Last Friday I mentioned that it felt like March. What I forgot to mention was the return of the ladybugs. Anytime that therometer creeps up to 50 degrees or more, those pesky little ladies and gentlemen swarm the window frames and ceiling, especially on the north and west sides of the house. They fly through the air, liberated, it seems, from the drugged sleep of winter.
It was a brief liberation. Winter has those crawly critters back in her deathly grip. The cold returned on Sunday, the flakes are flurrying this morning. We haven't had a good snow yet. I haven't read the forecast, so who knows if this powdered sugar sprinkling will turn into a heavy duty frosting? Either way, it is nice to know that winter in SW Va is full of surpises. Enough cold to make you fully appreciate a nice spring day. Enough spring-like days to help a poor former Texas farm girl deal with the REALLY cold days.
PS Some of our regular visitors and dining guests will be happy to enjoy the much brighter light in the dining room. A light bulb went out in the dining room, forcing Philip to deal with the collection of dead ladybugs in the globe portion of the light fixture. Hundreds of ladybugs have been interred in the compost. We will not mourn them. We only hope that their brother and sister ladybugs would learn to adapt like our own native aphid eaters and make their homes in the leaves and grasses along the edge of the woods. This would greatly increase their life expectancy. Will they evolve? Alas, I doubt it, as long as those irritating insects can find a crack or a crevice into our farmhouse.
PPS Thank you, God, for snowflakes and ladybugs and the wonderfully different seasons you allow in my life. I want to embrace each one, enjoy it to the fullest, and not spend my days simply counting down til springtime.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
They're calling for a wintry mix...
The devil sent those ladybugs! I had so many in my other house that when they were swarming, we could not even eat in the house. Hubby would have to bring fast food home and we'd eat it in the sealed truck. You couldn't even make a sandwich without them dropping into the mayo. I should send you some pictures. They are horrible. They cause asthma like cockroaches, are fire hazards in light sockets and switchplates, and they clog heating ducts. You probably know they are not native here. Another Asian pest introduced by the Dept. of Agriculture and things are getting out of hand like it always does when you mess with nature. Like the stink bugs. We're going to have trouble with them this year too.
*sighs... Yes, I'm very very tired of ladybugs and it's wonderful that some cold weather has arrived to put them asunder.... No idea how they are getting into our house, but I am tired of sharing my office with them each evening and picking up their tiny dead bodies from my floors... eeks..
Di
The Blue Ridge Gal
Ah ladybugs! I've had the same kind of infestation in the old farmhouse I lived in. I was told that it's particularly bad in houses that have cedar siding or beams (and mine had both).
You guys should read a very funny story written by our friend Ross on my original ladybug post: Ladybug Ladybud, Fly Away Home, PLEASE. Back in October maybe? He shared the story of the dead ladybug in the ear that is HILARIOUS!!!
Post a Comment