What in the world is going on?
or The Ugly Side of Spring Down the Bayou!
This is under the awning at my front door. Do you have any idea what they are?
I don’t know about where you live, but we are being invaded by these things we call blind mosquitoes. I kid you not. Their real name is aquatic midge, but no matter what you call them, they are ANNOYING. They arrive by the millions and cover every surface available, and this year we seem to have a bumper crop of them.
At night, they flock to any light, including windows and doors. So, when you open your door (day or night) to go in, about 1000 come in with you. There’s no way to avoid it, either. Once inside, they hang around the light fixtures, ceilings, get caught in the spider webs you didn’t know you had, and basically land all over anything white (like my countertops)
where I captured a close-up of this one for you. Yes, they do resemble mosquitoes, but no, they don’t bite or suck blood like regular mosquitoes, but they do bring about reactions in people with allergies and asthma. Wheezing anyone?
They SWARM like honey bees and then hang around until they die. But they don’t just die. Their bodies sort of stick to whatever they land on, leaving behind this oily mess after they die that sticks like glue. No kidding. So now my beautiful paint job at the camp is being marred by these pests, especially the porch ceiling, where it’s nearly impossible to scrub them off without
A. Breaking your neck from bending your head so far back
B. Scraping off the paint because of the force needed to remove their remains.
C. Realizing you’re too old to do overhead work any more without pulling your shoulder out of socket or worse.
We haven’t had much rain, so I don’t know why they are so abundant this year. Has anyone read anything about them recently in this area?
And if the midges weren’t bad enough, the carpenter bees have made their appearance, drilling holes in the porch rafters. It’s nothing to have one fly in your face while walking across the porch.
See the round holes in the 2×4? They drill their way up in there and lay their eggs. I’m not going to mention to you what kind of sport my kids have had for the past 13 years with tennis rackets and these bees! LOL!
Can you tell what this is? It happened over night. It’s oak tree pollen on the hood of my truck.
Gnats. Midges. Carpenter bees. Pollen.
And today I took my first deposit check for a rental at Camp Dularge!!!
Who cares about all those pesky varmints, anyway?
Spring has sprung down the bayou, folks!
BW
I’m wheezing but not from midges. We have so much pine pollen that it swirles like a tazmanian devil. We call these midges “shrimp bugs”. I encounter them mainly on the Causeway. They splatter the entire windshield and stink to high heaven, like spoiled shrimp. You need to clean them off ASAP because they stain the paint on your vehicle. Oh, plug those bee holes while the bees are still in there drilling away.
Like you have all the spare time in the world to do that, right?
Congrats on the deposit check!! I hope you get many, many more very soon.
Katy – Plugging the bee holes is the captain’s second favorite past time when he’s here (he’s on his way home now). His first favorite is smacking them with the tennis racket. Cruel, I know, but effective!
Over on the big muddy to west of me they have a blues fest on 4th of July .
These ‘fish flies’ crawl out of water and get on everybody and everything at sundown. Go reasonably well with beer. You ought to see the cicada killer wasps we got up here. Badmitton rackets lighter faster etc.
Hi BW! Here I am to check into your blog for the first time in ages and I’m greeted with BUGS! Ewww! ;- ) Okay, you got me, I’m not really that bothered by bugs, but that swarm is just horrible to think of in one’s house! I’ve missed reading my friends blogs and blogging, and I was so thrilled to see you pop over! Maybe spring is bringing the Trish-thaw. :- ) Glad to see you are doing well and that Camp Dularge is off to a great start!
Our carpenter bees have arrived in Thibodaux… they think they own the stairwell leading to the front door. I’m gonna have to buy myself a new tennis racket. Our staircase is rickety enough without being full of holes! I’ll never forget that time one of those things got mad at Daniel, clung onto the back of his shirt and stung him 4 times! (Was that a carpenter bee or a bumblebee?) It was big and black. I remember that! And about the midges: you could take to hosing everything off every day like Mr. Clean (or his mother)!
Got the perfect gift idea for you to buy. Harbor Freight has plastic “bug Zappers” that are tennis racket shaped. I bought one (2.99) as a joke, but it has come in handy. EVERYONE knows that every fly within a 10 mile radius shows up when you cook outside. Or, you can send The Capt. to the local Feed and Seed to buy poison to spray. It is amazing though, seeing those perfectly round holes they make. Seeing your Carpenter bees, midges, and pollen…I’m glad we were there last week. Just got the pollen to worry about here, and that’s enough!
Dotter – Mr. Clean aka The Captain spent all day sucking them up in the vacuum! LOL! Now the vacuum stinks. Kaye is right. They smell like dead fish. Seriously. Pew.
Steffi – A joke? That’s what we need here all the time!