Oh, September....

  Oh, September, why must you always plague us with your problems?  I look so forward to your coming merely because after you leave, there comes October!  BUT...you! You always have to come in so merrily and shower us with LOVEBUGS!  Lovebugs!  Those pesky little critters that get in the hair, plaster the fronts of cars, creepy-crawly into every nook and cranny and generally make a nuisance of themselves. Lovebugs! Ugh!  I do not love thee, Lovebug....at all!  Bad part is...May has taken to following your lead, September.  Now, the  May brings the same critters to see us.  We cannot handle this much "love" so just stop it already!

  Actually, I pretty much ignore the clingy critters.  Since I do not often leave the Bayou, I never have the problem driving through the clouds of black and red flying nuisances, the geckos have never feasted so well as they do in September (except maybe in April and May when the termites and lovebugs are swarming) so having the lovebugs on the sides of the house is not all bad and I have to admit that I have had worse things in my hair (think termites again.).  At least, these critters do not bite or sting!

  One thing that I have noticed about the lovebugs is that they seem to love the nectar from chives. With the chives in full bloom at the same time the critters make their appearance, I guess this is more than pure coincidence.  The larvae of the critter munches away on decaying plant material but the adults love nectar.  While they fly around attached doing their lovebuggy thing, the critters make a beeline for the chives.  Great clouds of them hover over the blooms and crawl about sipping nectar from each flower.  Something must be pretty tasty about chive nectar!

  The bugs have been here for nigh on a week now so their invasion should start dwindling rapidly.  We will have seven or eight months before this onslaught begins again.  In the meantime, I will continue to sweep the critters out the back door and hope the window screens do not get a tear in them.  Carry on, Lovebugs.  We will just look the other way.