Bored of the Flies

Why is it our brains fool us into believing we can do things that weren't even a problem when we were younger and then our body brings us back into reality of no, that chore or thing you want to do isn't advisable. So how hard could it be to spread wood chips? Well, maybe in Houston it would be the heat that defeated the effort but here the temps are good but you find yourself working on an incline or a decline depending on which way you are working. The trees and vegetation were cut down on Saturday and the ants have already laid claim, big time, like the wood chips have become a gated community for them, in just a couple of days. First, I sprayed some Round Up on the weeds, then got a rake to help spread the natural mulch. You know, we are being so ecological only to realize now I have to use more spray to kill some of those ants. I spread a little of the chips...emphasis little and had the grand idea of going up to the gravel road and pushing the chips down. Note to self, it is not smooth and easy, it is rocky and with soft dirt, not too stable. I stumbled and bumbled a couple of times and finally decided to be smart and wait for Roy's help. I did not want to become a part of the ant condo. So, I resigned myself to doing those things I am able to do and decided a break on the front porch was just what I needed.

I am seeing victory in the fruit fly season of life. So, I first tried the homemade version of a fruit fly trap. Our friend Bill asked me the other day, how is that working for you? Well, it is not working. Oh I caught a few but apparently my fruit flies are Harvard educated and didn't fall for the Google researched way of trapping fruit flies. Bill suggested RAID. So, while I was at Lowe's I got the last can on the shelf of bug spray for the kitchen. I am not too fond of spraying for fruit flies in the kitchen but the times, they are a desperate. I sprayed the garbage can and that seemed to help. Yesterday, the professional help came via UPS, the Terra Fruit Fly Trap and it has worked quite well. Slowly we march to victory.

Several years ago a friend related her parent's experience of living in WNC and although they loved the mountains, the people and the views...they could not tolerate the bugs. They moved. Granted, there are a lot of gnats, fruit flies, stink bugs and the like. Yes, they are annoying but I'm willing to endure.

I remember Beth Moore saying one time, "every stick is not a snake." Of course she used this in a spiritual example when we think everything bad is from the enemy kind of thing or we look to make things that aren't into something that isn't or is. I could probably give a better explanation if I didn't skim listen at times...yes, even with Beth Moore. That being written, just as I trained my eyes to find ripe blackberries, I am now the great overseer of sticks, dead leaves and the like...mulch...it makes no difference. Yesterday the way a shadow of a tree limb on a rock looked like the faint image of a snake from the view here at the desk. Of course once I looked out the window, I saw it was, you know a shadow. There is a rusty pipe on the bank of the garden that I need to throw away because yes, passing by the window quickly my brain alerts snake! Of course it is the pipe and it is brown and the snakes passing this way usually are black. Sadly, with the clearing of vegetation, our backyard is not popular with the birds. They like all the overgrowth and I have seen one chipmunk. Not so happy to see him but at least there is a survivor from the overgrowth season of life here in the mountains.