This ain't no Beetle Bailey

It's my absolute favorite time of year. The grass is still green. The days are super long. The fire flies are finally out. The yuccas are blooming. The gardens look gorgeous. It's not brutally hot yet. Yeah for late June!

I've only got a few minutes before I have to get busy at work (yes, I said work; I'm tired of saying "the place of which I do not speak," because I am all good with them telling me I can't write about work because at this point I am going to write about whatever I damn well please), so I am going to talk about bugs.

The dreaded Japanese beetles are reportedly back in town, although I have yet to see one. I am ready, tho. Those bugs won't know what hit them. I've replaced my blog header, again employing the beetle theme. Hit the road, beetle!

A bigger problem in town is the gypsy moth. I'm telling you, it's gross. They literally cover the base of the tree and eat their way up, killing the tree by chomping all the leaves to smithereens. I was wondering why people had wrapped their trees with saran wrap and now I know--they wrap the tree with the saran wrap and cover it with Vasoline, so the caterpillars can't climb up to the leaves. In the meantime, there is a HUGE pile of undulating wormy things at the base of the tree. Rumor has it that you have to use a shop vac to suck them up because they really, really stink if you leave them there to die. Yum.

I have decided Mother Nature will keep most Japanese beetles out of our lives and that she has found our backyard incompatible for gypsy moth caterpillars.

As Madonna says, "I've only got four minutes," so that's it for today. Tomorrow or Thursday, I'll try to remember to post my "Ode to a Lemon Cake," because it is a classic that deserves to be posted at this very favorite time of year.....