Skeeters
Something we've apparently missed out on this Fargo summer is the swarm of giant mosquitoes that usually descends on the region. The spring was so dry that the eggs just didn't get laid, and we're reaping a tiny harvest of them now, which makes going outside these days just about perfect. The Forum runs a little box every day on page 2 (right), the "Skeeter Meter," which has limped along at one skeeter all summer long. I'm not sure how high the Meter gets, but we seem to be in no danger of topping out this year.
Nothing comes without a price, however. What's bad for mosquitoes is good for wasps. The northern part of town is infested with them. Woodpeckers drill holes into wood, and then the wasps move in. Since all we have here on the south end of town is drought-stunted corn, instead of trees, we seem to be immune to these pests. The only bug really on our minds these days is crickets. They seem to like our garage, and like sneaking into the house whenever the kids leave a door open. Jen has a surprisingly tender heart toward them when summoned for removal duty. She shoos them onto a baking sheet now dedicated to the purpose, and carries them out the front door. I whap 'em good with the sheet.
The kids absolutely detest the crickets. They seem to only live in the lower level, where the kids' rooms are. Ellie crawled into our bed at 6:30 this morning, crying that one was in her room – she can spot them from across the house. Sadly, though Indy was game to eat spiders on command back in Rockville, we can't get her to eat the crickets. I don't understand it – Wired reports that if you "sauté them with a little olive oil and some spices[,] they are surprisingly edible, with a nice crunch and a subtle nut flavor."
posted by Tom at 8:16 AM
1 Comments:
Re Skeeters, Wasps & Crickets ... interesting you should post this today. The kids and I visited your shed just this morning to retrieve some sawhorses, and Harry found a large (luckily, disused) wasp nest. Was just reading this yesterday:
www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060717/NEWS02/607170317/1009
Crickets are currently overrunning our yard and basement. It's a delicate matter, deciding how to spin this matter to a daughter who years later remains deathly afraid of Nicaraguan, er, "Palmetto bugs". We've found, though, that approaching them as "black grasshoppers" cuts the fear factor significantly.
Finally (and interestingly, I hope), whereas most other bugs, when dead, rarely smell, crickets can easily fill a closed room with the stench of death. This is due to the complex proteins comprising the fibers in their large leg muscles, which are very similar in composition to our own muscles. That's also why they's good eatin' (or so I'm told). Just in case anyone ever wonders ...
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