I have been living through World War III in my home. It is supposed to be my haven, my safe place…instead, I have been in a constant battle. With whom or what, you ask?
Moths.
Three weeks ago, I began to notice tiny little pests flying around my house. Just one or two every now and then. In fact, I thought it was the same critter. I tried to chase it down, but it was hard to find and catch. I finally caught it flying around my kitchen and squashed it. But later that evening, another one flew by me as I sat in my recliner. I have a light right next to my chair, so I patiently waited for it to fly near the light. But doggone it, it disappeared!
This went on for a week, with just one or two flying around. My husband said they were drain flies, so I looked them up on the internet and immediately discovered that no, they were not drain flies…they were tiny moths.
How did they get in the house?
I figured that every time I opened the front door at night, one would fly in. Okay, maybe one flies in, but two a day? It didn’t make sense.
Next, I decided that when I brought in my summer wreath from the front door, probably some moths were in it and got loose in my house. But I put that wreath in the attic. How did they get downstairs and through a closed door?
No, it had to be something else.
The next day, my husband pulled his bathrobe out of his closet and a little moth flew out of it. Frantic, I rushed into his closet and jiggled all of his suitcoats. Do you have any idea what a moth can do to a wool blend suit? I shuddered.
But after checking, no… there were no more moths.
This was becoming extremely annoying. I refused to let tiny flying critters drive me nuts. I was determined to find the root of the problem.
As we moved into the second week of this infestation, I went into the bathroom and there were more of the messy stinkers. I grabbed my dustbuster and sucked up ten of those nasty things. Yes, ten!
Firmly believing that I had defeated the little moths, I was more than aggravated and shocked when I sucked up eight more with my little vacuum the next night. My husband killed ten more the next night.
I began to solve this puzzle when I opened a drawer in the bathroom, and one flew out. That meant that they had to have originated in the drawer or cabinets below. When I opened the cabinet door, at least a dozen more of the pests had attached themselves to the back of the door.
AH HA! Now I was getting somewhere. I pulled out a basket where I keep old towels to dry off my little dog, and there it was…evidence. Moth fuzz, wing powder, and droppings were all over my towels. I grabbed the yucky things and threw them in the washing machine.
Now I knew. A mama moth made a great nest in my towel basket, gave birth to dozens of these things, and they proceeded to fly all over my house seeking a new life.
It has been three weeks since I first noticed the moths, and today I killed two more. Perhaps it is all winding down now. But there is more to this story.
I ordered a fancy off-white sweater to wear for a wedding I am attending. It arrived by mail, so I grabbed it, ran to the bedroom, and opened the package to look it over. Excited, I tried it on. It fit beautifully, and I was so joyful as I modeled it for my husband. But when I took it off to hang it on a hanger, one of those disgusting little devils flew right into the sweater leaving a powdery brown streak. It already has to be dry cleaned.
I guess the moths got even.
