Gnats and Ida - August 30, 2021

It's raining at my house, courtesy of Hurricane Ida.  The garden needs it.  Before the rain started, the wind blew scary hard for a few minutes, and I thought about the poor folks on the Gulf Coast who were getting much scarier wind.  Prayers for you guys, and for all the folks heading north on the roads.

It was a quiet day around my house.  Everybody's a tad under the weather - nothing serious (we hope!), just drippy noses, and such.  The Grandson was here all day, but he kind of did his own thing while we did ours.  The Husband's been playing his ukulele with internet play-along videos.  I've worked on an embroidery design (it's in the machine right now, being tested).  

And I've been fighting gnats all day.  There are two crawling frantically around my computer screen as I write this.  :-\

What I've done so far:  (1) poured diluted bleach down the kitchen sink; (2) made a trap with a plastic bottle with vinegar in the bottom (my gnats seem to prefer red wine vinegar over apple cider vinegar); (3) mixed vinegar, sugar, and dish detergent in a plastic-wrap-covered bowl with holes poked in the wrap; (4) same mixture in a shallow bowl, and (5) same mixture in a saucer.  

Gnats are so dumb.  They could not figure out the soda bottle, or maybe I just didn't give them enough time, but not ONE GNAT went in.  They crawled all over the outside and inside the funnel part, but couldn't seem to figure out where the smell was coming from.  Same deal with the plastic wrap.  I took the wrap off the bowl, and after a while I finally caught one!  There were others swarming around the bowl, but they seemed scared to actually go down to the vinegar.  I commented that maybe they knew their friend was dead in the vinegar, to which The Husband replied, "YOU KILLED KENNY!  You BASTARDS!"  

I poured some of the vinegar/sugar/soap mixture into a saucer and took it to the living room, where gnats have been trying to fly up our noses while we watch TV.  They're also annoying me in the office, and in my sewing room.  Are these things following me around or are they living in every room???  

This afternoon, while I was cooking dinner, I pulled out the basket of onions I keep on a shelf near the stove, and a whole cloud of gnats came out with it.  When I inspected the onions, I discovered that two of them were kind of mushy and stinky.  They may be what's been keeping these *ssholes alive.

So far, I've caught about 20 gnats, not counting the three I poured out of the cold coffee in the coffee pot when I was cleaning up the kitchen, and the 10 or so I've smacked with my hand.  And still I see them scrambling around on the countertops and table.  *sigh*

I'm about ready to move.