April showers bring May flowers, right? And May showers bring...mosquitoes. The newspaper had a front page article this weekend warning that we will experience an onslaught of mosquitoes this season. Is it any surprise? We have had so much rain this spring. According to the article, one nearby county health department reported that they normally trap 200 mosquitoes a day, but they are now trapping about 2,000 a day. Yikes! Pass the Deep Woods Off, please!
It's a little bit tricky trying to keep the mosquitoes out of your yard when your backyard looks like this. My husband has been working diligently every weekend to clear out some of the brush and undergrowth in our back woods. He trimmed low-hanging branches from the buckeye tree and did some serious weeding. And while it looks neat and trimmed and greener than Ireland, there is really only so much you can do before chemicals need to be involved.
Fortunately, nature came up with another solution.
My husband was closing the windows one humid day last week so that he could turn on the air conditioner. He looked out our bedroom window and found this little fellow taking a nap on the outside of our window screen.
Hello, Stellaluna! So nice to see you! Thanks for hanging around upside down! My, what big ears you have!
Now I know that some folks would be totally creeped out by the thought of a bat sleeping outside their bedroom window. But I'm comforted knowing that this little fellow will be eating his weight in mosquitoes every night. I think it's time to post some bat boxes in our back woods so that this little fellow can get a proper days sleep and make himself at home.
Today's Clean and Simple challenge was an inspiration word: Gift. I thought it would be funny to combine these umbrellas with this particular bible verse. The rain may be a curse to some, but when we consider the drought conditions of late last summer and fall, then this rain really does qualify as a "perfect gift from above".
You may recognize the papers used on the umbrellas. After the card featured in the last post, I had these perfectly cute half circles sitting at my work station. They looked a little bit like umbrellas. So I got out my umbrella stamp, and voila! No scraps wasted here!
{recipe: A Little Birdie Told Me (Stampin Up), God's Way (SU), soft sky and so saffron card stock, October Afternoon papers (Modern Homemaker line), scallop edge punch, dew drops, versafine onyx ink}
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights."
James 1:17
Who would have thunked it? Attracting butterflies...birds...bees...and bats?! I'm with you on this one. A much nicer alternative to the mosquito :) !
ReplyDeleteVery cute paper pieced card! I love the simple, clean lines.
ReplyDeleteLucky you, to have bats! Would love to have them here but I think you need to have nearby water, which we don't.
Super cute card...and the bats are a blessing, as long as they have their own house!
ReplyDeleteVery cute card - great paper piecing! Lucky you to have such a wonderful guest ... I'm jealous! ~chris
ReplyDeleteI love the bat pictures! What state do you live in? That's a large bat. The ones I've seen in Virginia are much smaller. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWe had a bat on our bedroom window this spring, probably because the tree-trimming crew (clearing the power lines) cut down the tree he was living in. I was freaked out for about five minutes before I realized that I'd rather have one small bat than the many thousands of insects he could eat.
ReplyDeleteYour backyard is fantastic, too.