Like a robin in springtime…

Summer is here. How do we know? Some might say it is because school is out and all through the country children shout and cheer because summer vacation is finally here! But, that’s not how we know. The true sign is the bug.   There are three main summer time bugs that pester us until we are begging for fall.

The first is the Cotinus nitida  or more commonly called June Bug or June Beetle (and sometimes, in regions other than the Midwest, they can be referred to as the Japanese Beetle..don’t ask me why). If  the name wasn’t enough of a hint, they often begin to appear in June or maybe late May. While largely harmless, is also large in size as well as in volume.  A terrible nuisance they are. June bugs are also ridiculously ugly. You just want to get them away from you, however have no idea to kill them for fear of the disgusting crunching sound that may follow.

A favorite bug in the summer among the children is the lightning bug or firefly (real name: Photuris pyralis). This seems to be one that signifies staying up late - until dark that is, when parents allow their children to run around after 9 p.m. in order to let them cherish a “nice” childhood memory they once held. This is all fine and dandy, until one of these sweet energy-filled children smell their hands. “EWW!” they cry, while running toward their parents as if to blame them for ever allowing such a thing to occur.  The children not bothered by the smell proceed to pull off the little lights from the bugs in order to place in one their ears and hands and whatever else apparently needs a firefly butt for decoration.  By the end of the summer, all that is left of the lightning bug population is the tiny withered bodies, forgotten and left in the jars without air to die. Gee, how nice.

Lastly, the most infamous of them all - the mosquito (scientific name varies as there are so stinking many of them). The word mosquito comes from a combination of words meaning “little fly” and “long-legged” from Spanish origins, however they have also have a variety of names of Scandinavian descent.  The mosquito, as we have all experienced, sucks the blood out of humans and animals, and basically anything that has blood. They are fully capable of transmitting harmful diseases such as yellow fever, malaria, and dengue. Even if you are able to avoid the disease, a painfully itchy bump will emanate upon an area of skin that was once owned by you. Now, times have changed and the spot owns you as you continue to scratch at it, willing yourself to forget about it before reaching at it just once more to etch around it to trick your mind into thinking you no longer need to tear your skin apart to stop the itching!

Yes, summer is here. It is here, indeed.  Fun, fun, fun.