More bugs, and this week's musings - Day 508 (Yr 2, Day 130)

Asheville, NC

It has been a very slow week for me, business wise.  Unfortunately, I'm not at the point of feeling confident enough to try to take my urb-e on a bus, which pretty much means just riding around the greenways.  The weather has also been pretty lousy, so not much incentive to even sit outside by the river.  This, too, shall pass so I'll just try to enjoy the peace and quiet and calm while it lasts.

I made a little investment this week ($15) -- a Dirt Devil stick vacuum.  Although I love my central vac, it really is a royal pain to take it out and assemble it, just to suck up a small area.  It's great when I need to do a full house vacuum, but for a quick pick-up, I think this will work out much better.  And being a stick, it shouldn't take up much space.

As for Mitch, he learned today that he will now be required to work 10 hour days M-F because the surveys are incredibly behind in this area.  They are trying to bring in more folks, but the constant rain this past month has set things even further back.  At least it's good money, but it will definitely put a damper on evening plans, and I don't even know how to handle Friday nights (Shabbat), especially now that candle lighting is in the 5:00 time frame and he won't get home until after 6.

And now for the title about the bugs.  We still have some stink bugs, but I'm only killing 2-3 a day instead of about 15-20.  However, they are now replaced by box elder bugs, which swarm and get into every crevice.  They are now outside, getting into the furnace and refrigerator vents, as well as covering almost every surface area.  This is just a small sampling.  Unfortunately, I don't think it would be very safe to use insecticide as it's flammable and the appliances they're getting into are propane.  I'm trying to explore other options.