OH, FOR A ZEN LIFE

I am, I believe, a creator by nature. I love to make things, lots of things from bread to rugs to tiny Easter Chicks. Being a Destroyer is really not in my make-up, I am anguished even, at destroying 'weeds' in my garden. Does a growing plant know it is a 'weed', unwanted and destined for removal? I ask myself this over and over again. I know some think this foolish and taking things a bit far, but it is who I am.

And so each spring/fall I am confronted with a mighty dilemma. My role as creator shifts daily, most often multi-times per day, to Destroyer. I am not comfortable with this role, not at all, but I fail to find an alternative.

The culprit..............The Multicolored Asian Beetle

as seen below in its single appearance.
Cute isn't it?

These beetles were first introduced to the United States in 1916 to help control insect pests. They love aphids, and are truly beneficial in ridding a field of this pest, and reducing the need for harmful pesticides. It wasn't until 1988 that they began to show up in huge numbers in New Orleans.

They did not make their appearance in Wisconsin until around 1994...I believe in my house. I recall the very first time I saw them as I was dust mopping the hardwood floors of my upstairs. I first saw one crawling along the baseboard, picked it up very gently and cradled it in my hands. Then I spied another and one more after that. I carefully collected them and ever so softly laid them in a palm tree that sits on the landing of the stairs. Oh, I thought, isn't this wonderful!

Little did I know...oh, how little I knew!

This picture is only a tiny portion of a window on our front, enclosed porch. We have twelve such windows on the porch, and our house, in an otherwise delightful feature, is filled with windows, even in our spacious closets, perhaps as many as 32. And yes, almost all of the windows have a multitude of Asian beetles congregating around. Not all of the windows have this many, which believe me numbers in the hundreds and hundreds, perhaps thousands. (Vacuuming them never, not ever, clears them away, as soon as I move from one window to the next, the first is filled again. Honestly!) Some windows have only 20 or so, occasionally a window might have only one or two. There might be a window that has none...for the moment. Our floor is frequently littered with Asian Beetle carcasses which defy the continual sweeping/vacuuming.

Looking out from a front porch window AFTER just vacuuming it.

Another delightful feature of this 90+ year-old house are the 'picture frame' moldings in both the dining room and the living room. They are a beautiful oak, which by the way, was logged off this very land. These lovely oak strips have become....

a private, much used walkway for the Asian beetles. Here are two sauntering along, where they are headed I do not know. With any one closely observant glance up to the molding, one can see stretched out along its length, more than one can count.

I have been vacuuming and vacuuming and vacuuming, often five times per day...to no avail. Yes, there are sprays one can use outside to reduce the population, which I have resisted because of the toxicity, but I think I resist no more. We'll see.

There are 4 stages to the life of an Asian Beetle which occur over a 20 day period: egg, larva, pupa and adult with wings. (This is the stage I am confronted with.) Each Asian beetle (I presume female, but it sure wouldn't surprise me if the male reproduced, too) produces up to 5 generations...and the kicker is, each beetle, at least the ones that aren't sucked up into my vacuum or dried out on my floor, lives for 2 to 3 years!! How believable is that?

I am often troubled at my delight in sucking them up. Sometimes I am so distraught at their presence, I gleefully stomp on those little bodies, (careful here, as they emit an awful order) and then am distraught, really distraught, at my glee. I spend a great deal of time wondering what a Zen Buddhist would do in my case??? Honestly, sometimes I feel the 'crazies' pressing down on me, as I am being bombarded with agitated beetles as I vacuum.

They say the best defense is to seal all the spaces and cracks on the outside of the house..."Yea, right" is what I say. This is an old, though sturdy, house, but I do not believe there is a window that does not have some space or crack along its seams. Without an extremely costly, like total replacing of windows, there simply is no sealing of all the cracks.

I am not resigned to life with the Asian Beetle, they truly are my nemesi, and yes, I think we will try the spray this Fall, but not with complete ease.

Who though, can fault an Asian Beetle for its life? Does this tiny mite of a thing wish to cause me such distress, I think not. It doesn't know its a pest, it doesn't aim to congregate in great numbers in my house, overwhelming me. I have yet, however, to find a peaceful way for us to co-exist. I wonder if there is one?