WAR

War has been declared. A victor has yet to be determined, though dedication and perseverance would suggest who might prevail.

Japanese Beetles have arrived in my garden

To be honest, the beetles have been here since early June (maybe even late May), but they have hit their peek and their focus seems to be the destruction of my pole beans. Yes, these shiny terrorists swarm en masse on my beans, eating, conversing, and propagating. I go out with my yellow bucket of death (read soapy water) and knock the little bugs into the depths of death. Sometimes, and I won't show pictures, I send some of the little boy bugs on their way to the next life very happy.

So while my neighbor's tree across the cul-de-sac show much signs of beetle damage, my beans are holey but strong. I will pick my first beans tonight or tomorrow. (Probably tomorrow because I have a yellow squash and the last of the peas waiting to be eaten.)

But the war will not cease until I have driven these pest into the ground to lay their eggs that will eat my grass and grow into the beetles that I will battle next year. So the war is far from over, but I might just win this year's battle and be better prepared for next year's.