The Wee Ladies have lots of friends. Most of their friends are close to home. Sometimes these friends are too close and invade our home. They sometimes have a tendency to overstay their welcome. I am talking about friends of the 6, 8, and many thousand legs variety (worms excluded). I am not always a fan of these friends they bring home. They come in, make themselves at home, eat my food, and make a mess of my floor until I finally put my foot down. Literally. Some of these friends find that they are no longer welcome in our home. Ever.

We go from hugging to debugging. The Wee Ladies make these buggy friends out in our backyard. They play, they hug, they become attached. Attached to the point of where they want to invite them in for dinner. The bugs either come inside in a careful hand cradle, or they follow the cookie crumb trail to the table.

We have had a variety of guests in our house. We've had beetles (sometimes legs up), worms, potato bugs (how fitting for dinner hour), ants, flies, ladybugs, and more. I try to tell the Wee Ladies that they need to stay outside for dinner, but all of a sudden I will look over to find Spark Plug trying to feed her friend. Or EvieG will have set a place at the table for her friend. I am glad the Wee Ladies are so hospitable. It warms my heart.
These critters are not so dumb either. Once they have had a taste of my homemade baked goods, they try to come back again and again. I am flattered that they enjoy my cooking, however, I do not like the way they sneak around, trying to find the best back door route to the fridge. They will try and find the smallest point of entry into my kitchen. I don't appreciate being manipulated and really don't like having the wool pulled over my eyes as they try and get past me for another bite of muffin crumb. It's time to get out the big guns. Spray.

Before I spray, I try tactic number one. This is where I explain to the Wee Ladies that their bug friends aren't meant to be in our house. I inform them that their bug house is outside and by keeping them in with us means that their mommies and daddies, brothers and sisters would miss them. It is best that we send them back outside so they can be with their own families. I proceed to tell them that the bugs can come and play with us again another time. This usually works, but we have had Spark Plug refuse to give up her friends. She sometimes clenches them so hard, they really have no chance of ever playing with her again. I get the Wee Ladies to find a happy place to put their bug friends for their families to find them. We debug and off go the Wee Ladies. Leaving their bug friends in their final resting place, only to forget them after 5 minutes.

If tactic number one doesn't work, I try tactic number 2. I have had to put my actual foot down as well as my chemical signature. It only takes once to get my message across to the pesty, mooching friends. I make it perfectly clear that they are no longer welcome at our house. They can go eat off someone else's floor now, and by golly, they better not for one second try to sneak in on the dog. Because I will catch them. Oh, yes, I will. And it won't be pretty.

I love that the Wee Ladies have a loving nature that includes all creatures. This is wonderful and I don't knock it in front of them. I encourage them to love these critters, pick them up, and hold them carefully because I don't want them to be scared of bugs, or slimy things. So we encourage worm picking.

I just make sure that I blast and debug the house when they aren't watching.

All's I'm sayin's all.

Labels: Battle