For the last couple of weeks, our back door has been blanketed by dozens upon dozens of little brown moths. I usually leave the light on out back for the cats, since they like to spend their evenings al fresco, and when I open the door to call them to come in for bedtime, there are swarms of the moths, all doing their dance of death with the naked lightbulb. Charlotte, who has such a phobia about flying insects that she has an actual clinical diagnosis for it, is completely freaked out every time she has to go in or out of the house in the dark. Bridget tried to get rid of them by using the electric fly swatter we bought back during the Invasion of the Flies, but for every one she killed, there were five to replace it.
Now, the Boston Globe tells me that we are not the only ones inundated with moths. The mild weather we’ve been having around here has proved to be ideal for the Winter Moth population, which one entomologist in the Globe story says could be as high as ONE TRILLION MOTHS in Massachusetts alone. Only the males mature into flying insects, which means my yard is teeming with legless female winter moth worms waiting to breed. Eeeeeew.
Well, okay, accident of nature and all that, but if it starts raining toads around here, I’m moving.
Just wait until Spring when all those moth eggs hatch you’ll have caterpillar city!!! Prepare the kid now!
She’s not afraid of crawly bugs, just flying ones.