One thing about country life is the bugs. Insects and arachnids. We don't just have flies and bees, we have everything crawling, flying and stinging. Our basement is full of millipedes and big, beautiful spiders, plus the new scourge of America: Stinkbugs from China! Also, assorted beetles, moths and caterpillars.
I have friends that say "fill in bug's name here" and I'm out of there!" but in actuality what are you really going to do? Not live there? My mother-in-law suggests we get the place fumigated. First off, we don't have the money, secondly we don't want to live within a chemical bath. The bugs are not as dangerous as insecticides. We need insects to survive on our Earth, I just don't want them in my bed.
Irene does what she can about the spiders and millipedes, and we've discovered that wet-vaccing them up has diminished their numbers. A glue board under the washing machine is as clean as the day I put it there.
In the long run, I'm not sure if we really can eliminate their presence in our house. We do need to replace the doors - they just don't fit. The back door especially, since the porch top was taken off. When Irene was smaller, she could slip under the door. That should tell you just how big that gap is!
This place is not for sissies, for sure. Bring your insect book so you can find out if you should kill it or ignore it. You need to know this because it is such a waste of time to smack everything that crawls or flies your way. If it doesn't bite or sting, ignore it.
In this picture is the pan that Tom was using to catch the water from the trenching work and the assorted insects fell into it. I didn't try to save them, I did not interfere with their drowning.
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