Natasha and I are wary about using insecticide – but we tried to dig up some of the grubs along the munching wavefront with a spade. It seems futile – there’s just too many of them, and not enough birds to come help us out with the ones we’ve missed. I’m willing to entertain suggestions. We’re losing about 6 inches of lawn every day, and while I’m at work the grubs are chewing away with impunity. (They’ve helpfully left the weeds behind.)

I looked up some entomological texts to read about Junebugs (aka Maybugs, May Beetles) but altruistic biologists seem only interested in identifying them (by the shape of their penis, strangely), and not destroying them angrily in large numbers. I think our troubles are short-lived – I’ve seen the mature beetles buzzing around our windows in the evening, so I suspect the grubs are all very close to coming out of the ground and “buzzing off”. (After, probably, exfoliating all the trees and shrubs in a hundred mile radius.)

The grass we planted in their wake is growing fast – we’ll probably have a lawn again by the end of summer. (So they can eat it again next spring?)

Update: Lots of resources!

• City of Ottawa’s Pest Center
• Richmond Nursery’s White Grub Pest Page
• Ottawa Pesticide Education Network’s White Grub Page
• Province of Ontario White Grub Fact Sheet

The summary of all of them is that there’s not much you can do beyond growing a more resistant lawn with longer roots. There’s a nematode treatment you can use to kill them, but it sounds rarely effective.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? $60.10 to ship a $6 book to Canada?
GIVE ME A BREAK!

I’ll bet the affiliate store is shifting all the costs to the item’s shipping to game the product rankings – this was one of the cheapest copies on the list with the most outrageous shipping price. Are they sending it in a first-class plane seat? Did they train a homing pigeon to bring it to me? Does it come in a rare collector’s edition gold box full of chocolate packing peanuts?

Forget it, you swindlers! Try to rip me off? YOU GET NOTHING! YOU LOSE!

The worst thing is that our house is pretty clean – if I left it laying around I’d see it. No, everything’s tucked away in drawers, bags and closets, meaning I get to turn the house upside down looking for stuff. I never did end up finding my bag of markers. So frustrating.

[Edit: I found my markers, they're were in the car after recently taking them for a drive.]

A study in contrasts:

Make Magazine: $22/issue (Inventions)
Edge Magazine: $24/issue (Computer games)
ImagineFX: $32/issue (Illustration)

Urban Farm: Chickens: $4.99 (Seriously?)
Rock and Gemstone Magazine: $2.30
Fine Woodworking: $3
Luxury Yachting: $3.60

What is going on here? Are video gamers and art nerds extra-willing to be fleeced? Moreso than people who own yachts!? Some of the computer magazines come with DVDs, but pressing discs in large quantities is cheap – witness the assortment of  junk game magazines that come with demo discs. And the paper quality isn’t significantly different between Modern Taxidermy and Computer Arts Magazine – so what accounts for the $35 price difference?

This one struck close to home when I read about it. Danielle died Tuesday morning when she got “doored” by an illegally parked car on a busy street and fell into traffic. I’ve always been anxious about passing parked cars, since friends of mine have been doored in the past, and luckily they’ve gotten away with fairly minor bumps and bruises. I love my morning commute but I’ve had a few close calls of my own, and there’s that persistent whisper in the back of my mind that even if I do everything right, there’s always some element of risk when you’re mixing cars and bikes together on the road, and that things can happen so fast.

So sad. My thoughts go out to her family, and all of my cycling friends who dare to brave the downtown core in their morning ride in. Be careful out there.

Here are some of the fascinating things I learned from this highly informative show:

1) Anna Paquin loves Cadbury creme eggs, as evidenced by a paparazzi closeup on her shopping bag.

2) It’s possible to use ALL of the After Effects plugins on each and every transition. WOOSH!

3) When you don’t like your dress… it’s called a “Gown Frown”. (This is where I start to lose it.)

4) There is an entire generation of celebrities I don’t recognise. (Who are these people?)

5) There’s a new video on Youtube! Some Glee cast are in it flailing around and lip synching! Amazing!

5) Sarah Jessica Parker’s full name wastes valuable television seconds… She’s “SJP” now.

6) That Will and Kate shared an officially designated “Tender Moment” when he helped her with her stuck hoodie zipper. (My brain is melllltiiiiing)

7) Insiders have revealed the contents of Kate’s clutch: Blotting papers, lip balm, and a compact!

Like I get it – TV can’t all be Steve Paikin’s hard questions and informative topics. There’s room in everyone’s life for a little romance and glamour. I’m not bashing people who watch this stuff because sometimes you just need to put your brain in neutral and coast, and it’s probably mostly harmless to watch insipid drek on television. ET Canada  have made a science of reporting a half hour of exactly nothing.

The saddest thing is that Will and Kate are university educated ‘World Leaders’ doing interesting and culturally significant things on their tour, and ET are covering her wardrobe and purse contents – give me a break!

For the record, the Date Code on the burrito is D10211 21:09 – you might want to go over burritos from the same time period with a metal detector before you chow down.

I recently discovered in a pinch that I can jog across the Westgate parking lot and beat my bus home to the next stop – I’ve caught it twice now thanks to my quick feet and friendly traffic lights. Fresh from those bus-catching victories, as I watched my ride pull away along Baseline, it occurred to me to try to catch it.

I’m in good shape, but it would have been impossible if not for a bit of construction traffic that was holding everyone back. A break in traffic made it possible for me to sprint across all 4 lanes of Baseline, and then it was on. The first 300 meters I made solid gains – traffic was moving slowly and I was at nearly full stride. I got to the next stop only moments after it did, and rather than pull over and stop for me, the driver continued on past. (Either the driver didn’t see me, or the sight of me coming full bear alongside was unintentionally hilarious. *Grrr* )

At the 500m mark I was pulling ahead to a large lead, because traffic was slowing down for the light on Clyde, and I was running along unhindered and managed to catch a walk light at a cross street. Finally a bus stop was in sight – at 700m (baseline and Clyde) I slowed down to a jog and then pulled my tickets out, turned around to wave and make eye contact – the bus drove on past without stopping. I probably could have caught it at the next stop if I’d tried, but at that point I was furiously muttering between panting breaths, and I didn’t want to overdo it and risk ending up a sweaty mess in the office.

So I had to wait in the cold for half an hour for the next bus, which got me to the office in time for the meeting, but barely. I was super furious. I hate taking the bus.

I was quick to blame the ants, because I dug up a few nests when I was preparing the dirt, but my ant powder’s done nothing and the rate they’re stripping my plants (they ate 12 new Zuchinni plants overnight) seems too high. I must have beetles or caterpillars or something.

They’ve stayed away from the tomatoes and peppers, but they love radishes (stripped three rows down to the roots), onions, zucchinis, squash, cucumbers and eggplants. All gone.

Our beans have fallen victim to the other pest, lurking Mr. Rabbit. There used to be leaves and flowers at the ends of all those twigs.

I’m kindof at the point where I just want to say “Screw It” and give up – it’s already getting too late in the season to start my seedlings over, and I’m not sure how much more money I want to invest in feeding the bugs in my garden, when I could just be buying zucchini at the grocery store.

Hopefully we’ll at least get a few tomatoes, and I’ll start researching pest control options for next year. *sigh*

I’m glad to have all of these things up to date, but the updater processes seem oblivious to eachother, and to me, trying immediately after bootup to grab up as much of my puny laptop processor as they can, tripping all over eachother’s feet, and fragmenting the heck out of my hard drive.

300MB and two restarts later, I’m considering looking more seriously into a “Startup Delayer” app to force my updaters to wait their turn as the OS boots. Anyone had any experience with this?