And We Thought Fruit Flies Were a Problem

We thought our fruit flies were a problem, but realized the real problem was the massive hornet infestation. On Monday we had dinner out on the patio, and before we were finished we were surrounded by hornets. We thought we knew where their nest was, but we were way off. When the exterminator came, he pointed out this very unsubtle nest on the farthest corner of the house. I don't know how we had missed it. Except perhaps that we didn't walk all the way around the house.

The exterminator made quick work of getting rid of the hornets and their nest, so we all should be spared stings.

How to Build a Fruit Fly Trap

My mom's kitchen was inundated with fruit flies earlier this week. The abundance of Katie's garden was too tempting for them. Fortunately, we learned how to trap fruit flies when Nick was working/volunteering in a research lab. The lab was studying poison dart frogs, but had to breed fruit flies to feed the frogs. When you fed the frogs, a few flies would always escape. Nick would set these traps out to wrangle in those escapees.

1. Remove anything the fruit flies are enjoying, this includes emptying the garbage and running the disposal.
2. Get a cup.
3. Shape a cone out of paper, big enough so it will be bigger than the cup at its widest, with the tip of the cone above the bottom of the cup. You can leave a tiny opening in the tip of the cone, or just cut it with scissors. The opening should be about half the size of a pea.
4. Place a piece of fruit in the bottom of the cup. Banana slices work really well. We didn't have banana, so I used a cut up grape.
5. Place the cone in the cup, narrow side done. Seal the side of the cup to the cone with tape.
6. Leave trap out for a day. Fruit flies should make their way down the cone and into the cup, and then not be able to figure their way out. You will want to release the flies outside after about 48 hours, and start all over with new fruit and cone if you still have flies around. If you keep the trap around for much longer than that, it will have become a fruit fly incubator.

Grape Roulette

We just had a little picnic in the back yard. The entertainment for the evening was the grapes. Most of the grapes were very good. But about every fourth grape was just awful. Your face would instantly scrunch for the terrible sour taste. I found myself instinctively spitting a few of them out they were so bad. But the good ones were good enough I kept going back for more. The entertainment was in watching my fellow diners eat the grapes, and waiting for them to eat a bad one.

For Rosie

Hey Rosie! Guess who stopped by today. Your beautiful nephew was here for lunch. I can't believe how he's grown. I think he looks a lot like his dad. It was so good to see Sara. And I got to see you in Nauvoo, so I'm getting caught up with your family. Also, I can't wait to see Sara's wedding pictures. She's picking them up on Thursday. She's only been married for two years or so.

What to say?

I've always kept this blog an artificially happy place, but some very sad things have happened recently. It's just a reminder to be grateful for the good things in your life, be nice to the people around you, and do your visiting/home teaching each month.

Tears

He's crying because Nick is still gone.

Sweat Shop

Katie had Liz and Megan working sweat-shop style on a mass mailing. If you need to seal a lot of envelopes, instead of licking them closed, save your tongue and use a glue stick. You don't want to end up like Susan on Seinfeld.

Also, there's a little shindig at my mom's house in a couple weeks. If you need an invite and I haven't talked to you about it, leave a comment.

Lunch with Jessica

We just went to lunch with my sisters and Jessica Sims. We tried a new
waffle place by Pioneer Park. This waffle needed whipped cream.

It's always fun to see Jessica. The best seminary class ever was my
senior year of high school. The class included Brian Tanner, Jessica,
her now husband Josh, and me. Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey became a
comedic staple of my life at this time.

I had lunch with Jessica recently at Sawadee, a Thai restaurant on South Temple I like. I ordered the special after just glancing at the description written on the wall. When my food came, it was spicy, which I was not expecting. A few more bites and the heat had really built up. I squinted to read the bottom line of the dishes description. Oh, it has jalapenos. No wonder it was hot.

Waiting at the TR

Out to lunch with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law. The wait is
significant, but should be worth it.

Cute Baby A

We're in Utah and working hard to visit people that we've missed on recent trips. This is my cousin's baby, A, and he gives Henry a run for his money in the cutest baby competition. We had dinner at Kate's house tonight my cousin Taylor and his wife Mai, as well as Tim's high school friends.

Tim has a friend who married a women from China who is Hmong (an ethnic minority of China that is also found in bordering nations.) It took nearly two years to get her a visa to come to the US. During that time, Tim's friend was in her 60-person village in the middle of nowhere doing subsistence farming. He was literally out in the rice paddie working, or hiking up a mountain to harvest bamboo. I imagine that it was quite a lifestyle change for her to go from living in rural China to the Avenues of Salt Lake City.

We ate the first red tomato out of Kate's garden. So, that makes it about $2,000 a pound so far. I think she'll eventually end up with a bumper crop, they'll just all turn red on the same day.

Liz is Home

We picked Liz up from the airport. She's home from her "internship" at
Disneyworld. My mom thought she was coming home later today, but Kate
wanted the actual arrival to be a surprise.

Late Flight

We've had paramedics on our flight looking at a really old lady. I
think they're letting her stay on the flight. Pictured is the view
from my seat: the wing, the luggage cars, and the medics vehicle. A
regular ambulance has now shown up.

Nauvoo Show

The upside of this show is the building is air conditioned. The
downside is the script and acting is terrible. Can't have everything.

NauvooTemple from a distant

It's hot. We're on a wagon ride through old Nauvoo.

Lacrimators

We shredded 40 lbs of onions for cowboy potatoes. We were all tearing
up. We had two food processors going. We then used them to slice more
than100 lbs of potatoes.

Henry Has Toes

In the last few days Henry has discovered his feet. He loves to grab
them and pull them up towards his face.

Garden Trip

We went to play group, but nobody was there. There were other people at the park, but they were just random people, not play group people. So we walked around the park for a while, but then I decided if we're going to be out and hot, why not go to the garden? I wanted to see the rose garden and water lillies again before we leave for Utah in a week.

Sunday in the Park

I took Henry for a walk at the park today. I don't really care to walk around in my neighborhood very much. Various streets are sketchy, and there's a lot of uneven sidewalks. Since beautiful Tower Grove Park is less than a mile away, I like to drive there and walk around the park and look at its beautiful plants. The park is owned and managed by the same foundation as the Botanical Gardens.

I always see professional photographers working at the park, often with brides. Today there were no brides, just an older couple having their picture taken. Yesterday when I was there, one bride was waiting while the other bride was using the best spot. For you Salt Lake people, this spot would be the photographic equivalent of Chapel Park.

I had taken Henry's picture (see above), when I spotted a photographer (I thought) setting up to take a picture of a young family. Being curious as to how they work, I like to stalk photographers in public. So I steered my stroller in their direction. However, as I got closer I realized I had been completely mistaken- they weren't setting up for photos, they were setting up for a picnic. As I got even closer, I realized I knew the woman. She's a med school wife that just moved to St. Louis a couple of weeks ago.

She attends the same church as I do, so I had met her earlier today (though I had spoken with her very briefly two weeks ago). At church I had asked her to get a copy of the program from the White Coat Ceremony, held today for the class of 2013. Nick was given the Gold Humanism Award, which is presented at the ceremony today, but he's in California. If he had been there, he would be one of the people putting coats on the new class. I'm a little sad he missed that opportunity.

So as I approached her and made eye contact, there was no moment of realization for her- she clearly thought that I was a passer-by staring at her for no reason. So I kept walking.

When I was done with my walk, I walked by their picnic again to get to my car. I got caught staring it her again, so then I had to say hello to her and reintroduce myself. She and her husband seem really nice. They have a two-month-old baby boy. I hope to get to know her better, and perhaps she'll know me a little better.