Date Posted: October 8, 2014
Category: Fall Pests
Fall is a wonderful time of year, because it is when Dunkin' Donuts brings back pumpkin lattes. They're delicious. This rich, warm drink with its frothy milk and sweet, yet bitter taste, will warm your tongue, and warm your heart. So, in celebration of this incredible drink, I am going to attempt to use the Dunkin' Donuts Pumpkin Spice Latte as an allegory for fall pest prevention.
The warmth inside
Just like a warm and peaceful cup of Pumpkin Spice Latte, your home is a warm and inviting place for bugs to spend the winter. Its warmth leaks into every vein and every sinew, filling them with a sense of happiness and contentment--okay, maybe they don't have any feelings about it, but its better than being outside in the cold and that's good enough for a bug. Like the sweetness of a Pumpkin Spice Latte, bugs are drawn to sugary things in your kitchen. Stink bugs and boxelder bugs love a nice piece of fruit. If you have fruit sitting on your table as a display, you will be ringing the dinner bell for bugs. You should always keep fruit in the fridge, until you're ready to eat it.
The straw of my favorite drink reminds me of the mouth of a stink bug, and the way it pokes into fruit and sucks the juices out, or the way a fly regurgitates on my buttered toast, and then sucks up the partially digested food matter. Because of this, I'm reminded that I should not leave crumbs on the counter for bugs to eat, and to always clean my floors and counters with disinfectant.
The caffeination of a Pumpkin Spice Latte gives me a lift, just like the wings of a ladybug as it slips through the door, while I'm bringing the groceries inside. Or, like the stink bugs flying around the light in the dining room while my family is trying to eat.
The beans remind me of the way beetles congregate in the cracks between my walls and the floor, or the way ladybugs stack on the window sill.
The frothy foam makes me think of that spray insulation I put in my attic, that protect me from bugs, fires, and mold. I'm saving a ton on my heat bill this winter, and killing bugs and rodents at the same time. How cool is that?
The sealed cover reminds me of how I should always keep my trash in a sealed can. Cockroaches can smell trash from an incredible distance. I don't need to give them another reason to spend the winter in my house. I also don't need to give flies a place to lay their eggs, because more flies mean more spider that like to eat flies ...
You know what? This was probably a bad idea. Here's what I want you to take away from this blog. I love it when fall returns and Dunkin' Donuts brings back the pumpkin, but I can live without the bugs getting into my house. Maybe I should have just said that in the first place.
