The War

It's not what you think.

I'm waging war against the Japanese beetles who have devoured my roses, plum tree and primroses in the front garden. They have made their way to the back deck and are eating and mating (not a pretty sight) on the blossoms of the hibiscus tree in the container garden. Thankfully, they don't like anything else on the deck.

Weeks ago, I had sent a letter to my homeowner's association, copying my local councilman, but have received no response. Thus, I took the matter into my own hands. I have since installed Japanese beetle traps in the parking lot ground in front of the house and in the land I actually own in back of the house.

So far, I've changed the bags several times because they've captured quite a few of the nasty things. How they work is by two types of lures. The floral lure attracts the female beetles and the phermone lure attracts the male. They fly around the plastic bag holder, but when they land, they cannot hang on, so they fall into the bag below. The bag has a tiny waist for the bugs to fall through, but they cannot climb back up and out on the plastic. Thus, they eventually die. Then, it's my turn to tie off the bag and throw it out with the garbage. Actually, the timing for changing the bags works out exactly with garbage days. If you wait too long, the bag begins to smell and turn off the bugs so they don't become trapped.

I'm not sure if I'm actually winning this war because there are millions of these beetles and only two traps, but I just want to stave them off enough to ensure that my roses will make it past the ugly beetle season. Besides, I'm aware that there is no actual winning of a war when there are deaths involved, even if they are just Japanese beetles.

In other news, I regret that I haven't been doing all that much cooking, baking or picture taking. It's just been so beastly hot that I hesitate to bake. John and I even put off making our own pizza for fear of turning the house into an oven. The heatwave shows no signs of abating, but I'm doing some stove-top cooking and picture taking, so there will be colorful posts once again.

Also, I will keep up with my Cooking for US postings as I'd promised them. My next two will be on matzo brei and a kale side dish.

The most exciting news is that the mixer has shipped and I received my carob cookbook from Amazon.com. So, that means there will be plenty of mixer photos and postings very soon.

Stay tuned! And, keep cool.