Under Seige (Again?)

Gosh, I am sure that at some point in the past several months I had another post by the same title. Well, such is life on a farm at the edge of the woods.

The latest intruder is Coccinella septempunctata, or the common Ladybug.
Each Autumn, around the time of the first hard frost we have a day where thousands (maybe millions) of these insects leave the surrounding woods and converge on our homes and barns.
For a few days they are a total nuisance...landing on every available surface (including hair, face, clothes, etc). They even drive the animals a little crazy. Our entire barn was literally polka-dot this afternoon....little red crawling polka-dots!

"Ladybug, ladybug fly away home,
Your house is on fire, your children are gone....." (what a horrid nursery rhyme)
Northern European folklore says that if a ladybug lands on you your wish will be granted. In other areas of Europe, folklore says that you will be married within the year. Ok....."I wish that the ladybugs would go back to the woods!" There! We shall see if that wish is granted.

Oh, and by the way.....the amount of spots that a lady bug has has nothing to do with its age....just in case you were wondering.

Comments

Lisa said…
Oh my goodness, we get them like that too. One time I was laying on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, reading a book and one landed in the bowl and I ate it! I ATE a ladybug. They are very bitter.

Smiles,
Lisa
Unknown said…
Hello, hello, hello!!!! It was so fun to read your posts and catch up on all I missed. And I missed a lot, you have been so busy! So glad you conquered your fear of ridding....good for you! I am still in the midst of jet lag but had the most fabulous, incredible, wonderful, awesome......time! There are not enough words!
Yes, been there done this! When we moved into the house this year I swept up dead ladybugs for what seemed to be weeks....the house had been empty for a year....it looked like they had a grand time!

I see your daughter has a blog now..I'll have to pop over there to check it out. :0)

It's a beautiful day here and Thomas is about 4 hours from home. YAY!

Hugs, Steph
Marimoy said…
I love lady bugs, but in numbers like that I would go mad. I wish we had a few more here... NOT that many!!! We're having a bit of an aphid problem.