June bugs seemed smaller this year for some reason.. no matter. I don't like their sticky little feet on me anyway. These critters give me the willies.. I saw just a few on the front door screen this year when I came home from work. Not many, but they made their debut in mid-June. Haven't seen many since. We can be thankful for many things- this is definitely one of them.Wendell tells the story about his sisters Joy and Mary. Mary complained that Joy, then probably 5-6 yr old, was catching June bugs and putting them in a jar. Apparently she had a pretty hefty collection. Wendell's mother told Mary not to be concerned- they wouldn't hurt her, and it kept Joy occupied. Later, when Mary crawled into bed, she found the June bugs all nestled under her covers! YUCK!
The Japanese Beetle is pretty common around here. I have seen them on the berry bushes in the last week. I don't like these guys either, but I'd rather deal with them than a snake , for instance. The beetles do a lot of damage to the leaf system of the berries.. we sometimes use the Bag-a-Bug to attract them elsewhere. I suppose it's time to look for a few of those. It occurs to me that if they changed their diets and went for the weeds in the garden, no one would have to worry about the vegetable plants and the beetles would be welcome. Ah.. dream on, Marilyn.......I mentioned snakes above.. actually, black snakes are preferable to the beetles- at least they keep the rodent population down. I just don't want to be surprised by one as I'm out picking the berries. The good thing is that when they see anyone coming their way, they usually run like the dickens away from the person. Not many blacksnakes will attack the human. People normally are afraid of them and rather than just move away, attack them directly and kill them. Their mistake. Just give the snake a moment, and he'll move out of your way.. looking elsewhere for rats, mice, and other nasty rodents.
