June 17, 2007
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The Water Meter Reader and the Japanese Beetle Saga
We’ve had friends from Savannah visiting us but they used our travel trailer and stayed at a nearby State Park on Lake Guntersville. The Beast put our pontoon boat in the water and kept it docked at the piers in the park for a few days since he and his buddy went out fishing every day while they were here except the last one.
Daytime fishing proved uneventful so they decided to try late afternoon and early evening as bass and crappie (so they were told) prefer to feed during those hours. Early morning was out of the question for both the men because, although they get up early, they don’t really MOVE for hours. They like a leisurely wake-up, sipping hot coffee and then a late breakfast. After being on work motivated schedules for years, this is one of their main enjoyments that they cherish.
That’s why this past Wednesday, which is apparantly meter reading day for our water department here, my hubby was home to answer the door when our doorbell rang rather early. It was the meter reader with news for us. He explained that he had noticed our water usage was increasing these past two months and he wanted to alert us that we might just have a water leak started between our house and the meter.
First of all, I was very surprised at his thoughtfulness at reporting this to us. It’s a measure of the difference from the kind of behavior of workers in Florida. Although we never had a problem, we heard the horror stories of a couple neighbors where an early warning would have helped them out.
My husband thanked him kindly but explained that the reason it was increasing was our lack of rain and the fact that we had started a garden PLUS he was trying to grow grass from seed and that required keeping the area moist for several weeks.
The meter reader actually seemed relieved. I think he hated the idea that he might be the purveyor of bad news, especially since all the homes in this area are not more than a year old. I wrote a nice letter to our water board to let them know how much we appreciated his thoughtfulness and concern. I hope it helps him when he has his annual or semi-annual evaluation. I didn’t want his actions to go unrecognized or think it wasn’t appreciated.
The hubby brought home the pontoon boat on Thursday evening and then had to pick up the trailer on Friday. Since our friends were owed a nights lodging at a motel chain that had a branch here locally, they decided to spend their last night using that chit and leave early on Saturday for home. *Dee* didn’t have to be at work until Tuesday but it gives them two days of rest after that long drive and having to UNpack the car. I swear they brought anything they might need that I might possibly NOT have supplied in the travel trailer. They also left with more food than they came with because of the way they shopped (hungry…..LOL)
We barbequed for dinner Friday night instead of going out to eat because they had so much food and didn’t want to waste it or cart any more than they had to back home. It was also nice and relaxing since the men did the cooking <>. We said our goodbyes and really hated to see them go. They are both good company even though *Dee* and I didn’t get to spend as much time together this time while she went out looking at homes twice while the boys were out fishing.
Our Saturday was uneventful while we did our usual gardening and the Beast had to do all his watering. We don’t have a sprinkler system (yet) although his buddy has the tool for digging the trench for running the pipe and is going to help the Beast do that this fall. He’ll come for a few days and help him lay it out and get it installed. The Beast still hasn’t decided if and when he will have a well dug or just hook it up to the city water. I think a lot will have to do with this drought they are experiencing here in the Tennessee Valley area. Lots of peoples wells are drying up and he doesn’t want to throw away good money on a fruitless project.
This morning the Beast woke up early (as usual) while I turned over and decided to sleep in for a while longer. When I got up at 8:30am and brought my coffee on the rear deck and joined him, he greeted me with the news that almost all our fruit trees were covered with Japanese beetles. Of course, right then he didn’t know they were Japanese, just that they were covered in beetles. He used all the insect killer we had left from Florida that we used on our garden but was heading up to Lowe’s (bless the fact that it is so close to us it’s his second home) to see if he could identify the beetles and find an insecticide that would work on them and not hurt the trees.
He got them identified from a chart of beetles and they helped him select an insecticide that is effective and is guaranteed not to hurt the trees or the fruit. He couldn’t wait to get home and spray the trees, making sure he got the undersides of the leaves (which he had neglected with his first spraying in a panic). He did find out they hadn’t gotten to the plum trees yet so I think he sprayed them hoping to repel them from even trying.
There were so many beetles on his many fruit trees (peaches, cherries, apples, plums and pear) that I think there must have been a huge cloud of them that descended like some grade B movie. I kid you not. You should have seen the cloud of them that came off one peach tree. Nothing one day, a freaking crowd the next.
The worst part of it is they really made a mess out of the tops of the trees especially (must be the tender parts up there) and the leaves are really eaten in a peculiar way. It looks like they just ate the tender green outer cover and left all the lacy infrastructure of the leaves. It’s almost pretty like a spider web can be if you don’t consider what it means. I’m grateful that all the trees are young enough that they should weather this onslaught. They also did not have a lot of fruit on them since the Beast didn’t want them putting all their energy into maturing fruit so he had picked off most of the blossoms this past spring and a late frost kind of took even more off from some that had come out after the beast had done his *pruning*.
So now, since I know my hubby, he will be on a mission. His mission? To wipe out each and every Japanese beetle that dares to land on any of our precious trees or, god forbid, our garden. He DOES have both watermelons and cantaloupe started and our tomato plants are full of tomatoes in various stages of maturity. I have no clue as to what all Japanese beetles will eat and neither does he, although I will bet he will be on the internet later today and will find out.
Well, three out of our five kids (I am including our adopted granddaughter, who was the first to call) have called to wish the Beast a Happy Fathers Day. He didn’t even know it was today since he doesn’t pay attention. However, he is happy and curious to see whether the other two will call. I think only the one missing son will call later (he was up very late last night and this is his only day off so he will be sleeping late, I am sure). Our oldest daughter is kind of
*lost in space* and her cell phone is probably not working (again).However, I hope everyone has a wonderful Fathers Day, no matter WHO you are. Be happy to be alive. I am.
