Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Remember June Bugs ? ?

Can you believe June is all but gone? I do not
know where the month went. Time goes fast
when your having fun working in the garden
or playing in the flowers. Our time of the year.
It has been such a great month once the warm
temperatures decided to come in and stay around.
It has also been a month of fighting with the critters,
such as the deers and the impolite raccoons.
Now it is time to deal with those dreaded little
Japanese beetles that love to munch on the Roses,
Hollyhocks and Rose of Sharon blooms,although
they have beaten my Rose of Sharon blooms this year.



I posted this picture on my nature blog and
one of my blogging friends and I started
reminiscing about remembering when we
were younger and as kids how there use to
be June Bugs that came out everywhere in
June, thus the name June Bug, I gather
;-)

Do any of you remember seeing June Bugs?
They use to be just thick when I was a kid,
if you have not seen them before it is alright.
It has been over--- years since we have seen
any around. Seems like ancient history now.



Anyway, the pesky Japanese beetles look just
like baby June bugs. June bugs however are twice
the size of the Japanese beetles. I cannot remember
whether the June beetles did damage to the gardens
or flowers then or not. Kids, you know how they are
Summer is for playing outdoors without shoes,
the swimming hole at the creek, and in June you
ran around catching Lightening bugs and June bugs.


June bugs use to swarm all over the yard and in the
grass and we thought it was great fun to catch them,
they tickle your hand while your holding them.
Okay, so we did not have loads of toys and electronic
contraptions. We found our fun with the simple
things and a lot of imagination.
It was fun reminiscing about something so simple
that we both had experienced that is now no
longer around.









11 comments:

Adrienne Zwart said...

Lona, I remember June bugs. I haven't seen any in a long time, too. I remember them hitting the screen on the front door as they tried to get in to the light. I remember not wanting to go outside through that door in the evenings. Oh, and how they crunched if you accidentally stepped on one. YUK!

Maybe I was too girly of a girl to appreciate them as entertaining. To me they were just ugly bugs. LOL

Love your fern photo. Is that Japanese lady fern?

Darla said...

We call all types of June bugs, June bugs! I can't really recall paying much attention to them, remember hearing of them though.

Dirt Princess said...

I remember June bugs.....

Patsy said...

Wow! they do look like Japanese beetles. We played with June bugs under the street light. Tie mothers thread to there leg and watch them fly round and round.
That sure goes back in time for me.
Patsy

Lona said...

Adrienne: Alright I have to admit it I was a 'tom boy'. I just followed along after my male cousins. ;-) Yes, it is a Painted Japanese fern.Huh, I never realized I had put up pictures all referencing to the name Japanese. Don't have a clue as to why they are named that way.

Patsy: We never tried that! It is a wonder though. We use to put broom straws in horse flies. Yuk! I should not have admitted that. Cruelty to animals and all.

I am glad a few remember June bugs though.

CiNdEe's GaRdEn said...

When I took my mom to the doctor yesterday a lady was talking about June Bugs. She said when she was little (she was in her later 60's) she use to catch them and tie a string around a leg of the June Bug then let it fly around her head in circles until its leg fell off! I guess back then they didn't have many toys and no computer games either...LOL Anyhow, thought it was a funny story(-: Kids and their imaginations. My brother use to take grasshoppers and light them on fire with a magnifling glass or tie a firecracker to them and light that. He was very mean. Interesting how he turned out to be such a nice guy(-: There again...no computer back then either! LOL
GI Joe took a beating too. Poor guy lost his leg and arm in an "explosion" too.

~~Rhonda said...

Actually saw a June bug on the front porch a few weeks ago. But there don't seem to be as many as there were when I was young. When no A/C and screen doors were the norm, the June bugs could always be found on the screen, hanging around the porch light. What we call June bugs are brown, nocturnal. I can practically hear them clicking as they hit the screen... :) ~~Rhonda

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

I've never seen June bugs. I do remember the year we lived in St. Louis seeing the lightening bugs. I agree that summer should be about imagination and being outside. I'm glad my girls prefer outside to sitting around playing video games.

Heather said...

Not too sure I know exactly what a june bug is but i have a lot of these other memories involving bugs in the summer and some of them are good memories. Bugs are not my favorite but we are trying to find some kind of agreement this year!

Lona said...

Rhonda: Wow an actual June bug. They are so rare now.

Heather & Catherine: You are just young things :-) It could be that June bugs were just in different parts of the states when I was young. I never considered that.I live in the sticks, well it use to be now it is a tourist haven.


Cindee: I am so glad we were not the only ornery kids around :-) Poor GI Joe. Did your Barbie dolls survive?

When my son was little he took a bunch of old used spray paint cans and went around spraying ants on ant hills. We had some colorful ants for awhile :-)

Happy To Be/ Gl♥ria said...

GM Lona...now girl I remember as a kid in Iowa we had fireflies and would catch them and put in jars...thats one thing we don't have in Ca. and my kids never seen one...Your flowers are just beautiful my friend...looking at your side bar WOW!! thanks for coming by and seeing the bear...and Yes give me the squirels any day ha ha!! Hugs and smiles Gl♥ria