Seems like when we change seasons we go from one nuisance to another. Of course, snow and all that comes with it for months on end is just one big nuisance, but snow is now a memory, and I've got other stuff bugging me about the outdoors.
It's the bugs in general.
Mosquitoes and nasty bees have come on like gangbusters over the past few days, and yesterday I discovered that the ants in the cabbage patch may be doing harm to my lovely cabbage plants. In the past two days, two have withered and died. On a closer look yesterday, I noticed dozens of little biddy ants scurrying around.
I think they've been feeding on my baby cabbage. I've never had ants cause a garden problem, but then I've never seen ants in the garden until this year. They're in a newly dug-up section, and I'm betting that I must have invaded their home when I turned the dirt. I don't want to hurt them, but I wish they'd leave my cabbage alone.
Mosquitoes have driven me from garden duties two or three times in the past two days. I tried to transplant zinnias in a bed the other night just after dinner. Last night I did follow through with transplanting some tomatoes and corn but not without lead-waited irritants constantly landing on my sweaty eyebrows or hairline.
I think we have a glut on mosquitoes this year; hopefully it's because it's been so wet, and hopefully as things dry out, they'll find someone's pond or marsh to inhabit. For now, they're a nightly nuisance.
Bill and I finally gave up on doing slow motion stuff last night and got on our bikes for a trip down Woodside Road. The mosquitoes left us alone, but a few dive-bombing bugs bounced off my face as we pedalled along. I guess the mosquitoes sent us on our ride for a reason. We saw three elk, and at least a dozen deer (including the one that ran across the road just a few feet ahead of me and my bike).
We also both enjoyed the constant chorus of singing field birds. I told Bill about seeing a mountain bluebird on the fence during one of my rides and spotting another unfamiliar bird the last time I took that route. The bird, or one of its friends, showed up soon after my comment. As it darted form section to section of the fence, Bill looked it over but had no idea of its species.
Later, after consulting the bird book, we both agreed that it looked and acted like an Eastern kingfisher. Of course, it must be out here on vacation, and Woodside Road is a nice place to spend the summer.
This morning I brought in the 2 for 1 package of hornet and wasp spray. It would be nice to sit on our deck. The nasty bees also love our deck, so we're gonna have a spray-off, and I hope I win. They've shown up in great abundance every time I go out to sit for a second, only to leave because of their annoying, persistent reminder that the deck is their territory.
One form of bee has shown up in the past two days, and I'm glad to see them return. They're the nice bees. Chad Moore's beehives are back in Taylor's field, and many of the inhabitants have already been over to visit. They don't bother a soul, and they do good work in the garden, so they're quite welcome and far from being a nuisance like the aforementioned insects.
There's always something to bug us, I guess, and these annoyances will become routine enough that we'll accept them, knowing that they're pretty minor in the grand scheme of summer.
Happy Sunday to all. May you enjoy the birds, the nice bees and the flowers.
1 comment:
Marianne, a doctor told me about 30 some odd years ago, that if you take cake yeast (for cooking) and pull a good size pinch of it and eat it... the mosquitoes hate the smell that comes off your body and human's can't smell it.
It works, as I gave it to my kids.. first telling them it was cheese, which they loved. When they grew older and wiser, I told them it was up to them, yeast or get bitten. They chose the yeast.
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