A week ago I saw the first silverfish since I was in junior high school in North Mankato, Minnesota. Back then our basement had these creepy silvery bugs in it. A lot of them. I squashed the one who wriggled into dreaded light last week. They are found in damp places and avoid the light. Our house in North Mankato lay in the Minnesota River’s flood plain. It had been flooded in 1950 the year I was born in Kansas although, I would not move in with the silverfish until thirteen years later.
Reading the Wikipedia entry on the critters I realized they were not a new species in our area. Its just one I’d not seen before so unlike the cardinals I’d grown up with in Kansas but only started seeing twenty years ago its not a species fleeing climate change.
I can’t recall if I’ve mentioned the venus fly trap we bought for our older grandson. It has a taste for daddy long legs. We took it outside by our garden and it has consumed about a half dozen of them. The last one managed to have half its body sticking out of the Venus’s maw and not just its legs.
We also have been setting a trap for fruit flies which invade this time of year. Its a jar containing apple cider with a saran wrap cover poked with toothpick holes. Its very gratifying to see the little buggers dive to their doom though one of the holes.
