Assorted Bugs

For the past month or so, I've been trying to kill a colony of sugar ants that's decided my kitchen is the 'it' place to be. It's my fault it has been taking so long. I put the Terro bait down for a few days, then, as soon as I don't see any ants, move on. In the meantime, the little critters are back under the cabinet regrouping, and we repeat the process a few days later, as soon as I notice them crawling across the floor, getting into the cat food again.

I feel a bit silly about it, but part of the reason I've been lax is because, with all the unbalance going on the the world, it seems somehow unfair of me to kill the ants. I'm way bigger than they are,  and I feel like a mean executioner killing them off because I don't like where they've decided to make their nest.

I gotta admit, I've killed off many an ant colony with nary a second thought. Feeling sympathy for them is new to me. I blame the COVID years.

But, it turns out, I haven't gone totally loony. My sympathy for the lives of bugs is limited to what they're working to destroy. 

I went outside yesterday morning to remove the latest group of black-spotted leaves from my beleaguered rose bushes, only to find a bunch of Japanese beetles had moved in and turned a number of the remaining leaves to lace. And. And! They decimated the one flower the bush has managed to produce anyways, despite the fact it is down to fewer than half its leaves since the black spot returned with a vengeance.

Not on my watch!

I immediately marched back inside for a cup of soapy water, and knocked all the bugs I could find off of their perches and into the cup, where they quickly drowned. I grimaced when I missed the cup, only to watch the bug sail away across the yard to freedom. Not only did I feel zero ounces of sympathy for the bugs I killed, I left my cup outside, where it would be handy when I returned an hour or so later to see if any of the escaped bugs were unwary enough to return.

Mess with my roses, will you!