Thursday, July 8, 2010

Good Night, Squash Bugs....Maybe?

The man came home last night and burned all of the zucchini plants and the myriad of other garden debris I had thrown into the fire pit over the last couple of weeks. I was looking for the big "Pfoof" of fire that would stop all of the little squash bugs in their wake. The man set a wonderful fire that did the deed of giving the zucchini the warrior's respect they had earned. When I asked if any squash bugs made a run for it, he said a ton of bugs that looked the same hightailed it out of there, so he could assume those were the dasterdly squash bugs. When I said I was looking for the big "Pfoof!" of fire, he said, "Well, that would take gasoline."


I was thinking more along the lines of this:

But, again, the deed is done. Elegantly, gracefully, and most appreciatedly. Now I'm waiting for it to cool off this weekend and I'll find something else to do with that spot. I'm thinking of another round of cucumbers or beans. Actually....some late season peppers and tomatoes may not be bad either. They'll still have time to mature before frost, or ripen inside The ones in the ground now have almost ripened all they had and aren't producing any more because of the heat.

On another note, I've decided summer vacation can last a month and a week. You need the additional week to finish all of the work from the previous year and prep for the next and a month to decompress. Now we need to go back to school. I'm ready to do the timed bathroom breaks and 19 minute lunches. I'm ready for the irate parents, the apathetic kids and to say something seventeen times and have no one listen, although that's not unlike what I do now with my own kids during the summer.

I do go back August 4, so it's not so far away, but I'm going mad trying to find little crafty projects to keep me busy and my mind engaged inside the house since it's too blasted hot to be in the garden. Tonight I did emergency surgery on my neighbor's boy's favorite blankie that had ripped in the corners. I took it apart, cut off the bad ends, sewed it back and put a decorative stitch around it to reinforce the sides. I'm done and now I'm bored. I could clean; the house most assuredly needs it, but it doesn't keep my mind engaged and it makes me more irritated than it usually does. I'm reading The Autobiography of Ms. Jane Pitman which is one of our 9th grade reading books and whereas it's a good read, it's not going to entertain a 9th grader one bit. I've also made several more of the keychains I posted about earlier. I've done some with the pink ribbon for breast cancer and I've bought some Autism awareness ribbon and UGA ribbon (sorry EG) as well. I figure I'll have those done up by tomorrow night and I can start selling them to raise money for our school's Relay for Life team. I figure the cutsie ones will also make good teacher's gifts or stocking stuffers come Christmas. And I'm still bored. And I'm rattling on....did I mention I'm bored...and now I've bored you. Sorry about that. ;) I'll get more garden-focused tomorrow, hopefully.

The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.

5 comments:

  1. heehee, "a bunch of bugs that all look alike"! Or was that also a reference to apathetic teenagers? LOL

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  2. Ha! I love the flamethrower pic! Carnage, it's all about carnage. I can't believe you didn't just box up those squashbugs and mail them to me. I don't have any - not a single one all year. :-(

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  3. Next time, do it in barrel with a screen placed on top. Maybe they'll explode like firecrackers...(that sounded sadistic didn't it? My bad.)

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  4. I know you hope the bugs are gone. I think I would have wanted to see something dramatic, too.

    Since you like craft projects, maybe you can help Kristen at WE ARE THAT FAMILY with this project. My girls and I are going to help.

    http://wearethatfamily.com/2010/05/difop-using-pillow-cases-to-dress-the-poor/

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  5. Now that would be fun. Have a flamethrower to kill those nasty things.

    Gee if you were here I'd give you some fabric for a draft stopper for the bottom of my door. I've got my sewing machines set up right now, but not the time to do it. I'll get there eventually though.

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