of decayed material/duff to burrow so big old downed logs with supporting lots of life as they decay and compost are ideal sites to look for them. They mate in December- February and give birth August – October. The young are born alive and cling to their mother’s back Natural History Report: Scorpions in for about two weeks. Life span isn’t Columbia County? well known but assumed to be 6 or more We have a scorpion. It isn’t years. They go through several molts uncommon but you could go through before they reach their full size in two your entire life without seeing it. In 35 years. years, I have had three samples brought into the Extension office. The scorpion We even have a fire fly (that doesn’t is called Uroctonus mordax (no common fly) but does shine name yet) and is about 2-3 inches long. There are two species of Color is reddish to dark brown. The ones glowworms in the Pacific Northwest, I have seen were fairly dark colored. It the Western Banded Glowworm looks and reacts like any desert scorpion, and Tiemann’s glowworm. These raising its tail to strike. It can sting if it glowworms are best seen in the dark and perceives your finger as a threat or a are found on the forest floor or on the meal. The sting is reputed to be like the forest edge in leaf litter. It is the females sting of a bee but, as with bees, some that glow. The light is yellow to greenish people can be allergic to the venom. in tint and can be almost the size of a The scorpion is most common dime at its largest or a nail head more in the coastal forest zone from British commonly. If you pick up the glowing Columbia down to the San Francisco object, you will end up holding a rather Bay area. The only place I have seen plump worm-like creature curled in a it is under a rotting log. I was looking circle. The male and female glowworm for dampwood termites to feed one larva both emit light. The fleshy female of my son’s lizards and this scorpion adult glowworm has luminescent bands seemed to have the same idea. We left around her body separated by bands of on good terms. Decaying logs in areas of dark color that don’t glow. The glowing high rainfall are their preferred habitat. bands attract males. The female never turns from a larva into anything dramatically different. She continues as a larviform adult, May 15 marked the FCC’s deadline to 9-1-1 would be useful in some situations eating, mating and requiring mobile carriers to implement (such as providing additional accessibility to laying eggs that also changes that will allow consumers to text emergency services for our speech and hearing glow as they mature. to 9-1-1; however, this technology is not impaired communities.) 9-1-1 (Public Safety The male, however, is currently available in Oregon. If you send a Answering Points) PSAPs and the State 9-1- much smaller. He goes text to 9-1-1 today, you’ll receive a ‘bounce 1 program are currently planning to upgrade through a complete back’ message indicating texting is not Oregon’s 9-1-1 infrastructure. When text to available and asking you to make a voice call 9-1-1 becomes available in Oregon, it will be metamorphosis into a to 9-1-1. on a statewide basis. small flying glowless Emergency communications For now, remember: It’s Voice First, beetle, somewhat torpedo professionals recognize that the ability to text in Oregon. Texting to 9-1-1 NOW RECRUITING current EMTs and EMT students for volunteer positions in Vernonia shaped, with large fan-like antennae for detecting the alluring pheromones of the female. But as a male, once he finds the female, he mates. It isn’t clear that he ever feeds on anything as an adult. Just searches, flies, mates, and dies. Like the scorpion above, the glowworms need an insect rich environment for their food. They love millipedes, which themselves make their living in a decaying, biologically abundant space. The larvae and the adult females both prey on millipedes by first climbing their back eating the millipede’s head from behind. Then they inject enzymes that liquefy the hapless millipede’s flesh and which they then suck out through hollow mandibles, one segment at a time working toward the tail. All that is left at the end is the sucked out, disconnected millipede rings. The larvae burrow, the adult females, not so much. Look for the glow in the spring, summer, and early fall after rain before first light. I have seen them quite a few times and I get calls periodically about them. Plant an extra row for the food bank, senior center, or community meals programs. Cash donations to buy food are also greatly appreciated. The Extension Service offers its programs and materials equally to all people. Free newsletter The Oregon State University Extension office in Columbia County publishes a monthly newsletter on gardening and farming topics (called County Living) written/edited by yours truly. All you need to do is ask for it and it will be mailed to you. Call 503 397- 3462 to be put on the list. Alternatively, you can find it on the web at http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ columbia/ and click on newsletters. Contact information for the Extension office Oregon State University Extension Service – Columbia County 505 N. Columbia River Highway (across from the Legacy clinic) St. Helens, OR 97051 503-397-3462 Email: chip.bubl@oregonstate.edu TOO BUSY? Call your LOCAL bookkeeper R Y OLL A P PLUS LLC Edi Sheldon 503-429-1819 edisheldon@gmail.com Find out how you can become an emt For more information call 503-429-4600 Licensed tax consultant • Full service payroll Personal & small business bookkeeping • QuickBooks assistance CORPS, S-CORPS, LLC, Partnerships • Personal one-on-one service LTC #29629 - Oregon licensed tax consultant RTRP #P00448199 - designated as a registered tax return preparer by the Internal Revenue Service The IRS does not endorse any particular individual tax return preparer. For more information on tax return preparers, go to www.IRS.gov.