Always listen to your Mamma...

We have this teeny tiny pond out back. The kids have a boat and nets and all the fun stuff that comes with owning a pond. All 12x30 feet of it. It is full of life! Tadpoles, salamander larvae, water striders, water beetles, frogs AND Ugly Bugs.

Yes, Ugly Bugs. We have observed many a tadpole missing a tail or injured due to the Ugly Bugs. Our Ugly Bugs are 2" long, quick, and have large mandibles that are like a pair of sharp grapple hooks and they kill everything from the goldfish we put in there to the tadpoles. They inject poison that turns the insides of their prey to *mush* then they um...drain them dry...kinda like a spider does. Everyone is scared of the Ugly Bugs and we kill them as often as we catch them.

I have always told the children they mustn't swim in the pond, it is disgusting, muddy and full of Ugly Bugs. Does that stop them? No. They come to the house dripping with pond goo and smiling from ear to ear. Why? Well, that won't happen anymore. Pond swimming days are over. Jacob met an Ugly Bug while walking in the pond Monday. He stepped just right on an Ugly Bug and it must have arched back and bit his foot. He came in the house limping from the pain with two little bite marks and redness on his foot.

Today we ended up in the doctors office because of that Ugly Bug. Thanks again to Google I found out we are dealing with a Predaceous Diving Beetle larvae. Predaceous...just that word! Everything I stated in paragraph 2 is what I learned today and we have a healthy respect for these critters now. No one wants to swim in the pond! yeah!! Makes me happy. Jacobs foot does have an infection, thanks to the Ugly Bug(I hope it died) BUT we have a $133 bill for a 15 min appointment, a bottle of antibiotics (yes, Dawn, I put a child on antibiotics!) and have to soak his foot in hot water 4x a day. The site now 3.5"x 1", swollen, hard and red. We hope it looks better in the morning!