Welcome to this issue of Stumped by Nature, where we notice nature lurking just beyond our screens, curate a list of outside-y events in Austin, and build community with other folks in the thick of the startup ecosystem.
In this week’s issue:
🥚 Lice
🌤️ Upcoming outdoors events
🎃 Pumpkin-adjacent fun
Let’s dig in!
-Nicole
PS. Have a nature-related business or nonprofit? I’m creating a directory. It’s free to join, and you can plop your business details in here. Have your nature-based buddies fill this out too!
PPS. Come meet great people who go outside together: join ATX Outsiders.
Upcoming events I’m hosting:
Sunday, September 27: Reverse Brain Rot: read/write/Barton Springs
Monday, September 28: Austin Reading Club: solitary hobbies don’t have to be isolating
See you there!
NATURE SPOTLIGHT
I made a mistake.
I thought I might have trouble finding topics to explore if I leaned thematically into Halloween season.
But I’ve been viscerally reminded the world is abundant.
The horrors are finding me in droves.
Today we’re digging into lice.
And they’re clinging right back
This is a tale that spans the globe and all of human history and my past 60 hours.
Lice are ancient insects that evolved alongside humans, finding favor in the human head microclimate habitat.
I know this because I was curious if the word lousy, as in unpleasant/terrible/inferior, had linguistic ties to lice. Answer: yes, Middle Ages, “infested with lice.”
I was compelled to look up lousy because it seemed like an apt description for the texts I received late Monday afternoon during a no-school/yes-grandparent-childcare/co-parenting changeover day logistical bundle:
“Potential lice. Saw tiny bug”
Cue: horror, research, and a waiting period to hear how Grandma’s Olympic-skill level lice combing would play out.
Nit = egg = an omen of bountiful lice reproduction. Look closely on the paper towel.
September 22, 2026
Infestation response mode activated
Step one: scream into the void (this is mandatory)
Step two: remember that your children definitely used your hairbrush before you did + the whole team spent not-zero time piled head-to-head for an artist study that morning
Step three: find the nit comb you bought during one of the classroom lice scares last spring
Step four: lure your romantic partner to your home for a sexy evening nit-picking
Step five: wet hair and get really curious about WTF is happening at the roots, especially in dark places like the nape of the neck and behind ears
Find a live louse? Congratulations! Your head is an active infestation zone, which is just great. How nice to be a full habitat for a creature.
Follow me for more date night ideas
September 21, 2026
Step six: Text the parents of the kids your children have likely nuzzled to utter a grave warning
Facets and Features of Head Lice:
Superlatives include resilient, blood-thirsty, parasitic
Season: always, but surges in September and May
Adults are the size of a sesame seed, but with claws that grasp hair strands
Both nits (eggs) and nymphs (juveniles) are pinhead-sized
Reproduction: rapid
One mating experience is enough. Females store sperm to lay up to 150 eggs over their couple-week adult lifespan
Side note: the egg-laying quantity is the detail my daughter found the most abhorrent about this whole thing
Those hundreds of eggs are oval-shaped, and glued onto the hair shaft close to the scalp. Glued. Will not budge with water or lice shampoo. Require physical force to remove, and they can remain attached for up to a year, even after the egg has hatched or its embryo has died
Eggs hatch in 6-9 days, then the nymph churns through three molts (with exoskeleton upgrades) over a week as it matures into adulthood
Diet: human blood
First, good news, head lice aren’t going to infest your pets. Cat/dog/chicken body heat is inhospitable to lice
The piercing mouthpart is a phrase I wish I didn’t ever have to use, but it allows them to slurp blood
Their injected saliva keeps blood flowing, and also causes an allergic reaction/ an itch. Itching is likely your indicator that you’re going to have a lousy day
Adult females consume .000158 milliliters of blood per meal, averaging 4-6 meals per day, so even with thousands of lice chowing down, there’s no risk of blood loss, just utter revulsion
Despite all the biting and blood, there are no diseases associated with head lice
Nymphs and adult lice need to feed within 48 hours or they die.
Nits need specifically head-like conditions to successfully incubate, and they cannot hatch without a host
Lice are ectoparasites, and the point of failure off-host is their water loss regulation. Loss of water = lack of muscle function and energy supply = loss of ability to hold on to hair strand = death.
This means any lice crawling on your pillow or backpack are generally toast within two days
This gives us hope AND practical steps for reclaiming a household:
Do not burn it all down, despite the full-bodied temptation
Do plan to put your clothes dryer to good use
Central Texas vs. conventional wisdom
Because in-school transmission is considered low, Texas does not have a statewide requirement for kids to miss school for lice. It’s part of the experience, they’ve got pamphlets and well wishes at the ready.
Historically, methods of removing lice included fine-toothed bone combs, the Ancient Egyptian practice of shaving completely and wearing wigs, and a nightly ritual of spending hours picking lice and nits from loved ones’ hair. Homemade remedies ranged from vinegar and lard to the much less advisable kerosene or mercury compounds. Modern world agrees kerosene would have severe health and fire risks.
Modern lice mitigation steers us toward over-the-counter solutions that include permethrin and pyrethrins, and are available as shampoo + lice comb + blasting bedding in laundry cycles at surface-of-the-sun temperatures.
But we’re in Central Texas
and that treatment plan comes with a very big asterisk:
Austin has a high presence of “super lice.” These lice give the middle finger to over-the-counter pesticide treatments.
Here, we’ve got a 25% effective rate for OTC treatment because we’ve got a resistant batch, and on a good day, OTC only kills live lice, not nits, so you’re responsible for re-treating once the nymphs emerge, but before they mate and distribute their daily eggs. Multiply that across a couple children, throw in a co-parenting schedule that loops in a second household, and we’ve got a chance to make sure every dollar of our FSAs are allocated before EOY.
Luckily there’s a variety of local professional lice removal clinics ready to steer you away from full family 1 guard buzz cuts.
And now I know one salon quite intimately.
The Anti-Climax
Technically, I had louse, not lice. After the novelty of our date night living creature discovery, the delousing salon excavated half a dozen nits from me, and declared my mom’s diligent nit-picking a flawless 10/10 performance for my kids.
This rite of passage left minimal room for stigma and shame thanks to the relentless tug of Mt. Clean Laundry reaching new peaks. The group text(s) of parents who’d already earned their Lice Survival Achievement badges also helped.
A post-treatment learning: oil-based lice products don’t mix with water, so shampoo as usual is not enough. My kids and I reenacted the Dawn Dish Soap small duck in a large oil spill vibe during our showers, then curled into fresh sheets with fresh hair, boldly nestling head-to-head, with a stack of books about tacos and dragons and time travel.
UPCOMING EVENTS
🗓️ September 24: Tree ID Tour: learn how to save seeds from the trees in your yard
🗓️ September 25: Bird Walk with Travis Audubon: binocs available to borrow
🗓️ September 25: Arty Party: Fluffy!: Wool creatures for the 3 and under crowd
🗓️ September 25-26: Meanwhile Oktoberfest: lederhosen-friendly
🗓️ September 25-26: WaterWork: see the show from land or Lake
🗓️ September 26: All Boats Bloom Performance: Experimental sound/art/nature at Lady Bird Lake
🗓️ September 26: Mothing at Pease Park: after dark iNaturalist time
🗓️ September 26: Family Birding Day: nature iSpy with the whole team
🗓️ September 26: Moondance Concert: stories, songs, and dance are all viable options
🗓️ September 26: Full Moon Paint & Float: Location: under the moon and stars
🗓️ September 26: Austin Bat Refuge Day & Beer Release: bats, goats cosplaying as bats, a new beer called Nocturne Exodus
🗓️ September 26: Bike Maintenance Basics: turn up to tune-up
🗓️ September 26: Wags and Wellness: there will be dogs
🗓️ September 26: The Board Walks: think together
🗓️ September 26: First Light Books Block Party: music + writers + readers
🗓️ September 26: Founders Poolside Meetup: dip into a founder community
🗓️ September 26: Goer ATX Launch Party: choose-your-own wellness adventure
🗓️ September 27: Nature Hike: stretch those legs
🗓️ September 27: Honky-tonk Two-stepping Lesson & Dance Party: yeehaw
🗓️ September 27: Reverse Brain Rot: read/write/Barton Springs. I’m hosting this!
🗓️ September 28: Austin Reading Club: solitary hobbies don’t have to be isolating. I’m hosting this too!
🗓️ September 29: Tuesday Twilights: end the day with plants and music
🗓️ September 29: Plant Bingo: add a photosynthesizer to your life
🗓️ September 29: Fat Bear Week Finale: Who’s the most prepared for hibernation?
🗓️ September 30: Music on the Trail: blanket-friendly
🗓️ September 30: Pickin' and Sippin': An Evening of Bluegrass: solid use of a Wednesday evening
🗓️ October 1: Fortlandia Grand Opening Party: eight new forts to explore
PUMPKIN-ADJACENT FUN
🎃 Opening September 26: Indian Springs Ranch: Includes a pumpkin patch + exotic animals + a corn pit south of Austin
🎃 Pumpkin Nights: Explore immersive pumpkin lands in East Austin. It’s legit.
🎃 Sweet Berry Farm: Mazes, rides, and pumpkins with three exclamation marks in Marble Falls
🎃 Sweet Eats Fruit Farm: Pig races, apple cannons, wagon rides, and pumpkins with two exclamation marks in Georgetown
🎃 Mama Mary's Farm: What you’d expect from a pumpkin patch, this time in Creedmoor
🎃 Opening September 26: Uhland Fall Fest: Weekend one involves a segment called Kids Gone Wild, and it involves a Foam Party
PANTRY MOTH UPDATE
I wrote about my pantry moth infestation on June 25, 2026.
I’m aiming for at least 45 days without a moth to reclaim my pantry.
To be fair, my attention has been on other horrors, so this is extreme optimism/active denial of reality.
That’s all for this week!
In the meantime, I hope your nit-picking comes up empty-handed.
-Nicole
OPTIONAL SIDE QUESTS
🪵 Need to metabolize something? I help people write. Let’s chat.
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🪵 Are you sitting on a misogi-esque story? Spill.
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