52 Card Project 2021: Week 31: Scourge

[pegkerr]

So...the Delta variant is surging. I am going back to masking up when I am inside. I am going to Convergence this weekend (because everyone will be masked and vaccinated), but given the growth of the Delta variant, that will probably be my last sort-of-back-to-normal-life for a while. Until this variant is knocked down again.

I experienced a metaphorical example this week that reminded me of Covid, so this card is called "Scourge." Which refers both to the fact that Covid is surging again and...

My pantry got invaded by pantry moths.

It was hugely disruptive, and expensive to throw away tons of food, and ugh, ugh, ugh. So gross. I became paranoid about contagion and about getting rid of this mysterious, yucky force that upended my life and how could I make sure that it NEVER COMES BACK? Did I clean enough? What more can I do to protect myself?

Rob was terrified of spiders, so I always Took Care of the Spiders. They don't bother me. But these--urgh. I used Disgust from Pixar's Inside Out as the central character to represent me. I didn't even want to put pictures of the actual moths and larva on the card because I know I would never be able to bear to look at it again--they make me so squeamish. So I used a child in a moth costume instead.

Oh, and those expensive Good Grips Pop Top containers I used to stock my pantry? Moths can TOTALLY get into them.

URGH.

Scourge



Click here to read about the 52 card project and see the year's gallery.

Comments

[naomikritzer]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh pantry moths SUCK but I can tell you a good way to get rid of them -- pheromone traps! https://bugspray.com/meal_moth_control.html#best-meal-moth-traps

We had an extremely bad infestation once and the thing I learned is that what makes them hard is that they have two life stages, larval and moth, and as a moth they don't eat, they ONLY mate and lay eggs, and the larvae are hard to spot unless you open up the contaminated food.... But the pheromone traps work extremely well, they think it's another moth and fly over and die without reproducing and re-starting the cycle. Get yourself some pheromone traps!

[pegkerr]

I bought some today, and I am going to set them up tomorrow. I was stuck in the house all day yesterday and today because I was waiting for the FOURTH SCHEDULED DAY for a guy who was supposed to come out to do a five-minute inspection of a new electrical outlet (to plug in the sump pump, for the drain tile that is going in next week). Seriously, I waited a total of 26 hours over four days for this bozo to show up for five minutes. He wouldn't call. He came once and knocked on the back door. I was waiting on the front porch for him with my phone in my hand, but one knock, and he was outta there. Did he check the FRONT DOOR? No. No phone, no text.

But he finally FINALLY came today so I was able to go out and get traps this afternoon.

(It has been a frustrating week, in case you can't tell).

[malinaldarose]

Ugh, sorry about the moths. When I got back from my vacation last month, I found one of my cupboards crawling with ants. It still stands empty.

[carbonel]

Yuck, moths. I had pantry moths twice at a long-ago previous rental (back when I lived with Kara Dalkey, that's how long ago), and I dealt with it by throwing out a lot of stuff and spraying Raid with abandon.

Now my bane is clothes moths, because of all the spinning fiber in the house. It's an ongoing battle rather than a one-and-done thing. The weirdest part is that they seem to be attracted to greasy surfaces in the kitchen. I need to buy more pheromone traps, since the current batch aren't catching any more of them, but I know they're still around.