Beetle Mania

Okay, they are Japanese Beetles. We have a tree they happen to love so at the first sign this year of beetles taking dips in our glorified kiddie pool (3 foot job, yes it is fenced in;-), I purchased bags and put one out where I had it last year.

The number of unwanted swimmers steadily declined.

Thursday morning I noticed more than usual in the water. I saw that the post holding the bag was leaning considerably more than it had previously. I shrugged assuming it was very full and headed off to work.

When I got home, after two hours in a car that I found had run out of coolant for the AC, I was ready to jump in the pool with the kids only to find more beetles. I skimmed them out, jumped in, played with the kids, and after getting out walked around to the bag to find this.

Yes, the bottom of the beetle bag gone. All the captives gone. I immediately turned to my trusted companion who appeared non challant. I knew she was guilty.

My wife and kids claim it had to be some other animal and couldn't be our beloved dog. So here is the line up:



Rabbit - Roger and Bugs meant well, but were borderline psychotic. By comparison, ours seem to be rather docile, though one was in the vicinity of the pool not too long ago.

Better known for standing in groups in our neighbors yard and taunting the dog to make one charge at them, I argued they were less inclined to hang out under the beetle trap and more likely to spend their day in the clover filled field next door.



Squirrel - Ours is pretty high-strung and may not be altogether there. It once ripped a feeder our daughter made clear off the shed, has escaped the dog as often as Wile E. Coyote has been blown up, and two weeks ago hearing a series of crashes from a nearby tree I looked up to see a branch steadily making its way to the ground. When it hit, our suspect looked left and right, spun, and shot back up the tree. My first witnessed animal blooper, I'll add.

Our squirrel is too hyper and doesn't sit still. Try as I might, I couldn't get him to pose for a picture so I found this one which is a rather like resemblance.





The Dog, Nittany Blue - While we love her and she hasn't chewed anything in the house for a long time, she is a lab mix, known to have once killed a bunny (again the girls deny it was her), has knocked two year olds over with her Shepherd thick, Lab whip tail, and she barks insanely at every passer-by, now even when they are not there.

These seemed the three most likely suspects based on their being unable to testify as to there where abouts throughout Thursday afternoon. Heck the squirrel can't even remember where he put his nuts five minutes ago, how can we expect him to account for his whereabouts, plus there is that mild concussion he is recovering from.

We also considered our feathered friends. Ours aren't too smart. This one thought an outdoor ceiling fans was a good place for a nest, we crossed him off the list.

The crows are a different story. They would definitely be into picking a bag apart, but it seems to me they would have flown off with the whole thing.

We've also cleared the goldfish. Not only was the bite radius inconsistent with that of a goldfish, it was simply too great a distance from the ponds to the bag and they never could have held their breath that long.

So you decide, which of our furry friends had beetles for lunch on Thursday - Rabbit, Squirrel, or Dog?

Have a great weekend and thanks for taking a sip of NewsOverCoffee:-)