Beetlemania??
Most of you will have heard of, or had personal confrontations with, Junebugs. In the south they come out much earlier and are sometimes referred to as Maybugs. In south Louisiana, they seem to be most prevalent in early to mid April. The past couple of nights I have heard them bumping against my window screens when the lights are on inside. Jake, who lives further out in the country, often has them in serious numbers making it impossible to leave or enter his house at night when the porch light is on. You will be picking them off your clothing and out of your hair!!! After a little research, Jake learned that they may cause significant damage when emerging in large numbers. Not only do the larvae (called white grubs) feed on the roots of grasses and other plants, but the adult insects feed on the leaves of many different nut-bearing trees. He has a couple of live-oak trees in his yard that are being summarily stripped of their foliage.
Being the red-neck that he is, but being the variety of red-neck that is resourceful (especially if it involves "duct-tape") he came up with a plan. He poured a small amount of burnt motor oil (a product in abundance at his house) into a 3-4' wide "kiddy pool" (probably the one where he soaks his feet while sipping a cold brew while the "little woman" pushes the lawn mower), places a 5 gallon bucket in the middle of it into which he suspends a drop light. Turning this on at night has attracted a multitude of the critters. The second their little wings touch the motor oil, they fall into the stuff and drown! He reports that after 1 1/2 nights in operation, he has annihilated thousands of the pests!
Ahhhhhh, but we are thankful for Jake! Not only is he entertaining, but he is so very helpful to Ron and I.
As you know, we took Heather's oldest girls to Natchez, Mississippi, on Easter Sunday with our camper and boat. The lake there holds some record sized fish. Unfortunately, the fish were not biting. I brought the girls back to Zachary on Wednesday planning to keep Emmaleigh on Thursday and return to Natchez on Friday to bring the boat back on Sunday! Jake, having Thursday anf Friday off, went up and joined his dad on Wednesday night to fish with him. The weather was great, but the fishing was lousy. After exchanging a few phone calls on Friday, it was determined that Jake would pull the boat home and Ron would break camp himself, rather than me going back up for a few more days. Jake is so smart about electrical things. He was able to help us determine why some things were happening in our camper (due to a bad battery). Hopefully all of this will be corrected when we take the camper to the dealership this next week.
We did have a fun few days camping with the girls. Sammie fished with Grandpa in the boat. We watched a couple of movies, did a lot of arts & crafts, sat around the campfire roasting marshmallows, took long walks down the nature trails and rode our bikes up and down the hills.
I cannot close out the month of March without wishing (in some cases belatedly) a happy birthday to Aunt Maxine Olson (March 2....if you didn't send her a card, you should be ashamed. Most of you reading this have received cards from her for as long as you've been in the family!), my brother-in-law, Larry Sparks and his son Tim, Megan and Olivia Pierce, Nathan Chappotin, Debra Pierce Land, and (tomorrow) John Pierce.
Being the red-neck that he is, but being the variety of red-neck that is resourceful (especially if it involves "duct-tape") he came up with a plan. He poured a small amount of burnt motor oil (a product in abundance at his house) into a 3-4' wide "kiddy pool" (probably the one where he soaks his feet while sipping a cold brew while the "little woman" pushes the lawn mower), places a 5 gallon bucket in the middle of it into which he suspends a drop light. Turning this on at night has attracted a multitude of the critters. The second their little wings touch the motor oil, they fall into the stuff and drown! He reports that after 1 1/2 nights in operation, he has annihilated thousands of the pests!
Ahhhhhh, but we are thankful for Jake! Not only is he entertaining, but he is so very helpful to Ron and I.
As you know, we took Heather's oldest girls to Natchez, Mississippi, on Easter Sunday with our camper and boat. The lake there holds some record sized fish. Unfortunately, the fish were not biting. I brought the girls back to Zachary on Wednesday planning to keep Emmaleigh on Thursday and return to Natchez on Friday to bring the boat back on Sunday! Jake, having Thursday anf Friday off, went up and joined his dad on Wednesday night to fish with him. The weather was great, but the fishing was lousy. After exchanging a few phone calls on Friday, it was determined that Jake would pull the boat home and Ron would break camp himself, rather than me going back up for a few more days. Jake is so smart about electrical things. He was able to help us determine why some things were happening in our camper (due to a bad battery). Hopefully all of this will be corrected when we take the camper to the dealership this next week.
We did have a fun few days camping with the girls. Sammie fished with Grandpa in the boat. We watched a couple of movies, did a lot of arts & crafts, sat around the campfire roasting marshmallows, took long walks down the nature trails and rode our bikes up and down the hills.
I cannot close out the month of March without wishing (in some cases belatedly) a happy birthday to Aunt Maxine Olson (March 2....if you didn't send her a card, you should be ashamed. Most of you reading this have received cards from her for as long as you've been in the family!), my brother-in-law, Larry Sparks and his son Tim, Megan and Olivia Pierce, Nathan Chappotin, Debra Pierce Land, and (tomorrow) John Pierce.
Comments
Yipes...YUCKY bugs! We have box elder bugs and ladybugs arriving here. I have to 'exterminate' 4 or 5 a day in my sunroom. Ask Jake if he has any ideas for me!
Yes, Aunt Maxine is faithful with her cards...we should all mark her birthday on our calendars, and one of these years....everyone send her a card...that would be a nice surprise/tribute to her wouldn't it? Why don't you organize that endeavor Carolyn? (in your free time! ha)
Snow is quickly melting here, but ice on lake is still solid enough that snowmobiles are crossing it...but by the end of this week, weather is going to be more spring like then winter like. Finally.
love Sisnorth