Beetle juice

The ranch is under siege by beetles at the moment. Beetles of all kinds. The first night I noticed was when Rose was cooking and all of a sudden I heard a helicopter fly by my right ear. Seriously, it was that loud. This clumsy beetle flew right in the window, past my ear and smack into the wall with a loud pop. That night after Rose had left and the house was locked up, I was eating dinner listening to ting ting ting. The beetles were trying to break down my window to get to the light inside. There were plenty trapped inside too which made the cat go crazy. He has gotten to be quite the hunter specializing in wadudu... and shadows... but that's another story. The peanut beetles really brought back memories of Kenya. Stephen really enjoys catching them as they fly through the air and then throwing them into a wall to hear their poor little bodies pop. When I tried to show my neighbors here that trick, they weren't very impressed. Mostly because I couldn't throw them hard enough to make the pop sound. When I went to bed that first night I was accompanied by many beetles flying through the air, sounding like a muted war zone with helicopters flying around and the occasional casualty as one flies full force into a wall. When I was trying to sleep I kept feeling the strange sensation that only beetle feet can cause on my skin. Almost pinching, but without hurting. I really just got annoyed and after unsuccessfully throwing many to the ground for the cat to hunt, I started smashing them before dropping them on the ground. It was then that I realized that real beetle juice smells very bad. In addition to the anti-itch cream I keep under my pillow, I added some hand sanitizer so that after every kill, I could make my hands smell like something else.

However, beetles of all kinds are plentiful, and one of my fondest memories from my first trip to Kenya in 2001 is my discovery of dung beetles. I took a philosophical approach to my understanding of dung beetles, which I appreciate even more now. When there was no rain at all, there were very few dung beetles, and the dung piled up. Now that it has rained, there are plenty of dung beetles and therefore a lot less dung. It just reminds me that every single living thing has a purpose. My world is suddenly much cleaner with green grass and only the remnants of fresh poop.