Seriously, Mother Nature - What Were You Thinking??

One of my most faviest of favorite pass times is sitting out on my deck on a warm summer's eve with my best guy and my hubs *snort* ... okay, but if we were being honest here ... my best guy is, in fact the Captain - so, ya know ... hubs is okay with that.

For as long as I can remember, I have derived a mystical inner peace from watching a hot summer day melt into night, inch by inch. I love the night - I always have. Hubs seems to share that love with me. He's a camper at heart. Sitting around a campfire, gazing out at universe full of sparkling stars ... oh, my heart sighs just imagining it (and I'm currently only 5 hours away from experiencing it tonight). It's one of our MANY spiritual connection points.

The house we bought 2 years ago (thus destroying our finances) overlooks an inlet of the bay of Fundy. We can also look out into more open ocean, simply by turning our heads to the left. The view from our back yard is breath taking, it truly is. Almost makes it worth all this pain ... almost - not quite. (We own just over 4 acres of land here ... and nevermind looking at the parts that need to be mowed!)

(Either way ... we are getting through it and I am determined this is gonna be our year.) So, we don't have a massive bug problem on our deck due to the breeze that comes in off the water (our tides are the fastest in the world... ) but in the evening, there is about a four hour span where the nippers and mosquitoes are a scourge on our persons. Our back deck is raised and covered. It is a perfect set up for making a screened in room. This has been our plan from the beginning, but we just haven't had the funds or the time to make it so. This year, we thought we'd just get some screen and improvise a make shift screen room. 

We picked up a replacement screen for a portable enclosure and added some nylon to the bottom (as it wasn't the requisite 10 feet) and hung it on rods from inside the roof structure. It doesn't keep everything out, but it's not bad. One inherent problem with such a set up is the need to tie the loose screen back to the posts so that it does not tear in the fairly breezy parts of the day. What this means is that come dusk when we are preparing ourselves for an evening of languishing on our patio - in bug free bliss ... whatever critters are lurking under furniture & such get trapped INSIDE said enclosure. 

Did you know that june bugs spend their day in what can only be referred to as a 'catatonic' state. I'm not sure if it is the emergence of the sun in the morning that turns them to stone, or what ... but the fuckers seem to have just 'dropped' in mid flight. WTF is the deal with these creepy, crispy denizens of the night anyway? I try not to be too much of a "girl" about bugs and such. I mean, I'm not really a big fan of spiders - in fact there was a time in my life I was so petrified of them, I would run shrieking from my home upon the discovery of an eight legged bringer of doom, and would not return until someone else removed the offending creature. But as I've aged and then with the addition of Stretch and subsequently, Shorty - I made the conscious effort to NOT pass along MY irrational fears to my offspring. This has worked relatively well for the most part.

I have to draw a broad line in the sand at June Bugs. Does anybody have the slightest clue what their purpose is here on Earth? Hm? I googled them. That didn't go a great long way to decreasing my dislike, let me just say. Did you know they're related to the scarab beetle ... yeah ... they are. Ewww. I would like to take a moment and remind you of the movie "The Mummy" and that is all I have to say about that!  Apparently, they are known in some circles as "cockchafers" yeah ... betcha all you big strong brutes out there are revising your condescending opinion of my innate fear of these sticky little nasties now, aren'tcha? Mmphm.

So, we are in our little dome of protection against the various heeby-jeeby producing vermin when the witching hour arrives ... or in this case, the rise of the previously catatonic june bugs. Sweet mother of Beezus and Ramona - these things just ... rise. Then suddenly, our 'dome' transforms into something more along the lines of:

Oh - the humanity!

It is at this point that the evening takes a left turn, as the occupants of the deck react - en masse. I begin to shriek while ducking to and fro with a beach towel or some such thing on my head, the dog begins to bark - hysterically, Hubs snaps to attention and starts trying to catch these disgustingly huge, hard, stupid, clumsy - yet oddly fast flying creatures, the bugs, themselves - excited by the movements and resulting flickering light effect are bouncing off everything in sight ... it's like a pong game gone terribly wrong ... and every now and then, my mom's cat springs forth from her hiding spot, leaping into the air, snagging herself a crispy, tasty treat ... which she will then spend the ensuing ten minutes devouring ... and it sounds as though she's eating rice cakes ... ewwww! 

It's not a pretty sight, people.

Last weekend, one of them dropped into MY DRINK!!! Ruined me for the rest of the night. *shudders*   

So, yeah ... I'm looking forward to my nice relaxing 45 minutes tonight before all hell breaks loose up in here.

Happy Friday, Bleeps!!