Country Life Crashes into City Life

Yesterday was a prime example of how my ‘old life’ and ‘new life’ crash.

We are in the midst of an unseasonably warm spell here in southern Virginia. The ice storm that is making life hell for everyone in the midwest, and is slowly encroaching on the northeast, hovers just north of us, pushing all the warm air onto the south.

And with the unseasonably warm weather comes…ladybugs. Not just the occassional “Aw ain’t it cute!” kind of bug. I am talking SWARMS of the nasty beetles. We live on a loblolly pine farm, remember? Apparently ladybugs LOVE loblolly pines. A neighbor told us that the state dropped ladybugs by the millions onto the timber farms in the ’80s and ’90s to control an aphid problem. I’ve never seen an aphid, which must mean that the ladybugs are doing their job.

But as soon as the temperatures hit 65, the nasty bugs wake up. And they are nasty! When there are many of them, they poop everywhere. My house is less than 2 months old and my office paint needs to be touched up already because the darned bugs are just pooping everywhere.

And the smell. It is so strong it makes me nauseous. This is what happens when hundreds of these beetles invade your office.

And they bite. I had one fall into my shirt yesterday. I leave it to your imagination where that darned bug bit me. Suffice to say he did not live through the experience.

Here is some great info from Frugal Living on dealing with ladybug swarms if you are interested:http://www.frugalmom.net/garartladybuginfest.htm

But life in the country goes on. In the midst of trying to work in the middle of the ladybug invasion, both UPS and the mail lady drove up with packages. The mail lady finally brought the beautiful shades for my office…insulated to keep the heat down…and to keep the light off the computer screen….I am very grateful for those shades! The UPS driver brought the first of two shipments of trees. We are planting around 20 fruit trees and about 40 ornamental trees and shrubs. John, my father in law Jack, and I spent two hours yesterday afternoon and got the ornamentals in and the fruit trees under moist cover until today when John can plant them. I heard a deer crashing through the millet last night as I put in some hours after dark (and after the ladybug swarm had been disposed of for the evening!) in my office working on a client project. I only hope the deer don’t find all the new shrubs. They look like tiny twigs anyway, and with all the warm weather, the grass is growing nice and green and moist, so I am hopeful that Bambi and her ilk will prefer the grass and leave our orchard alone.

So, my ‘city life’ of marketing consulting crashed head first into ‘country life’. Flexibility was the key. I simply flexed my schedule, and joined John and Jack outside to plant the trees, leaving the ladybug swarm in my office. Then, when the sun went down and it cooled outside, and the bugs settled in for the night, I removed them with the vaccuum hose, and was able to sit at my desk in peace and quiet and do some work. It’s nice to be able to work without batting ladybugs out of your hair!

And even better, working with John to have our rural dreams come true is amazing….the orchard is a long-held dream….and yesterday, my McMurray Hatchery catalog came, and we spent time last night while watching TV looking at the variety of chickens and turkeys available. We found a good place for the chicken coop yesterday, and John has begun talking about ideas to build it. The plan is to build the coop over the winter, then get our first batch of chickens in the spring.

Rural dreams, projects from my former city life….life at Seven Oaks goes on!