Every day is an adventure when you live in the country.
Just yesterday morning I was gazing out my bathroom window and saw–in a single glance, mind you—two deer (mommy and baby), a brown bunny, a bunch of crows, bluebirds perched on the purple martin gourds, a red-tailed hawk (circling) and, well, bugs. Stink bugs on my upstairs bathroom window, to be precise.
Since we moved out here to the boonies about eight years ago, I have noticed that bugs come in waves. The first year—just a couple of months after we moved into our newly built home–those nasty, hybrid Korean ladybugs arrived. They aren’t really ladybugs. And they stink to high heavens. They collected INSIDE MY NEW HOUSE in the corners of the windows, oh, about 20 feet from the floor. They formed clumps—several clumps—about the size of a softball. Did I mention that this was INSIDE MY NEW HOUSE? I had to send my husband up a very tall ladder carrying the vacuum cleaner to evict them.
The following year we had thousands, nay, MILLIONS of tiny, shiny black bugs that invaded every space and landed on the ceiling. They came in through the screens. They walked through walls! I could only fight them with the vacuum cleaner. (Again with the vacuum.) Every time the little dogs went out, the bugs would come in and I would have to vacuum the ceiling. Dogs out. Bugs in. Vacuum out…Dogs out. Bugs in. Vacuum out…Dogs out. Bugs in. Vacuum out…
The year after that was the fruit fly plague. Again, the vacuum cleaner was my weapon of choice. I could not sit on the couch and read the newspaper without the vacuum cleaner beside me to occasionally suck the swarm that formed around my head.
And tonight, oh tonight! After a hideously long and frustrating day, I have a BRAND NEW SWARM. I took the little dogs out and the zelkovas in the back yard are COVERED with a new and unheard-of-in-these-parts (at least to me) swarm. Here’s what they look like:
Here’s what they look like having, uh, making whoopie:
I know my friend Carol tells me to “embrace bugs.” But frankly, she doesn’t live here in the country. She lives in a nice, tame neighborhood, with a neighborhood association with rules against plagues, in that nice, sedate state of Indiana. Here in the wilds of Southern Maryland we don’t just have bugs, we have plagues. Lemme see Carol write a post entitled “Embrace Plagues!”
By the way, folks, what the heck is this current plague I need to embrace?
Hi! I'm Robin Ripley author of Wisdom for Home Preservers, published by Taunton Press. I am also co-author of Grocery Gardening. Bumblebee is about my life in rural Maryland, my garden and my love of food, my little dogs and pet chickens. You can follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook. Thank you for visiting!
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Gosh darn beetles! They seem to come out of no where, then BAM! They’re everywhere. Let’s hope reinforcements (beneficials) arrive soon, otherwise I’d vacuum too!
Vacuum my zelkovas? 🙂
Robin at Bumblebee
I’m on it, and will add plagues to the list. We get swarms of Japanese beetles, sometimes hordes of grasshoppers, and did I mention the hive of German yellow jackets and how one of them stung me and followed me into my house, just because I was powdering their hive with poison?
By the way I don’t know what those bugs are that are having that orgy their in your garden, but they are ugly. They look like some kind of beetle…
Yes, I remember the incident of the yellow jackets. I figure it’s just a matter of time before I step on a nest around here. It happened to my brother once with wasps and he had about 25 stings. It’s not something to take lightly.
Robin at Bumblebee
I can’t embrace bugs. I tolerate them, don’t try to kill them (much) and sometimes find them interesting.
Those bugs look very weird. I wonder If I have a picture than matches them.
Hi Eliz,
I don’t really LIKE bugs either, but I do understand their purpose in the circle of life. I do find it a bit unnerving when I am clearly outnumbered in my own backyard.
Robin at Bumblebee
Not long after we moved into this house, I was working out in the yard and my son came out to tell me that there were a whole bunch of bugs on the windowsills in the breakfast room. Since he wasn’t much of a nature guy, I didn’t worry too much about it. I came in to find termites swarming. Thank goodness for the shop vac!
Them’s some ugly bugs you got there ma’am!
Hi Cindy,
Thankfully we haven’t yet seen termites. Once at a party though some swarming flying ants showed up and everyone thought they were termites. You should have heard me giving the mini-lecture on how to tell the difference! Yes, they were convinced I was a garden geek.
Robin at Bumblebee
I have never laughed so hard at a post in my life! I am laughing with you in that I have swarms of bugs too. This year, it’s the millipedes. They are everywhere. One year, it was the d—-d assassin bugs (the wheel kind) and they were scary. They would attack when we ventured outside. I paid the neighbor kid to cut them in half. Did I also mention that they flew?
Glad you laughed, Dee. I suppose misery loves company!
I don’t even know what an assassin but is. Surely I have them though. I have every other beastie known to mankind.
Robin at Bumblebee
I would love to live in the country, minus the bugs of course. How neat to see all of the wild,life around you.
Well, Robin, you’re quite right about that. But if I complain once in a while it makes the ‘burbs and city folks feel better about their lots in life!
Robin at Bumblebee
I have no idea! It took me a year to identify the plague on my phlox! Phlox bug! Now some tiny, shiny black beetle is eating my coneflower petals and the phlox bug is barely under control. I love nature! Robin, are you plagued with the biting itching bugs, too?
Hah! I SPECIALIZE in biting, itching bugs!
Robin at Bumblebee
I’m sorry to hear about all your bugs. Maybe if you had an old rundown house it wouldn’t seem so bad when they invade.
We keep getting some kind of wasp in the house, and one child in particular has been stung on several occasions because one was in his bed. We have searched the upstairs crawl spaces and eliminated every nest/hive we could find.
I still think rodents in the house are worse.
Hi Kathy,
I agree with the rodents. But life in the country also means that we battle field mice too. In the winter, they mount a full-out assault on the house. We have a new house, but I am constantly plugging up tiny holes and cracks because they can apparently walk through walls like bugs.
Robin at Bumblebee
If I were you I would get some chickens or Guineas. My chickens eat any insect that moves including ticks! Plus you get eggs… now that is what I call a winning solution.
Oh, I WANT chickens. Just haven’t managed the logistics of it yet!
Robin at Bumblebee
That bug is a Carrion beetle. I did not know its name until I searched in http://whatsthatbug.com/beetles2.html
Gee, thanks! And oooooh, gross!
Robin at Bumblebee
I second Lady Bug’s suggestion. Chickens and/or guinea fowl are a very eco-friendly and practical solution to controlling insects, when you live in an area where you can have them. As a bonus, they are great fun to watch. And, of course, there are the eggs…
Yes, indeed, the eggs! A chicken coop is a high priority for next year. It was in the plans for this year, but someone we never made it happen. It would help a lot if we were clever at building things. We’re not.
Robin at Bumblebee
I cannot tell you how many web pages of insect images I have looked at trying to I.D. that pest for you, but no joy! 🙁
I find some very close, but nothing with that yellow shoulder shield with the black dot. Maybe a real entomologist will come walking by soon…
Mystery solved! It’s the carrion beetle. See the link below.
Thanks Rick!!!!
Robin at Bumblebee
I live on the Gulf Coast of Texas… I get bugs from 3 geographic/climate zones: the coastal prairie, the eastern, Piney Woods, and the semi jungle that is the Houston area bayou system.
Add to that a legacy of having the surrounding fields be either 1) rice fields/wet lands or 2)pasture (cows and horses) and well, that cultivation legacy lives on as well.
Oh, and then, there are the palmetto bugs. Google palmetto bugs and imagine fighting an invasion of them, as I’m pretty much doing now, as they’re coming in from outside and looking for water and an escape from the heat.
sigh. Long comment. sorry…I like bugs. I have to…
We lived in Florida for a time, so I know about palmetto bugs. I still shutter when I think about them.
Robin at Bumblebee
I have no clue what those are. Every year we get plagued my little red ants. I hate them. Some years the Boxelder bugs are everywhere doing the nasty. I’d love to cut down all the stupid Boxelder trees just to get rid of them, & they aren’t even damaging or biting, just gross.
Oh, yeah. We had red biting ants in Florida too. They HURT. I had them swarm on me more than once when I was just innocently standing there. Arrrrggggghhhh.
Robin at Bumblebee
For all my brave talk about communing with Nature in all her glory, I HATE bugs. Don’t care whether they’re beneficial (except ladybugs) or nasty. I know it’s a learned behavior and I should be able to overcome it, but I just hate bugs.
I couldn’t find that bug either, but I tried. I’ve never seen one like it.
When I was reading the comments, I realized I haven’t seen a single Japanese beetle this year.
And to Nancy, UGH! Palmetto bugs are GROSS. Think flying roaches on steroids. They bite, too. They can eat through aluminum foil to get at what’s inside. They are one reason why I’ll never live in the South again.
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Ah, we get plagues of bugs in the cities too. In New England some years the Japanese beetles would be so bad they would pop out of the lawn like popcorn at dusk. The cats thought that was wonderful. The humans did not.
Then the gypsy months would come through. There’d be so many you could hear them eating the leaves from the edge of the woods. You’d have to dance down your walkway so as not to squish them to get to your car, then scrape them off the car like snow.
So far no swarms of bugs have hit in Houston, but I’ve only been here three years.
If I don’t end up with West Nile Virus this summer, it will be a miracle. The mosquitoes have been absolutely horrible. And if they aren’t biting, then the flies are. Very, very buggy here.
That is some beetle ya got there! Kinda cool! I actually like most bugs and the uglier the better.
I’m like Kylee, I kinda like most bugs, and the uglier (aka “cooler-looking”) they are, the better! Maybe it’s a thing with us blackswamp girls? *grin*
By the way, I would totally not be able to pass by those blackberries, poison ivy or no. Just call me Eve.
Robin,
Very interesting post – I am living in my house since 4 years and many things are new to me – bugs for example. They seem to appear more, the longer we live here. why? no idea. I thought it is connecte dwith the ivy that gets bigger on the wall. After reading your post my suspicion is more blurred…
greetings,
I like the layout here. Btw, my blog is dofollow, stop by and grab a link. Bobby.
As usual when making the rounds I got sidetracked. So here I am.
I’m sorry I can’t help myself.
Fruit flies swarming around your head?
Don’t say it! Don’t say it! Please don’t say it.
Melon Head!
I told you I can’t help myself. But then I couldn’t stop from setting up a link up on my desktop so I can easily return.
Good luck with the plagues. Don’t let them bug you too much. They’re only a small price to pay for living in the country.
Love the bug pics! and green horned caterpillar from Examiner blog. Here’s one of my favorite ‘critter art’ images: