Bug Zapping – Dont try this at home?

At our house, Jeff is the “King of Gardening,” and I seem to have been given the title of “Queen Bug Killer!”

We don’t have many bugs, but the wasps drive me crazy!  They love to come over and visit as we are trying to enjoy our bar-b-q’d meals outside.  They especially love seafood – it’s impossible to eat salmon outside without at least three wasps showing up for dinner.

I have those little yellow wasp catcher devices all over the place, and they seem to work, but I guess grilled salmon is much more attractive than whatever I put into the wasp catcher.

Anyway, Jeff was at the store the other day and found another device.  One that we could use to instantly ZAP those wasps (and any other bug) that wanted to join us for dinner. 

It’s called a BugZapper, and is not for the faint of heart.  Basically, you touch the bug with this tennis racket looking thing, and the bug is instantly electrocuted (we usually do this after we get done eating).  This thing uses two small AA batteries, and kills mosquitoes, flies, gnats, (wasps are a little big, but it stuns them enough so we can get rid of them).

Now for the reason I’m writing this story.  Jeff gave me the bug zapper, I read the directions, and told him how to use it.

Now, what’s the first thing a man will do when given a small electrocution device that he can hold in his hands – even if his wife tells him not to touch the metal wires. . .

He touches the metal wires!

OUCH!  He touched the wires – thinking that the two little batteries couldn’t have that much power.  WRONG – The BugZapper gave him a pretty good ZAP, nothing that would knock a person out or anything, but more than you would think for a small device like that (it’s just a little worse than that lightening reaction game where you get zapped if you’re the last one to let go of the handle)

Curiosity got the best of Jeff, and so did the BugZapper 

I’m going to stick to using it on wasps, it’s kind of a fun “toy,” and it makes me laugh when I remember the look on Jeff’s face when he got zapped!

If you want to have some cheap fun with your bugs, go here and do a search for: Tennis Racket Bug Zapper.

Add comment September 17th, 2006

Storing Potatoes – Prevent a Sweet Experience

Did you know there was a process for storing potatoes?

I remember when my parents had what we called a root cellar in South Dakota.  It was really just a hole in the ground where we stored canned things (like pickles, jelly, potatoes, etc.) until we were ready to eat them.

One year the potatoes got a sweet taste to them, they were still edible, but they didn’t exactly taste like potatoes!  We thought they froze in the cellar, but what really happened is that we put them into storage too soon.

When you store potatoes – first, make sure they are fully mature in the ground.  Dig them up after 2 to 3 weeks after the tops die down to give skins time to build up some protection. After you dig them up, brush off any excess dirt, then allow them to set for about 2 weeks at a temperature of about 45 degrees, with good circulation. 

After all of this, you can store them all winter in a cool, dark location (like a root cellar or basement), but make sure there is plenty of air circulation in the storage area.

Good Luck!  And may you never have to eat sweet white potatoes!

Add comment September 6th, 2006