Hi, I think you may want to wear dark colored long sleeve shirts and long pants when you work on your garden. A bee once sat on my bag that has a yellow flower drawing. And when I went to picnic with my yellow shirts on, a bee followed me around.. I'm scared of certain bugs that harms me if I get bitten. Although seeing giant bugs still gives me goosebumps, it's manageable now. Let me explain the reasons why I kind of got over the fear. I had to live in an old house that has mouses, roaches, ants, mosquitoes, etc.. Next room that I moved in was an old wood craft building. I cleaned up the place and applied the drugs to remove them. But, then entire place was wood=food for termites and warm weather didn't help the situation. So, by the time I moved out of that place, I become numbed by the frequencies of their appearance. I guess when you have no choice but to face with your fear everyday basis, you learn how to get around it, live with it, and survive. I hope this would be helpful to anyone who reads it. However, I don't recommamd you to force yourself too much because I don't want you to be traumatized. This is not a race. You can deal with it at your own comfortable pace.

I don't know why anything would be more likely to smell if the dishwasher door were left ajar or with the door latched. Either way, there isn't likely to be much air circulation. You can save water by using the "Rinse & Hold" option that comes on most modern dishwashers. Simply load the scraped dishes, then run the short rinse cycle, leaving the door latched. Odors shouldn't be a problem. It's an "old wive's tale" that enzyme detergents won't provide optimum results unless the dishes are heavily soiled. Almost all dishwashers run a preliminary rinse and drain cycle before the main wash cycle -- which is when the detergent door releases. By the time detergent is released, all but the most stubborn food debris has already been rinsed away. The enzymes will still work just as effectively on whatever food debris remains.

One of the short-horned / slant-faced grasshoppers, these include "toothpick" grasshoppers. I'm still narrowing this ID down. http://bugguide.net/node/view/8013/bgimage ^Cattail Toothpick Grasshopper linked to above is similar and widespread http://www.jeffpippen.com/naturephotos/grasshoppers.htm ^link shows the Cattail grasshopper complete with the same wing-tip patterning, and is from the Carolinas (top 3 images). Very interesting insect, thanks for posting.

Elena, I have been pretty diligent in spraying for midge since all season last year, keeping on schedule as best I could. I had very good success, not 100%, but about 80%. This spring, 2025, I cannot find one confirmed midge damaged growing tip. That's among a lot of rose bushes, about 55. Now, in years past, since I first became aware beginning in 2010, of what was going on concerning midge, and the damage I began to see then, the midge seemed to emerge from winter dormancy AFTER the first flush of the season had reached their pea sized bud stage. So the first flush stayed clean and the flowers bloomed beautifully, but the flood gates opened as soon as new, later growth after dead heading, began to emerge. New shoots all summer long, those that were even only 1.5" (3.7cm), in length, were being damaged if not protected. Therefore I did not bother to spray until new growth started to show after the first flush. This had been the pattern among other local rosarians also, first flush home free, second flush and thereafter, war zone battling midge. I have found out that over the past 5 or so years that right after spring pruning, midge have been emerging from winter rest earlier, and have been attacking the first flush growth also. So I began spraying the first flush too a while ago. I have sprayed twice, two weeks apart as of last Tuesday, May 13...the second spray. I plan to be spraying for midge from now on, still targeting all vulnerable new growth in particular, every bush inspected as usual, at each spray session until mid to late October.....maybe later into November. Moses.