A Bug Flew Into My Mouth

We're having these flying bugs show up in our home. I do my best to kill them like the sadistic, cold-hearted guy that I am - usually by smashing them. Well, a few minutes ago, while I was taking something to the bedroom, a bug flew into my mouth in the dark of the hallway.

Blech!!!

I spit it out into the bathroom sink and quickly gargled with mouthwash.

Maybe we need to keep a large spider as a pet.

Made the Papaer and the TV and Radio News

Just doin' my job.

A coworker mine caught two more Oriental Fruit Flies close to each other, this time northwest of downtown L.A., so that meant more news media work. You may have caught me on KNX AM 1070 (where my childhood classmate Ms. Reyes does traffic!) or saw me on the KNBC-TV Channel 4 News.

Also, I was in today's San Gabriel Valley Tribune, talkin' 'bout a weed abatement issue. You see, Fire departments make sure that property owners with houses or businesses or some other structure on their property do proper brush clearance on their property. My coworkers enforce brush clearance on "unimproved" (unoccupied) parcels.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_7009642
Brittle Brush Beautiful, Dangerous
By Bethania Palma, Staff Writer
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

"Our people have been working with the residents," said Ken Pellman,
spokesman for the L.A. County Agricultural Commissioner. "It's ongoing."

He added that the county commissioner's office has "no dispute" with the state Fish and Game department.

Pellman said the threat of fire is mitigated by a paved emergency access road that separates the weeds from homes.

"It's not what we consider a real high fire hazard," he said. "It could burn, but it's not the highest priority."

The Silence Has Been...Uh, Silenced

He never told me he was a mime.

More Oriental Fruit Flies

This time, they're in the South Bay. While treatments are ongoing in the Glendale/Burbank area, treatments are going to start up in another area. I've already recorded an interview for radio.

Here is a quote from the Daily Breeze, based on a wire report prompted by our press release.

The fruit flies were found in county traps between Sept. 4-6 in the unincorporated Harbor City area and the city of Rolling Hills Estates. The Oriental Fruit Fly “is one of the world’s most destructive insect pests,” Ken Pellman of the County of Los Angeles Department of Agriculture Commissioner/Weights and Measures said in a
statement.

“A potential breeding population is indicated by the very limited time and distance between these detections,” Pellman said, adding that the California Department of Food and Agriculture would conduct the spraying, or “squirting.”

The spraying could start even earlier if more of the fruit flies are found. The “male eradication” program will entail squirting fruit fly “bait” on utility poles, trees and light poles. The bait contains a small amount of Naled pesticide that will kill the flies, Pellman said.

The story is also covered already here and here.