The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Living in Waitsburg, I’ve adjusted to the fact that, for every season, there is a bug or two or more. It’s early fall, and the blue gnats are invading every bit of air space. I’m sure I’ve ingested a swarm on the tennis court this morning. While the tree bugs, aka box bugs, aka alder bugs, are invading every crevice and space possible. I find them in doorways, windowsills, under wood pilings, climbing up the vinyl siding, and anywhere they decide to land.

Halloween is approaching, and at least most of the spiders and webs around town are decorative, but I know the real ones are imminent. If I remember correctly, just before the end of fall and before the cold weather of winter, the rain starts and brings out earthworms. At least they stay outside and can be entertaining. Before our front garden filled in, I would sit on the front porch with Daniel and Mugsy, wine in hand, watching earthworms move through the ground, stretching from two-inch blobs to what seemed to be six-foot snakes, working their way in and out of the dirt. As previously mentioned, I am easily entertained.

This winter, I know there will be an array of spiders in the house. Often, they land in the bathtub, where I can shoo them down the drain. Somehow, frozen pipes don’t seem to bother them at all.

Then Spring returns, which quickly rolls into Summer, and a whole new batch of varmints. We start with Aphids (bad), Ladybugs (good), Earwigs (annoying and ugly), Squash Bugs (destructive), Hoverflies (good pollinators, but annoying), Bees (see Hoverflies), Wasps (bad.) Flies and mosquitos buzz around, but the worst are the slugs. They infiltrate and eat tomatoes, flowering plants, and vegetables.

Once, I picked a tomato with a slug in it and immediately dropped it to the ground. Mugsy dove for it and swallowed that infested tomato in one gulp. Either he is a gourmet, dining on escargot a la’ tomato, or just desperate for a juicy tomato. Either way, I was grossed out.

Of course, add to that a few ants, praying mantises, a dragonfly or two, grasshoppers, and some moths, and then it’s back to autumn and the blue gnats and tree bugs.

Most of these bugs are nonexistent in Southern California. Los Angeles does have cockroaches. Plentiful and disgusting, they, not the meek, will inherit the earth and outlive everyone. There are also fire ants, bees, and somewhat new to the Los Angeles area - mosquitoes. Playing tennis in L.A. this last summer, I was covered in mosquito bites that itched like crazy. I went through at least ten tubes of Benadryl and Hydrocortisone creams to relieve the itchiness. Thankfully, L.A. and Waitsburg mosquitoes don’t carry malaria.

As kids in New York, we chased, caught, and kept fireflies in jars filled with grass and holes in the lid. Even with food and air, they usually didn’t last until morning. After the jars were empty, we would put caterpillars in, waiting for them to turn into beautiful butterflies—also a failed experiment but an excellent introduction to bugs.