Bugs on Parade

  There is a never-ending parade of bugs when you live on a Bayou.  Our springs go sort of like this. First, grasshoppers.  I am not talking about the cute, little green critters but the humongous Eastern Lubber variety.  They hatch out in masses of millions (no lie, no exaggeration).   We try to kill them but the sheer numbers make it impossible.  Then, termites.  Yep, the most vile of critters because they eat your house. (We are still battling them.)  In the midst of termite swarms, deer flies begin to appear until there are so many that hikes are a thing of the past.  They bite...hard.  Large, red, itchy welts are the result.  Those deer flies are not a happy.  Then...then...fleas.  If we are not watchful, an outbreak of fleas can mean trouble.  With all of the furry critters that roam the woods and marshes, it stands to reason that fleas roam there, too.  Fox, coyotes, raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, mice...well, just about every furry critter around carries the fleas so we have to be diligent to not let them infest the yard and house.  These are the critters invasions that irk me the most but there are others...lots of others.

  The Bugs on Parade thought jiggled around in the brain this afternoon as I was filling the bird feeder.  The feeder was hung near the jasmine/rose arbor which also houses a rogue wisteria.  It was on one of the long wisteria shoots that another sort of "parade" was happening. At least, these were some of the more pardonable insects that invade the place.  Leafhopper bugs were lined up for a great length of the vine.  These were small and nigh on transparent making me realize that these were newbies.  There must have been a recent hatching of the Leaf-mimic Leafhoppers and the little ones climbed from under the leaves where the eggs had been deposited.  Once they reached a vine, the little critters lined up to start their lives.  Ok, Little Leaf-mimic Leafhoppers go eat to your hearts' content before you get sprayed along with some of these more vicious critters.