Evil Ladybugs & Other Weirdness

  The weather here is so random. You never know what winter will bring. We do usually get an obligatory day of ice and a little snow but we sometimes  get Springlike days that fool even the frogs and, as of late, the skunks. A mid-January rainshower brought out a plague of frogs. It was impossible not to squish some as you drove down the road and they prematurely started their mating singing that night only to be bitterly cut off by the 20 degree temperature drop the next day. 

  The skunks were not discouraged by the return of the chill of winter. They have been very active. Apparently normal skunk activity involves playing in the street all pumped up with the natural desire to find a mate because there is at least one roadkill skunk on each road in our neighborhood. Usually, it's not until March that I have to install the cinnamon car freshener in all the air vents. Ahhh, country living.

  One good thing is that the chickens are not sure whether or not to stop laying eggs so I still get eggs about every other day or two. Add to that blessing, the delight of finding a cute little pale blue egg from one of my Easter Egg chickens that has just started laying eggs. I'll take that. Now I am waiting on the six others to start. Sure I wasn't expecting them to lay until Spring but Nilla has set the bar. Do you know how fun it is to peek in the coop and find several eggs? It is like little presents. Chickens are so cool.

  Another weird side effect of the weather and bad windows is the ladybugs. This, like the frogs, is a lot like a plague. Thousands of ladybugs awoke and then preceded to find a way to get in my house. There must be a map or a sign for them because they know to go to one of two downstairs windows only to promptly die in the windowsill. But a few of the hardiest ones venture bravely out to explore our home and then attack.

  Imagine you are innocently washing your hands in the bathroom when all of the sudden you feel a tiny bite on your arm. Instinctively you reach your hand up to touch the place and find a hard little lump. Upon visual inspection, you realize that it is not a mosquito or a tick but a ladybug who is not being very ladylike. I could possibly get over the fact that I have to sweep up ladybug carcasses everyday but when they start attacking me, that's the final straw. Oh yeh, it's on, ladybug!

  This week, besides admiring eggs and defending myself against vicious ladybugs, I also tried my hand at making gluten-free onion strings from another site that I found, Real Sustenance. The pictures alone are worth making a visit to the site but the onion strings are also delicious!  



  All of this is just a reminder, I suppose, to enjoy whatever season you are in at the moment, even if the ladybugs are biting. 
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven..."
Ecclesiastes 3:1