The Armadillos Are Coming!!!

Ever since my sister and brother-in-law visited us in late November, I’ve been thinking a lot about armadillos. That sentence is funny in itself, but the accompanying story is even better. The fascination with armadillos isn’t mine. It’s my sister’s. She really isn’t so much fascinated by them as she is HORRIFIED of them! Says they make weird noises. This armadillo thing started waaaay back when we were little - like in grade school. My dad used to leave for work for the fire dept every morning at the same time and we used to kiss him goodbye at the back door. As he was leaving one morning, and I remember this so clearly it's scary, he went out and then came right back in and told my Mom not to let us outside because there was a wild animal in our yard. Well, we kids didn't listen (of course) so we went out in the back yard and there was an armadillo rooting around in my Mom's rosebushes. How freakin' weird is that in Encinitas??! Come to find out, the weird guy down on Second Street, the one who owned the music store, owned that armadillo. That guy always had all kinds of weird combos of animals in his yard: llamas, snakes, goats, rabbits. It's a wonder they didn't eat each other up! Somehow, he got the armadillo back. I don't think my dad caught it or anything, but I remember it being returned to the guy. We used to peek over and through the fence when we walked down to his store to buy our music and instrument parts and pieces. Where did that guy get an armadillo in the first place? Was there an armadillo store we weren’t aware of? And how about permits? Don’t you think you’d need to have a special permit to carry an armadillo in California? Oh, they’re probably house pets in Texas, but in California? I tell ya, that guy was weird! So, being to good big sister that I am, I thought I would do a monthly mailing to my sister to remind her about her trepidation with armadillos by sending her something armadillo-related in the mail. Isn’t that a good idea? I mean, what’s a big sister for? Some fun facts about armadillos:

• Armadillos enjoy eating ants and they can devour up to 40,000 in one meal. Each armadillo eats up to 200 lbs of bugs a year. That's over 6 billion lbs of bugs for the entire US population of armadillos per year.
• Armadillos sleep over 17 hours a day, with 3 hours of REM sleep. Humans only have 2 hours of REM sleep.
• Armadillos are the only mammals that always give birth to four identical young.
• Armadillos are known by many names. Armado in Guatemala, Panama. Cachicamo in Venezuela, Carachupa in Peru, Cusuco in Costa Rica, Kapasi in Suriname, Mulita Mayor in Argentina, and Tatu Galinha in Brazil. Here is a video about an armadillo at the SD Zoo: http://www.kfmb.com/features/local8pets/story.php?id=59716#

Oh, and yes, my sister does read my blog. This will give her ample notice to make her appointment with her witch doctor for those nightmares she's going to have.