Bill’s daughter, Laura, has arrived from Vancouver with her 16-month-old son for an extended visit. Of course, we love having them here, but for me, there is an added bonus: the country through a city person’s fresh eyes & ears.

One of our first crisis arose this morning. I heard out of my bedroom window that overlooks the side deck: “Come in here! Get those bugs off you!” with a touch of panic. Worried that we had an infestation of late mosquitoes or spiders, I peered out to find my window screen dotted with the culprits: ladybugs.

Photo via “How to Start a Ladybug Garden”

During the night, we had winds from the south that gusted to 45 mph (70 kph). That, along with some rain last night and then sun this morning, has brought out the wee red bugs in force. All of the door frames & windows that face south or east are covered with them.

A country person (I guess that’s me now) either sweeps them away or ignores them. Laura goes on an all-out retaliation. First, she swats them off her boy and grabs him inside. The she closes all the doors and clears the baby out to Gram (that’s me!) and spends the next fifteen minutes climbing on furniture to kill all the ladybugs with a fly swatter. I’m required to sweep the door frames and then spray with Raid.

I remember that the first year I was here, the strange beetles and bugs that I encountered inside the house freaked me out a little. I guess I’m used to most of them now. But there’s a warning.

If you live in the country, especially if you live in an old farmhouse in the country, you will have bugs inside from time to time.
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Can you handle it?

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