There’s no mosquito buzzing
in my ear right now, just the sound of falling rain. Those two buckets of laundry can keep soaking
until the sun comes out!
The rainy season stopped
flirting with us and came in force the end of March. I witnessed the most beautiful, amazing but
also slightly annoying phenomenon. Early
in the season during the heaviest of downpours and with the right climatic
conditions, I’ve learned certain termites arise from the earth and gracefully
fly through the sky. They resemble dragonflies
with smaller bodies and light brown in color.
I watched from my window one afternoon as thousands took their nuptial flight,
males chasing females, fluttering everywhere, somehow able to navigate the
rain. Mother Nature took over and I
watched swarms of birds feast on this delicious delicacy. I was glued to the
“screen”. When the rain stopped, the few
lucky surviving pairs landed, shed their wings and magically disappeared into
the ground to start a new colony. I haven’t seen them since.
Now that was the second time
I met these creatures. The first time
was NOT with the same appreciation. It
was late in the evening, the rain was coming down hard and I was watching a
movie on my laptop (a typical evening’s entertainment). A large brown winged creature flew in front
of me. I had never seen one before. When it landed it got the flip-flop smash,
meaning any crawling, flying, creeping insect gets smashed with my sandal. (Daddy
Long Legs are exempt, for the most part) Back to my movie. But then another fluttered by, SMASH, then
another and another. My living room was
filling up. What was going on? Where were
they coming from? With my movie paused,
I started my investigation.
All my windows and doors are
closed by 7:00 pm to keep the mosquitoes at bay but my doors are not at all
energy efficient, shall we say, and have gaps, especially at the bottom. My brown lacey-winged “friends” were
attracted to my lights and squeezing in under my door, under both doors. I ran to get my spray can of DOOM, (really
meant for roaches but it had to do) and sprayed the gaps with the toxic
fumes. I quickly swept the dead ones out
the door then rolled up a towel and sealed the gap. The few still flying around
were hunted down then I finished watching my movie in the dark.
Since that night I’ve been
finding delicate brown wings turn up in random places throughout my house. I’ve apologized to Mother Nature for spraying
DOOM all over her beautiful creatures. She has forgiven me by sending rainbows
and sunsets. I know, that’s a bit over
the top, but it’s true. Uganda is a
breathtakingly beautiful country; no movie can compare to the live action
adventure Mother Nature provides everyday.
Just keep the bugs outside
please!
