The Joys of Spring (aka Centipedes freak me the heck out!)

Ah!  Springtime in Ohio!  It is truly a thing of beauty:  Grass so green it hurts your eyes (thanks to a near-constant dousing of rain- maybe I fell asleep & woke up in Seattle…), air scented with the sweetness of lilac, honeysuckle, hyacinth & pear trees, birds sing lovely songs to celebrate this glorious season; calling all the other animals to come out of their hiding spots & celebrate this beauty!!  The temperatures are moderate, and most days you can sit outside & enjoy the sunshine.  Evenings, you slip a light jacket on everyone, and daddy mows the lawn & the kids play soccer or bubbles while mommy throws some burgers on the grill.  *sigh*

Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it?  Not quite.  You see, we live in a world where good comes with bad; yin & yang; there has to be a balance or you don’t appreciate the stunning beauty of the “good”. 

“Into each life some rain must fall, some days be dark and dreary.” (H.W. Longfellow) 

Oh, Mr. Longfellow, you must surely have experienced an Ohio springtime!  For rain it does… and how!!  According to a local news station, our area “shattered” the record for rainfall last year.  To this point, looks like we might be lining up to go for the title again!!  The biggest drawback to the rain, from my perspective, is easy to spell out:  B   U   G   S!

That’s right:  BUGS.  When the rain falls, the insects seek higher ground, which, apparently means MY HOUSE!!  While ants are industrious little creatures, their industrious presence is not needed INSIDE my home!! 

I have flowers, lovely flowers, that grow outside my kitchen window.  When it rains, the ants that help to keep the soil for my pretty flowers fertile climb up-up-up and right in my kitchen window!  No, no, no… you must go!! (Sorry, Thomas the Train flashback)  I have scrubbed, and have cleaned, I have even sprayed the window ledge with bug spray, but I am beginning to think the ants have me seriously out numbered this year!  I will admit, I have reached the point where I patrol my kitchen multiple times a day with a  can of good old Lysol spray (which I have discovered not only kills them on contact, but they do not like), indiscriminately murdering any ants moving on my window ledge!!

As much of a nuisance as the ants are, these I can manage (so long as Lysol keeps making that spray!).  There are other critters, however, that really send me over the edge:

Centipedes.  Let’s talk centipedes for a moment, shall we?  These creatures, I can’t even call them bugs, are surely from another planet.  I mean… they surely don’t look like anything from this world- a hundred legs all wiggling at once and no head to speak of; they’re all body & legs!  Oh… and I think they teleport!  No, seriously.  I’ve never seen a bug move that fast!  One second they’re on one side of the room, and before you can grab the shoe on the floor beside you, they’re on the OTHER side of the room!!  Criminey!  They make spiders look FRIENDLY!  *shudder!*  Ugh!!  Nicely put, these beast Fuh-REAK me out (insert knee bend & raised, flared-finger hand here)!!

So!  My battle with the insect population of Ohio will continue, and, at some point I will win.  In the meantime, I will continue to go close my eyes & listen to the birdsong from my back yard, laugh at the silly antics of the squirrels as they chase one another around the tree trunks, glory in the feel of the sunshine on my face, and stalk the ants with a can of spray and the centipedes with a steel-toe boot!  J

Happy Springtime everyone!