One morning in July I was sitting on my mom’s patio. It was about an hour after dawn. The brick was still sodden from the previous night’s rain, and little green weeds were pushing up through the cracks. My gaze fell upon a dog turd in the mulch. It was so fully covered in flies I could not, at first, comprehend what it was. It looked like a jewel. I mean, a weird and gross jewel, but still jewel-like somehow in the shifting color and sparkle of flies. And it got me thinking: what color even is that?
I have feelings. I'm in a shifting space with buggies and as a vulture lover have tried to grow an appreciation for flies as decomposers. There are sooo many different kinds! We had a dead frog in our driveway almost unidentifiable under the mass of flies, and the next day it was completely gone 🪄👀.
I also have a bug-a-salt rifle and electrified tennis racquet/swatter that I would frequently go hunting with during the quarantine days.
Topher and I agree we had 100% more bugs in the Englewood house than we do in Alabama, so we're trying to reach a harmony with the critters out here. I even got a critter catcher✌️☮️
Unfortunately, it'll just be my mood that determines which tool I'll bust out when I spot a bug in the house. Some like to test me.
Just googled bug-a-salt rifle and wow that marketing. I like that phrasing "grow an appreciation." I am also trying to grow an appreciation for bugs we traditionally find undesirable and irritating - flies, mosquitos, wasps. Only bug I really haven't quite got there with is cockroaches, just because there tends to be so many of them. I respect all forms of life but if we got a cockroach infestation I would probably still call an exterminator. Bedbugs also. That story about the dead frog in your driveway is the archetypal use of the 👀 emoji.
I'm amending this growing appreciation to exclude wasps, yellow jackets, bed bugs, roaches and the like. Wasps are especially hateful and can die. But I will tell you that only female mosquitoes bite and that is because they need the blood for their eggs. There is something to admire about the whole risking death for your offspring, but I have never not swatted a mosquito dead when it chose me.
I was doing a mindfulness experiment a couple of months ago where I just let mosquitoes bite me and hang out there as long as they wanted. Tif was like "dude have you become daft." The results was really just a lot of mosquito bites so not sure I'd recommend it. I do try to just shoo them away though instead of slapping them dead.
“Motion seconded. All in favor. Motion passes unanimously.” 💯 I had to look up donk, which makes me afraid for myself. But I will take a Jef Speaks Buddhism moment any and all day. (We are also polarized about big treatment in this house. And if you are a bug in my parents house LOOK OUT.)
Also I have a Joy Williams bottle color anecdote to share, but it’s not for the webs. When you tell me your “my granddad’s thoughts on Van Halen” story, I’ll tell my Joy Williams tale. Totally the same. 🎸
Haha alright friend it's on. I'll be in MI a couple of times this fall/winter - we may have to have this discussion over coffee. Def no bug is safe in a Michigan household of a certain age and geographic proximity to urbanity.
love love love for “…and the twain mingle not…”
I have feelings. I'm in a shifting space with buggies and as a vulture lover have tried to grow an appreciation for flies as decomposers. There are sooo many different kinds! We had a dead frog in our driveway almost unidentifiable under the mass of flies, and the next day it was completely gone 🪄👀.
I also have a bug-a-salt rifle and electrified tennis racquet/swatter that I would frequently go hunting with during the quarantine days.
Topher and I agree we had 100% more bugs in the Englewood house than we do in Alabama, so we're trying to reach a harmony with the critters out here. I even got a critter catcher✌️☮️
Unfortunately, it'll just be my mood that determines which tool I'll bust out when I spot a bug in the house. Some like to test me.
Lol. I love this. I only just met my first bug-a-salt the other day. It was very interesting!
Getting shot with one is something like a rite of passage in our house 💥
Just googled bug-a-salt rifle and wow that marketing. I like that phrasing "grow an appreciation." I am also trying to grow an appreciation for bugs we traditionally find undesirable and irritating - flies, mosquitos, wasps. Only bug I really haven't quite got there with is cockroaches, just because there tends to be so many of them. I respect all forms of life but if we got a cockroach infestation I would probably still call an exterminator. Bedbugs also. That story about the dead frog in your driveway is the archetypal use of the 👀 emoji.
I'm amending this growing appreciation to exclude wasps, yellow jackets, bed bugs, roaches and the like. Wasps are especially hateful and can die. But I will tell you that only female mosquitoes bite and that is because they need the blood for their eggs. There is something to admire about the whole risking death for your offspring, but I have never not swatted a mosquito dead when it chose me.
I was doing a mindfulness experiment a couple of months ago where I just let mosquitoes bite me and hang out there as long as they wanted. Tif was like "dude have you become daft." The results was really just a lot of mosquito bites so not sure I'd recommend it. I do try to just shoo them away though instead of slapping them dead.
I bet, if you looked into it, green bottles aren’t as green as you think?
What is green really?
Exactly. According to Einstein, it’s many things depending on many other things.
It's also that way according to sambhogakaya!
“Motion seconded. All in favor. Motion passes unanimously.” 💯 I had to look up donk, which makes me afraid for myself. But I will take a Jef Speaks Buddhism moment any and all day. (We are also polarized about big treatment in this house. And if you are a bug in my parents house LOOK OUT.)
Also I have a Joy Williams bottle color anecdote to share, but it’s not for the webs. When you tell me your “my granddad’s thoughts on Van Halen” story, I’ll tell my Joy Williams tale. Totally the same. 🎸
Haha alright friend it's on. I'll be in MI a couple of times this fall/winter - we may have to have this discussion over coffee. Def no bug is safe in a Michigan household of a certain age and geographic proximity to urbanity.
Or rodent, for that matter
Lotta animals not safe TBH
lol. bring on the coffee!