From: rarity@dontemailme.com   
      
   In article <4cKdnQJVLt0XkMLfRVn-oQ@texas.net>, firstinitiallastname@texas.net   
   says...   
      
   >in South Texas where most of what grows will hurt you. They   
   >can also save your clothes and legs when a hot iron goes astray or the   
   >castrating knife slips.   
      
   Chaps come in handy just about anywhere a wrangler   
   works.   
      
   Here in New Mexico, one of the wickedest   
   plants is the "jumping cactus" or "chollo." It's   
   called that because the entire joint will break   
   free when even lightly brushed up against. It   
   seems to literally "jump" and attach itself to   
   anything that comes near. Cattle quickly   
   learn to stay clear and people learn rather   
   quickly after an encounter or two! But mesquite   
   is common to New Mexico as well as the rest of   
   the more southerly Chihuahuan desert regions,   
   and mesquite thorns can easily puncture a tire,   
   as I and many other off-roaders have discovered.   
   Imagine what they can do to a wrangler not wearing   
   chaps!   
      
   Incidentally, I'd never heard of "eagle claw" used   
   to describe the barrel cactus I've always known   
   as "fish hook cactus." I don't know if it's true,   
   but suspect it is, that the Indians used the fish   
   hook shaped thorns for catching fish. I'm sure it   
   could be done, given the very stiff nature of the   
   thorns on the larger varieties of the cactus.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)