Full Sturgeon Moon

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    We are currently in the Full Sturgeon Moon. The Great Lakes Native Americans named it thus. I call it the moon when the spiders come inside. I don't know if any Native American tribe has ever given the period from the middle of August to the middle of September that designation, but if they haven't they should.  Everywhere I look there are cobwebs; in the corners, under the chairs, even a woven translucent barrier across my front door. When I go outside in my pre-coffee stupor to get the newspaper in the morning, I am immediately caught up in organic saran wrap made of spider spit. I can sweep them down, and within twenty-four hours, there they are again. Spiders are intrepid, hard working, little weavers.

  I have a rule -- live and let live. Which in the case of critters, means that if you were born outside, live outside, then I won't bother you, unless I accidentally step on you, and for that I am truly sorry. I do make an exception for ground bees.  Have you ever heard of ground bees? I didn't think so. I have lived in Indiana since the stone age and I have never encountered ground bees.

  The 411 on ground bees is that they are exactly what their name says they are, bees that live in a hole in the ground. I don't know if technically they are true bees, they look more like tiny wasps. One person's bee may be an entomologist wasp. For the most part they mind their own business, unless and until  you run your lawn mower over the nest. Which is what I did.  They reminded me of fire ants. If you aren't acquainted with fire ants, let me assure you, you don't want to be.  I wasn't aware that these bees came streaming out of their hidey- hole and were swarming my body until they started stinging. (Just like fire ants.)They stung me good.  I started screaming, running, and shedding clothing as I tried to escape my enraged pursuers. I had lumps, bumps and swelling, not to mention the bruise I got on my head fr om hitting the door jam in my haste. The bee stings got infected, required big-gun drugs which wiped out my gut bacteria, cost me a tin-pot dictator's ransom in medical bills, and, well, you can imagine the rest. Therefore, the bees were an exception to my rule. Pollinators or no, respecting the confines of my four walls or no, they had to go.

  Another class of pest that tries to move in every fall are mice. Again-if they stay outside, we are good. But every year they test me. Before my kids grew up and moved away I had to live-trap them. Yes, small plexi-glass traps exist with a one-way door. I'd collect a batch of them, load up the trunk and haul them into the country for release. I tried to release the first few around the block, but mice are like homing pigeons. They come back. They are kind of cute, but not peeking out of my Cheerios box cute. So, when my kids moved out, the live traps got pitched and I told my cats, no mercy, no mercy on the mice. They do a pretty good clean-up operation.

  Are you familiar with Asian Ladybugs? It sounded like a good idea at the time, right? Import a bunch of bugs to supplement our native lady bugs to combat aphids. Who knew they'd bring their entire extended family with them? Millions of them. If they wish to swarm on the exterior walls of my home during the fall and spring, so be it. Yet somehow, they end up inside. When they come inside not only do they stink when you try to Hoover them up, they bite. Not nice beetles, not nice at all.

                                                           University of Kentucky Entomology Department

  So far, the other animals that inhabit my yard, the possum, raccoon, rabbits, squirrels (both ground and arboreal), garter snakes, voles, moles, and who knows what else, are satisfied to remain outside, and we live in harmony and peace. Let that be a warning outdoor critters,enter the house at your own risk.

  Back to the spiders.            

  My sister says you should never kill a predator.  During the summer months the few spiders that reside on the ceiling in my sun room  keep the fruit fly population down. I appreciate that. Other than the bits and pieces of aforementioned flies that are discarded in tiny piles on the floor, these arachnids are quiet boarders. They don't make a fuss, leave a mess in the bathroom or have noisy parties late into the night. I could tolerate them if there were just a few, but unlike other predators, the ones you really shouldn't kill, like the big cats that multiply slowly. spiders breed in gargantuan numbers. One spider can be responsible for tens of thousands of new spiders. Like you, I cried at the end of Charlotte's Web. I loved Charlotte, but she lived in a pig sty and I'm not Wilbur the pig. When those eggs hatch, there's nothing like a little  * Simple Green. Takes care of all the little suckers, and cleans the wall too.

* A propane torch works well too, but much harder on the paint.