Any of you working in south TX seen those huge grasshopper looking things with the stinger looking thing on their butt? They sit on my car where the light and shadow from the rv hits at nite and catch bugs with their hind legs and eat. All you can eat buffet for them. They scare the heck out of me and still I am fascinated with them. Does anyone know what they are? I have looked on line under grasshoppers in TX and haven't found anything that looks like them at all. I asked one of the guys coming through the gate one nite because two were sitting on top of the gate and he said "those are just big ol grasshoppers" in his TX drawl. Well, if that's what they are how come I can't find them on the internet. The stinger looking thing I think might be how the females deposit their eggs and not a stinger at all. They absolutely have no fear of me. Maybe they think they can eat me too!!
One more subfamily consists of the shield-backed katydids. These are predatory insects with reduced or absent wings. Our area has a number of species, and none is more fascinating than the Greater Arid-land Katydid (Neobarrettia spinosa). A better name would be "Red-eyed Devil" which has been proposed by someone with first-hand experience of this insect's behavior. This large and robust katydid (length is 35-50 mm) is aggressive when threatened and will display its short spotted hind wings, stick out its extremely spiny legs, and open its huge jaws. It will attempt to bite. The female's ovipositor is quite long and thick.
-- Edited by bjoyce on Saturday 12th of May 2012 12:46:26 PM
Texas TomT said
02:39 PM May 12, 2012
Yes, we have them here as well (on the ranch south of Catarina). I picked one up last week and he commenced to bite the heck out of me with his mouthy pinchers. I took some pictures of them and also searched the internet but could not find an exact match. They have ridiculous looking wings as well, kind of like an Iguana has. I would also like to know what kind of grasshoppers these are-and yes, they are egg-laying type and I have watched newbies hatch.
NorCal Dan said
05:40 PM May 12, 2012
Somebody post a picture :)
road of happy destiny said
03:18 AM May 13, 2012
When we first planted our RV in Phoenix I had the opporuity to work 2 nights a week as a Security Guard at a CG off of I-10. Never had a bit of a problem. The campers were all very nice and cooperative. When I had to lock the pool at 10pm, whoever was there went home to their RV's. Patroled the park throughout the night or would sit in the guard shack. I realize that not all CG are equal and that there are some nasty people out there but they are few and far between. We had a case in the late fall where we had an unruly older man that as well into his cups. Once the sheriff was called an he settled down.
Tom an Fran Hallock
Texas TomT said
03:41 AM May 13, 2012
YES, that is the one...the Female with the long tail. Thanks for finding this. Now, what to do with the 4 inch Beetles...yikes they are big.
Terry and Jo said
06:52 AM May 13, 2012
Texas TomT wrote:
YES, that is the one...the Female with the long tail. Thanks for finding this. Now, what to do with the 4 inch Beetles...yikes they are big.
Carry a club?
I don't think I would want to try to step on one.....
......he might be a Ninja beetle.
Terry
(OK. It's late and I really ought to go to bed.)
rvingft said
03:54 PM May 13, 2012
Here's a blog by a first-time gate guard couple .... they just started the job recently, so am sure will have more to post as they acquire more experiences.
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Sunday 13th of May 2012 07:23:28 PM
roadblazers said
03:16 PM Aug 19, 2012
We are looking in to this too. Found a couple of forum sites dedicated to gate guarding. The newest one is : www.gateguardforum.com the other one is myoldrv.com. We may do this in a couple of weeks if we don't go with Amazon.
Edit by moderator: Activated link. Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Sunday 19th of August 2012 10:15:41 PM
jewella said
09:20 AM Jan 17, 2013
Hello everyone! I have a question about gate guard pay. I've been looking into this for a few weeks and I've discovered that the jobs pay about $125 per day for a COUPLE. and I've also heard that if your lucky enough to find a job that's a single person gate it pays the same amount. is this true? because I feel slightly ripped off.....
thanks!
Lucky Mike said
04:19 PM Jan 17, 2013
Well nothing has changed.....it pays 125 a day..........even in jobs in campgrounds it works the same way.........these are supplemental jobs.
I dont know if I would want a gate job by myself.......some gates are operational 24 hrs a day, not only that but most gates your not going anywhere until relief comes to take over the gate.
but if you do a little research farther and it doesnt appeal to you..........gate keeping for that money is not for you
PIEERE said
04:49 PM Jan 17, 2013
Jewella: Really don't think you have to feel ripped off as I don't know to many singles who would want a 24hr on call job and get very little chance to do anything else.
Workinrvers said
06:13 PM Jan 17, 2013
jewella wrote:
Hello everyone! I have a question about gate guard pay. I've been looking into this for a few weeks and I've discovered that the jobs pay about $125 per day for a COUPLE. and I've also heard that if your lucky enough to find a job that's a single person gate it pays the same amount. is this true? because I feel slightly ripped off.....
thanks!
I look at it this way. The $$ paid is to have the gate attended for 24hrs. We do it as a couple and split the hours, that way we both get some "quality" sleep time has well as the chance to make a run into town occasionally . One person handling a 24 hr gate is something I don't want to have to do although I do know some who have and survived. One person in particular (a fellow RV Dreamer in fact) did it last year, she slept when she could in her recliner, she also had to get creative at potty time and to find time for showering. Single gate guards also have the added problem of getting groceries, doing laundry and any other errands needed. You either need to pay someone to watch your gate for you or you need to find someone who will run your errands and bring your food, mail etc to you.
I have heard of some 10-12 hour gates that would be preferable for singles. The ones I have heard of have a guard shack that you sit in for your shift, the daily pay is less and you have to pay for a nearby campground to stay in so that would be an added expense. I have no experience with these, only heard about them.
The best scenerio is a gate that you live at but they require the gate be closed after a certain hour. This would allow you to sleep most nights but you would still need to answer the alarm bell if the occasional someone showed up after hours. These gates seem to be few and far between but they do pay the same as a 24 hour gate.
Phil
jewella said
05:31 AM Jan 18, 2013
thanks for all of replies. I have been looking for a 12 hour gate. that's what I meant by single gate keepers. my mother got a chance to do it last summer. but chances of finding one are slim. I called a company today and asked if they ever did single gates but instead of answering my question he decided to be a complete ass. it just seems off to me that a single person at a 12 hr gate makes the same as a couple on a 24 he gate.
Terry and Jo said
07:37 AM Jan 18, 2013
Just out of curiosity, why would you think that working for half the time of a couple on 24 hours should get you more? I'm actually surprised that they didn't cut it down to 1/2 pay of a couple on for 24 hours. In a sense, a couple doing 24 hours are working for $62.50 each for 12 hours. If one would be only working a 12 hour gate, I'd think it would be more in line to be working for half of a 24 hour location.
Maybe I just don't understand the gate-guarding.
Terry
oldprinter said
02:56 AM Feb 6, 2013
We are currently on a pipeline gate its a 10 hour gate because of daylite will go to 12or more as summer approaches, we are lucky its only 13 miles to town some are 50. The biggest draw back is the critters and the isolation snakes in s tx do not hibernate so you will see rattlers all year long My best advise is to checkout MYOLDRV.COM a lot of experienced guards on that site That being said most will not disclose wages on the web you have to get that from the companies. We are in our rv on location and they furnish elec,water and septic.
phyllen said
03:39 PM Apr 30, 2013
I see this thread has been going on for some time!
We are about to finish up our first GG assignment. We've been here for over two months now and that is about as long as we would want. We decided to do this because we plan on Alaska next summer and don't want to take money from pension/investments to do it. So this works for us. In fact would do it again the same time period next year prior to Alaska.
At this time there is very little traffic at the gate as things are winding down. The company man told us it is okay with them if we both sleep at nights now and leave the gate unattended between 10 and 5. It is only a couple of young guys back there and they will let us know each morning if they left during the night or if an occasional water truck came in. Yippee!
We work for GGS. They have been terrific. Only see anyone from GGS every other week when he delivers water, fuel and services the generator.
During our stay hubby was hospitalized with a blood clot in his leg. We informed them of the situation and they immediately found someone to substitute for us for the four days.
No, this is not for everyone. But as a short-term job it has worked for us.
BTW, we are north of Houston so being near the border is no concern. Yes, it is dusty as we sit just a few feet from the driveway back to the well. We are also only 12 miles from town - Huntsville. No critters here unless you consider the noisy crows.
WestWardHo said
01:42 PM May 1, 2013
Phyllis and Leonard,
I read all recent forum posts nearly every day. I thought your post was well done so thought I'd check the link to your blog on my iPad but when I clicked on it at very first it showed a page that listed your itenery for this year but it almost immediately flaseh to a porn site. I've never had that happen to me before and my iPad is still a virgin. Thought you might want to know.
Sherry
Lucky Mike said
01:48 PM May 1, 2013
if your I-pad flashed to a porn site Sherry............."its not a virgin anymore!!!!!!..........(lol)
Terry and Jo said
03:06 PM May 1, 2013
Since I am at work and I work for a law enforcement agency, I better not test out that link. When I get home, I'll check it out and if it does go to a porn site, I will disable the link.
Edit: OK. When I got home and checked the link, it went to the blog, but no further. So, for now, unless there are more reports, I won't be doing anything with their link.
Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Wednesday 1st of May 2013 05:11:37 PM
PIEERE said
04:39 PM May 1, 2013
Time for anew I-Pad---My computer went right to the link! That being an Apple; it maybe was Adam & Eve!!! LOL!
RVKevi said
01:30 AM May 2, 2013
I clicked on the link and firefox blocked a popup and my virus protection popped up saying it had removed a threat.
vickyheron said
01:55 AM May 2, 2013
Last year we worked three different GG jobs (one for three months) for three different companies. The best company we found out there is LOMA. By a long shot. That said, here is our take on the whole GG thing. It is a great way to earn money if you need it. You can't go anywhere to spend it
That is the positive. The negative, you must make a commitment to get your proper sleep no matter what shift you work. We've seen people who thought sleep was an afterthought and they definitely crashed and burned... and got fired. We saw people who tried to work 4 hours, sleep 4 hours and so on. Don't even think about it. For good health you need your sleep, all 8 hours.
Now for what it does to the rig... after our stints in the oilfield with their supplied water and generators (which are industrial generators and not really meant to run household stuff) we had to replace our washer/dryer and made several repairs up until the replacement. When we finally replaced the W/D, they looked inside and all wiring and some parts were melted. We also had to replace the outlet it plugged into since it was burned. We also have a dishwasher. It refused to even power up while we were in the oilfield. After the first time, we thought we blew the controller board. So at $189 we replaced it. Later we found out that it would work just fine once we returned back to civilation.
We've had a few small appliances conk out on us from the irratic mghz. On the last job, we gained 45 minutes a day from the fast mghz. Perhaps that is why things quit working???
You will breathe a lot of dust into your lungs while you attend the gate and once you get inside your rig. You would not believe the amount of dust that gets in. If you are squeemish about rattle snakes, coyotes, and wild pigs, then you might want to reconsider, especially if you will be working the night shift. I forgot to mention the illegals that are lurking all over down there. Some are harmless... some are not.
And south Texas is loaded with bugs in the warmer months! We are Texans so we are used to bugs, but this tested us!!!
Don't get me wrong, it was a good paying gig when we needed it, but we have decided for the time and isolation and aggrevation, it's not for us.
Sue
It is a katydid, a relative of a grasshopper, http://bugguide.net/node/view/127832, http://www.texasento.net/Neobarrettia.htm .
http://www.austinbug.com/tettigoniidae3.html includes this:
One more subfamily consists of the shield-backed katydids. These are predatory insects with reduced or absent wings. Our area has a number of species, and none is more fascinating than the Greater Arid-land Katydid (Neobarrettia spinosa). A better name would be "Red-eyed Devil" which has been proposed by someone with first-hand experience of this insect's behavior. This large and robust katydid (length is 35-50 mm) is aggressive when threatened and will display its short spotted hind wings, stick out its extremely spiny legs, and open its huge jaws. It will attempt to bite. The female's ovipositor is quite long and thick.
-- Edited by bjoyce on Saturday 12th of May 2012 12:46:26 PM
Yes, we have them here as well (on the ranch south of Catarina). I picked one up last week and he commenced to bite the heck out of me with his mouthy pinchers. I took some pictures of them and also searched the internet but could not find an exact match. They have ridiculous looking wings as well, kind of like an Iguana has. I would also like to know what kind of grasshoppers these are-and yes, they are egg-laying type and I have watched newbies hatch.
When we first planted our RV in Phoenix I had the opporuity to work 2 nights a week as a Security Guard at a CG off of I-10. Never had a bit of a problem. The campers were all very nice and cooperative. When I had to lock the pool at 10pm, whoever was there went home to their RV's. Patroled the park throughout the night or would sit in the guard shack. I realize that not all CG are equal and that there are some nasty people out there but they are few and far between. We had a case in the late fall where we had an unruly older man that as well into his cups. Once the sheriff was called an he settled down.
Tom an Fran Hallock
YES, that is the one...the Female with the long tail. Thanks for finding this. Now, what to do with the 4 inch Beetles...yikes they are big.
Carry a club?
I don't think I would want to try to step on one.....
......he might be a Ninja beetle.
Terry
(OK. It's late and I really ought to go to bed.)
Here's a blog by a first-time gate guard couple .... they just started the job recently, so am sure will have more to post as they acquire more experiences.
http://www.ourrvadventures.com/
Edit by moderator: Activated link. Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Sunday 13th of May 2012 07:23:28 PM
We are looking in to this too. Found a couple of forum sites dedicated to gate guarding. The newest one is : www.gateguardforum.com the other one is myoldrv.com. We may do this in a couple of weeks if we don't go with Amazon.
Edit by moderator: Activated link. Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Sunday 19th of August 2012 10:15:41 PM
thanks!
I dont know if I would want a gate job by myself.......some gates are operational 24 hrs a day, not only that but most gates your not going anywhere until relief comes to take over the gate.
but if you do a little research farther and it doesnt appeal to you..........gate keeping for that money is not for you
I look at it this way. The $$ paid is to have the gate attended for 24hrs. We do it as a couple and split the hours, that way we both get some "quality" sleep time has well as the chance to make a run into town occasionally . One person handling a 24 hr gate is something I don't want to have to do although I do know some who have and survived. One person in particular (a fellow RV Dreamer in fact) did it last year, she slept when she could in her recliner, she also had to get creative at potty time and to find time for showering. Single gate guards also have the added problem of getting groceries, doing laundry and any other errands needed. You either need to pay someone to watch your gate for you or you need to find someone who will run your errands and bring your food, mail etc to you.
I have heard of some 10-12 hour gates that would be preferable for singles. The ones I have heard of have a guard shack that you sit in for your shift, the daily pay is less and you have to pay for a nearby campground to stay in so that would be an added expense. I have no experience with these, only heard about them.
The best scenerio is a gate that you live at but they require the gate be closed after a certain hour. This would allow you to sleep most nights but you would still need to answer the alarm bell if the occasional someone showed up after hours. These gates seem to be few and far between but they do pay the same as a 24 hour gate.
Phil
Just out of curiosity, why would you think that working for half the time of a couple on 24 hours should get you more? I'm actually surprised that they didn't cut it down to 1/2 pay of a couple on for 24 hours. In a sense, a couple doing 24 hours are working for $62.50 each for 12 hours. If one would be only working a 12 hour gate, I'd think it would be more in line to be working for half of a 24 hour location.
Maybe I just don't understand the gate-guarding.
Terry
We are currently on a pipeline gate its a 10 hour gate because of daylite will go to 12or more as summer approaches, we are lucky its only 13 miles to town some are 50. The biggest draw back is the critters and the isolation snakes in s tx do not hibernate so you will see rattlers all year long My best advise is to checkout MYOLDRV.COM a lot of experienced guards on that site That being said most will not disclose wages on the web you have to get that from the companies. We are in our rv on location and they furnish elec,water and septic.
We are about to finish up our first GG assignment. We've been here for over two months now and that is about as long as we would want. We decided to do this because we plan on Alaska next summer and don't want to take money from pension/investments to do it. So this works for us. In fact would do it again the same time period next year prior to Alaska.
At this time there is very little traffic at the gate as things are winding down. The company man told us it is okay with them if we both sleep at nights now and leave the gate unattended between 10 and 5. It is only a couple of young guys back there and they will let us know each morning if they left during the night or if an occasional water truck came in. Yippee!
We work for GGS. They have been terrific. Only see anyone from GGS every other week when he delivers water, fuel and services the generator.
During our stay hubby was hospitalized with a blood clot in his leg. We informed them of the situation and they immediately found someone to substitute for us for the four days.
No, this is not for everyone. But as a short-term job it has worked for us.
BTW, we are north of Houston so being near the border is no concern. Yes, it is dusty as we sit just a few feet from the driveway back to the well. We are also only 12 miles from town - Huntsville. No critters here unless you consider the noisy crows.
I read all recent forum posts nearly every day. I thought your post was well done so thought I'd check the link to your blog on my iPad but when I clicked on it at very first it showed a page that listed your itenery for this year but it almost immediately flaseh to a porn site. I've never had that happen to me before and my iPad is still a virgin. Thought you might want to know.
Sherry
Since I am at work and I work for a law enforcement agency, I better not test out that link. When I get home, I'll check it out and if it does go to a porn site, I will disable the link.
Edit: OK. When I got home and checked the link, it went to the blog, but no further. So, for now, unless there are more reports, I won't be doing anything with their link.
Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Wednesday 1st of May 2013 05:11:37 PM
Last year we worked three different GG jobs (one for three months) for three different companies. The best company we found out there is LOMA. By a long shot. That said, here is our take on the whole GG thing. It is a great way to earn money if you need it. You can't go anywhere to spend it
Now for what it does to the rig... after our stints in the oilfield with their supplied water and generators (which are industrial generators and not really meant to run household stuff) we had to replace our washer/dryer and made several repairs up until the replacement. When we finally replaced the W/D, they looked inside and all wiring and some parts were melted. We also had to replace the outlet it plugged into since it was burned. We also have a dishwasher. It refused to even power up while we were in the oilfield. After the first time, we thought we blew the controller board. So at $189 we replaced it. Later we found out that it would work just fine once we returned back to civilation.
We've had a few small appliances conk out on us from the irratic mghz. On the last job, we gained 45 minutes a day from the fast mghz. Perhaps that is why things quit working???
You will breathe a lot of dust into your lungs while you attend the gate and once you get inside your rig. You would not believe the amount of dust that gets in. If you are squeemish about rattle snakes, coyotes, and wild pigs, then you might want to reconsider, especially if you will be working the night shift. I forgot to mention the illegals that are lurking all over down there. Some are harmless... some are not.
And south Texas is loaded with bugs in the warmer months! We are Texans so we are used to bugs, but this tested us!!!
Don't get me wrong, it was a good paying gig when we needed it, but we have decided for the time and isolation and aggrevation, it's not for us.