NOVEMBER DAYS

The weather has been almost as annoyingly unpredictable as the Asian beetles are. It's frigidly cold one day, mild the next.

I was bombarded with thousands of Asian beetles one mild day last week (see previous post). Then a sudden overnight frost killed them. 
Or so I thought.  

On Saturday morning I was horrified to find hundreds of dead beetles piled up around the doors and windows. They presumably perished from the frost.

Dead beetles everywhere -

lower part of photo is inside the house by the front door,

upper part is on the porch

Sunday was a sunny, mild day and - wouldn't you know - live Asian beetles began appearing everywhere again, but not quite as many as last week. 

The allure of a mild, sunny Sunday made me temporarily forget the damn beetles and inspired me and my El Cheapo camera to wander outside.

Despite the fact that the leaves are shedding quickly, the foliage looks much nicer than it did in October. It was a wonderful afternoon.

I almost never take videos with my El Cheapo digital camera because

1. They quickly drain the battery

and

2. The quality is so POOR that it looks worse than an 1895 Kintoscope experiment by Thomas Edison.

The above clip that I took Sunday is only about 20 seconds. A quick glimpse of my back yard.

Here are some photos.
It was a perfect day for taking pictures - and the best part is I only ventured a few feet from the house.

 

A strange shadow taking pictures in the forest. I was wearing a cowboy hat, which is the reason my head looks so big.

Note:
I removed my recent piano video simply because it annoyed me (but I appreciated your comments). I will post more piano videos in the near future..  Jon

ATTACK OF THE HARMONIA AXYRIDIS

It was a helluva long, painful spring and summer here in my Tennessee wilderness mountain abode.

They are technically extremely large and impressive hills, but it sounds much more dramatic and romantically intriguing to call them mountains.

After five years of existing in the midst of Mother Nature's appealing, yet appalling embrace, I've learned to tolerate (endure?) all of the incredibly annoying crap that goes with it. 

I've had squirrels in my roof, 'possums under the house, skunks in the garage. I've had a snake in my bedroom and two 'possums inside the house.  

Nests of mice have taken up residence in my desk drawers and clothes drawers. I found a live mouse sleeping in the washing machine. 

I won't mention the wasps, carpenter bees, hornets, horseflies, gnats, fruit flies, drain flies, and stink bugs that plagued and tortured me mercilessly from April through September.

I was delighted when the annual influx of Asian beetles didn't make their usual appearance in mid-October.

Asian beetles
Lady beetles
Harlequins
Harmonia Axyridis

Those are the names by which the little bastards are known. They resemble ladybugs but are more orange-brown than red in color. And they're extremely aggressive.  

When November arrived - unusually cold and inclement - I  was absolutely positive that the dreaded Lady Asians had cancelled their Tennessee invasion this year.

The Big Kahuna God of Nature must have awakened and noticed my joy.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was fairly mild. A few annoying summer bugs lethargically appeared but I didn't think much of it - - - until I suddenly started finding robust Asian beetles in the house. Lots of them.   

It couldn't be, I kept telling myself - not in November!

When I cautiously opened the front door and stepped out on the porch, the plagues of Egypt descended upon me.

Thousands - and I mean thousands - of Asian beetles were swarming everywhere! They covered the porch, the side of the house, the windows - and dense armies of them were zooming through the air.

Like an idiot, I had gone outside in my underwear (hell, no one is around here to see me but Bigfoot).
The beetles immediately descended upon me - hundreds of them - and that's when I discovered they BITE! 

I had to flee back into the house. I was covered with beetles and my legs were bitten dozens and dozens of times in mere seconds.

Not knowing what to do, I grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol and doused my legs. Then I began combing beetles out of my hair.  

To make a long story short (which at this point is a complete impossibility) today (Thursday) is rainy and chilly. A hard frost is expected tonight.  The influx of Asian beetles has diminished - although I found several in my bed last night.

Pictures, anyone?  

 

Despite the fact that my windows are all tightly shut, the Asian beetles still manage to get in. This was my bedroom window last night.

Of course, Bosco had to get in on the action. I quickly cleaned up the beetles before he could eat any.

Beetles on the window yesterday...

And the front door - -
(this is after I used bug spray)  

 It's nearly impossible to see in this photo, but loads of beetles are swarming through the air.

Is there an end to this tale of woe?

Only if the frost kills the Asian invaders tonight.