Friday, October 20, 2006

Buggin’ Out

Yes, we truly do live in the wild now. I submit to you the following:

Exhibit A. Less than a week after we moved in, Sweet William went home on his lunch hour. On his way out to the back house, he noticed a couple of bees hovering about the koi pond. Going back into the main house, he noticed there were six bees at the pond. Curious, he looked out the kitchen window a few minutes later and saw about 15 bees buzzing about. He then determined that they were coming from our neighbor’s garage, which backs up to the side wall of our yard. Since what he was seeing basically amounted to Viva’s worst nightmare, he wasted no time finding a Bee Guy, who came out to the house pretty much immediately and for 200 bucks vanquished the hive.

Note: Sweet Dub went over to our neighbor’s house to tell her there was a hive in her garage and that she should bring her dog in before the Bee Guy agitated the bees by trying to kill them. Apparently she thinks the Bee Guy works for free, because she did not even offer to pay part of the cost. The bees were on her property, but the Blah Blahs had to pay to eliminate them. This incident will no doubt turn up again as part of a different post entitled, “People Are Triflin’.”

Exhibit B. Skunks. Running rampant at night throughout our neighborhood.

Exhibit C. I picked Viva up early from school yesterday because she was sick. While rummaging about in the kitchen making lunch, I discovered a trail of ants making its trusty way into my kitchen cabinets. Upon opening said cabinets, I was witness to a feeding frenzy of ants swarming over my honey bear. I opened the back door, picked up the honey, and flung it out into the yard. I then spent the next 30 minutes vanquishing the ants. Whee!

Exhibit D. As part of our ongoing efforts to make Viva more comfortable with bugs, I bought a copy of Charlotte’s Web (the DVD, not the book. She is, after all, only 3.). She watched the whole thing yesterday after nap, and she loved it. At the end, as the credits were rolling and we were snuggling on the couch, she shrieked and flung herself off the couch, wailing in terror. A Daddy Long Legs had wandered up onto the couch and was walking across one of our throw pillows. I grabbed the pillow, ran to the back door, and flung the Daddy Long Legs into the yard. I then spent the next few minutes outside trying to get Viva to understand that the Daddy Long Legs wouldn’t hurt her, while she just as fervently tried to get me to come in and close the door.

Ah, semi-suburban life. It is truly everything I dreamed about and more.

P.S. Buddy Lewis update: You can still vote for Buddy to become the next Wandering Golfer here. He is only 34 votes behind first place -- coming on strong! You can vote once a day, every day through November 9th. If he gets this job, it is truly the opportunity of a lifetime -- he will get to travel the world playing golf and getting paid for it. What could be wrong with that?? Please vote for him, and tip your waiter, too. Thank you and good night.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My theory (and it's just a theory) that in my necks of the woods it's just getting cold enough that all of insect-dom is trying to get in where it's warm because they know that soon, very soon, they are all going to die. I don't know how many spiders we've killed, how many of those gross box elder bugs we've squished or how many of those weird little black bugs that I don't know the name of that drown themselves in my dog's water bowl have made it into my house. They're every where!!! UGH. We also noticed out at the barn where I board my horse that the yellow jackets have been really aggressive. Guess they're just being nasty because they figure they can get one last jab in before they go belly up. My girls aren't freaking out as much over the bug invasion but I'm starting to get seriously freaked out since I'm the one wielding the Kleenex for killing. Hang in there! (Love your blog!)

Lisa Blah Blah said...

Bridget, I think your theory has some merit. Here in L.A. it is just getting cold enough at night that the bugs are all trying to find indoor hide-outs. Our house was built back in the 1920s so it is fairly old for L.A. and therefore spiders seem to just love it to bits. Woe is me!

(Thanks for the compliment!)