Bug Love

posted in: Day In The Life 6
The only kind I can even approach without flinching. Image: Wikipedia.

 

 

On Tuesday night, I was down Louisiana way, drivin’ and talkin’ with three incredible women in a rented Nissan.

Just for fun, we thought we’d scan through the stations and check out the local radio scene. We didn’t get far, because the third station we hit on was broadcasting a call-in talk show about … bugs. All bugs. Just bugs. It was an hourlong call-in talk show for people who have pressing questions about bugs.

One of the incredible women in the car said, “Ha! This is great! They should call the show, What’s Buggin’ You?

Almost as the words came out of her mouth, the host — who was great — said, “Well, time for our next caller. I’ve got Steve, here. Welcome to What’s Buggin’ You? What’s buggin’ you today, Steve in Lake Charles?”

All the incredible women and I clapped with glee and gladness. It was so cool that there was this show about bugs and people were so into it. Questions came in about ticks, beetles, ants … It turns out, people have all kinds of questions about bugs! The guest entomologist who answered these burning questions on the air was a woman with a very nice voice. Wow, did she ever know about bugs.

Because the questions were so varied — even though they were all about bugs — I thought about this woman’s schooling. I do this a lot: I think about the kinds of classes a professional person must have taken to get their degree. In this case, the lady would surely have classes like:

Grub Seminar II (Prerequisite: Sophomore Larvae Survey)
Advanced Thorax Analysis
Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Katydid: A New View

Right? Don’t you think about these things? What about a dentist?? I always wonder about their classes. I know they have to have classes just about the tongue, how to understand it and work around it and all that. And I think about people in beauty school who have units devoted to the chemical formula of bleach and how this or that molecule of color sticks to a hair folicile (or not.)

If anyone from What’s Buggin’ You? should come across this on a google alert or a search, I would like to thank you for your delightful program. If I hadn’t been driving while we were listening, I absolutely would have called in. I am terribly afraid of bugs — bugs and ferns  — and I would have liked to call in and ask how to deal with that fear. Of course, that is really more a question for a shrink, I suppose. Good thing psychiatrists have classes like:

Phobias III
21st Century Exposure Therapies Workshop
What’s Buggin’ You

Love,
Mary

6 Responses

  1. Ann Marie Ott
    | Reply

    If you find something bugging you in the future and need a fix, hop on over to Wisconsin Public Radio and have a listen. Wisconsin’s bug guy PJ Liesch is a regular on Larry Meiller show. This was his week on crawly things. . .
    https://www.wpr.org/shows/insect-update-armyworms-and-other-caterpillars

    Enjoy!

  2. Marianne Fons
    | Reply

    Hi Mar, it’s your mom! Thanks for being hilarious!

  3. Colleen
    | Reply

    I was in Alabama last week (I am a California only person not a traveler, but I’ll go any where to see my grandchildren)

    While in packing our car I felt a sharp ouch on my foot I looked and right at that spot was an ant, a regular looking ant and it was causing me great pain.

    The children told me grandma the ants bite here

    Who know ? I sure didn’t I am old very old and I have never been bitten by an ant in California as far back as I can remember.

    One more reason to stay in California

    Also it rained on us in the summer a bit of rain everyday, in the summer we just don’t get rain in California in the summer we have to deal with knowing it is going to be a sunny day everyday.

    The water in the gulf was so just right in California the Pacific Ocean is cold very cold freezing cold everyday

    The beach sand in Alabama was like powered sugar (I am sure they must bring it in after the hurricanes) and surprisingly not too hot on the feet
    In California on a warm day the beach sand gets so hot it burns your feet you have to wear something on your feet

    Alabama is where I visit my grandchildren it is a beautiful place just different from California and watch out for those biting ants small but ouchy

  4. Jan
    | Reply

    Nursing 101a – what to wear so the puke won’t show.

  5. Richard Stofer
    | Reply

    Mary,
    You would hate Kentucky then. All kinds of insects, mosquitos, crawling things, and snakes.

    multimedia artist,woodworker,painter,and of course quilter round out my life. I’m also a classically trained in the metal
    arts.
    Insects have been a source of inspiration,wonder,and amazement since I was a child.
    Insects, bugs,fish, have been ever present in my art because of this exposure. Even some of my quilts have been inspired by these creatures. One of last years projects was California King Manta quilt.
    Lots o fun.
    We definitely are products of our environment so be careful of your fears, you might miss something truly inspirational.
    I would post pics but as a proud luddite, I can’t figure out how.
    BTW Juki 5550n is my fabric welder

  6. Summer
    | Reply

    Geology 101: What on Earth?
    How to take everything in context

    Geology 102: Fossils are Friends!
    From Ammonites to Trilobites

    You’re right; it is fun!

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