The Perils of Life in a Forest Paradise.

I love my house. I love my life. I am lucky beyond measure, and I know it... But, there is a cost to life in paradise. I just got back from what I call a walk-about. I go out, walk around, look at what needs to be watered and weeded. Take a peek at traffic over at the hives. You know, that sort of thing. It's usually deeply soothing and satisfying. But today, I couldn't be out more that five minutes. It wasn't the heat. Though it is a blazing hot day here in Nebraska. It wasn't the poison ivy, though that little beastie of a plant is a scourge. Whenever I see a my creeping three leafed nemesis I can't help but mutter, "Ivy. You bitch." 

One of these is and one of these isn't. Can you tell which plant is the poison ivy? I play this game every day.

No, what literally sent me running for shelter was the mosquitoes. 


Please believe me when I tell you that for me to be driven inside by mosquitoes that means they are thick. And big. And mean. I grew up in Naples, FL where I was woken regularly as a child by the roar of low-flying mosquito-spraying planes. Smoochy and I've lived in southern Georgia with a retention pond in our back yard. I GET mosquitoes. But this is off the charts. These bastards are bigger than the baby robins we have living in our trellis. 


While I was out just now, I was hoping to catch a picture of the honey bees collecting water from our pond to use to cool their hive, but instead all I saw was millions of new mosquitoes climbing from the water like a black cloud of blood-sucking evil. OK, not really but you know that's where they are coming from. And though I didn't see any honey bees I did snap these pictures of the lovely water lilies the frogs are riding around on these days. 

Speaking of honey bees collecting water: Saturday I took the kids to the Arbor Day Farm for a picnic lunch and adventure. (You should visit there, it is AWESOME.) We stopped there on the way home form picking Normy up from a very special visit he made solo to spend time with his Grandma (Smoochy's Mom.) Anyway, the kids had a blast especially playing at the outdoor play area they have. The farm is also home to an observation bee hive. Plus, the surrounding area with all the orchards, supports many many colonies of honey bees. This was apparent at the faux-stream the kids were playing in. There must have been at least twenty or thirty bees collecting water there. My kids were so cool about it. After all the times they have heard, "If you leave a bee alone she'll leave you alone!" They just went about their play as though the were butterflies not honey bees dancing around them! See the bees play so nicely with my kids was one of the highlights of an all around great day.

So, back to the mosquitos. They are really ruining our plans for non-stop outside fun this summer. You know what I want to do about it? Get some ducks. I wonder how many ducks our little pond could support? I wonder if it would really help? I wonder if my parents in Florida could catch us a couple of Muskovys and ship 'em over? They live wild all over the neighborhood I grew up in. Talk about an ugly duck. But, they are renowned mosquito munchers and I read on Wikipedia just moments ago that they are nice on the dinner table. I can't really see myself over-wintering a migratory animal. That seems crewel. Much better just to eat it. Hey, come on! I know plenty of people who say they'd rather be put out of their misery than go through another winter in Nebraska! 

Image shamelessly stolen from here.

I don't know. It's going to take a lot of convincing to get Smoochy on board with ducks. I think they would be an awesome addition to out fledgling homestead, but he has some doubts. Like how we would protect them from raccoons if their wings are clipped? Or how are we going to keep 'em here if we don't clip their wings? There is some research to be done for sure. But, I'm ready to try anything to get the skeeter population under control.


Like a Bat House! Did you know a single bat can eat up to 1000 skeeters in an hour! That is awesome. Where are all my bats? We had TONS of bats at our other Omaha house. I can't believe with all the other animals like deer, muskrats, birds, squirrels, and whatever else is living in our back woods that there aren't some bats out there too. What the heck? Why are there so many fricking mosquitoes out there!!!

Photo taken moments before I captured this little guy with a colander and set home free outside. The next bat we found in the house didn't do so well. Smoochy smacked him mid-flight like he was hitting a home run with a shop vac extension. Good times.

Well, that's enough rambling for now. The kids are waking up from their naps and I have to figure out how to keep them entertained INSIDE. Please excuse my typos, I don't have time to edit.

Enjoy the following pics of the kids playing at Arbor Day Farms. (For the Grandparents)

Photos taken with my phone. Pardon the quality. Though I am perfectly capable on taking three kids on an Arbor Day Adventure I am not capable of lugging my camera around at the same time. Oh well.