Death Mugs and Ladybugs

My house is the house where bugs come to die.  You can use that as my official address from this day forward  – “Amy Sullivan c/o The House Where Bugs Come to Die.”  Some I allow to die of natural causes and some I take down like the dirty rotten bastards they are.  When Mel, Stacey and I started this veggie/fruit kick (now is not the time to ask how that is going – first there was birthday extravaganza and now there are girl scout cookies – enough said) I began (obviously) having tons of fruits and veggies in my house.  WELL – along with the fruits and veggies came sniveling, sneaking, un-smackable gnats!!  Gnats are such assholes!  Most people don’t have gnats right now because of the weather (well, when we aren’t having weird summertime-like winter).  But my house is like an incubator.  In the daytime – regardless of the temperature outside, my house heats up to a sultry 80 to 85 degrees due to the wall full of windows.  I tried to ignore these damn gnats until they started buzzing around my face while I was trying to watch my stories on TV – don’t make me mad while I am watching my Vampire Diaries!!!  When I caught them buzzing around my bathroom mirror I went into full battle mode.  I searched on line how to get rid of these assholes.  I discovered that you could put a bit of cider vinegar in a bowl or something  and then cover the opening with plastic wrap and then finally poke a couple of tiny holes in the top.  The irresistible sweet vinegar lures them to the container, they walk around the top of the plastic until they eventually find the tiny holes and then they fly down in to fatten themselves with the vinegar.  Sated with vinegar they fly back up to go about whatever asshole activities they had planned for the day and find that they can’t find their way out in time (because they are stupid) and then they die!!!!!!  Boohoohoooahahahaha (that’s my evil laugh).  I don’t know why they can find their way in, but can’t find their way out.  It happens to the best of us I guess.  All I know is that it works!!!!!  I used coffee mugs as my vinegar containers (I made sure to use DLA Piper mugs since they laid me off back during the “dark days” – it seemed fitting).  I call them my “death mugs.” 

The ladybugs also come to my house to die.  They come in the hundreds.  I have always been told that it is bad luck to kill a ladybug so I just let them be.  They mostly stay up at the top of the ceiling – huddled in groups.  But they buzz around the house from time to time.  I assume they come into my house to get warm and live out the final days of their lives.  When they finally die, they drop down on the ground and I sweep them up and toss them out.  Sometimes I see them walking on the floor and I step over them – often saying “oh, excuse me.”  If they land on me or my plate or my computer I will gently flick them off, but I don’t put them out or kill them – I just remind them that “this is my space.”  If the windows are open I might flick them outside, but for the most part they are my roommates.  Earl the Cat even ignores them now.  He used to spastically gaze at the ceiling wondering if they were going to let him kill them, but they can almost land beside him now and he doesn’t even raise an eyebrow – he must know it’s bad luck to kill them – or he just thinks they belong here like we do.  And I guess they do.  Someone recently told me that they are not “real” ladybugs, but some kind of beetle that looks like a ladybug.  Why?  Is the “don’t kill a ladybug because it’s bad luck” notion so widespread that bugs are now using that as their defense mechanism - evolving to look like ladybugs because they know no one will kill them??   Maybe, but I am not taking any chances. . . . .unless they start flying in my face while Vampire Diaries is on.  A girl has to have her limits.

Love, peace and ladybugs y’all!



The "death mugs" - Black and White seems more appropriate



A look inside the death mugs - Eeeegads

Ceiling ladybug clusters (ignore the dirt and grime - it's 14 feet up y'all)

 

Ladybug in my bathroom sink - he hung out there for a day or two