Table Talk

There comes a time in every homeown- underneath doors so it wouldn’t run out Apparently, I handle mounds of clothing that has er’s life when something breaks or doesn’t all over the basement; hosing down the seen the back end of a farm animal better than my work the way it’s supposed to work. room and scrubbing the floor with plenti- husband handles household ending stocks on his Some repairs take just minutes, while ful amounts of strong bleach water. person. That mop no longer lives here. When peace and calm had returned, my husband began to clean himself up. He peeled his socks, t-shirt and jeans off, and stood right out in the front yard in his underwear in the middle of the afternoon, hosing the sewer water off of those clothing items. Our mail carrier must wonder what goes on around here. When he would talk about it after he showered, he strung those familiar expletives together again before saying, “…I had toilet paper in my teeth.” Truth be told, he did not experience that. But his point about grossness was made. others gobble up our time and leave us as wide-eyed as laborers without pantlegs tied shut on corn shelling day. It’s the woman of the house who often brings household problems to light. She typically stands next to the man of the house, handing him the tools he needs to wave over a clogged garbage disposal or a broken vacuum cleaner and bring them back to life. But it sometimes comes at a high price. This past late winter, my husband discovered a drainage issue in the house. Something wasn’t right; and upon the several investigations that followed, it turns out there was some kind of issue that was keeping the sewer line from flowing. TABLE TALK By Karen Schwaller It took me back to the days when our children were babies. My husband managed to change a dirty diaper once or twice, but listening from the other room during the process, you would have thought he had just stumbled home from a college frat party — with the dry heaves, he would broadcast — and all at the very thought of getting some on his hands. He has never been a fan of people doo-doo — especially as a fashion accessory. I do have to hand it to him — this time especially — for taking one for the team. A sewage bath was a poetic symbol of how 2020 had gone. I bet he trades places with me the next time I say, “Hey dear, the toilet won’t flush.” Given the job ahead of him, my husband spewed his usual string of curse words and started in on the Here’s a guy who raised hogs for 25 years and never once flinched at the thought of having his But I’ll have six years of baby diaper experience behind me to give me the strength. job of fixing that problem. He checked every place jeans splattered or even caked with hog poop. They Karen Schwaller brings “Table Talk” to The Land where he might gain the easiest access to the line, just came off at night and went into a pile of chore from her home near Milford, Iowa. She can be but eventually it led him to the basement where the clothes that were my responsibility to deal with. reached at kschwaller@evertek.net. v sewer pipe protrudes from the wall. And here is where our story begins. Volunteers needed for insect trapping He grabbed a five-gallon bucket and placed it underneath the end of the pipe and slowly began to unscrew the plug. He turned slowly and the contents ran just as slowly out of the pipe and into the bucket, which he would periodically dump into the sump pit. This tomfoolery continued for a few minutes until it happened. He turned the plug a little For the past few years, Minnesota farm families and their checkoff investment have helped support insect trapping networks in Minnesota for several corn insect pests. We would like to continue and expand this network in 2021 and would appreciate your help. research/ipm/bcw-network. U of M Extension is in the process of lining up 2021 cooperators and trap locations. For black cutworm, we would like to get two pheromone trap locations per county — particularly in counties in the southern half of the state. too far, he guessed, and the pressure behind it was released. My husband was in perfect alignment for the bath from you-know-where. Black cutworm – This insect cannot overwinter in Minnesota and the moths migrate into Minnesota each spring. The larvae attack several crops including corn and soybeans. If you are interested in running a trap or would like more details, contact tvollmer@umn.edu. The true armyworm is another migrant moth pest which can be captured with pheromone traps. The

And it didn’t miss. Spring weather patterns usually lead to early-season migrations of moths mainly into the southern larvae are pests of corn, small grains, grass seed fields, grass hay and pastures. Because of armyworm

Of course, he was as grossed out as the person half of Minnesota. A network of pheromone traps can infestations in the past few years, we plan on includfeeling the ‘brains’ at the haunted house, not to help predict when and where damage from black ing this insect as part of the black cutworm network.mention furious. cutworm larvae will occur. Extension is also seeking cooperators to monitor

We started in cleaning up sewer water — hauling For previous year’s results of the black cutworm corn rootworm beetles with yellow sticky traps durrugs up the steps and outside; putting old towels reporting network, see https://swroc.cfans.umn.edu/ ing the summer of 2021. The results can help determine the risk of corn rootworm damage to corn in the following year. This project will attempt to pool data across Minnesota with the goal of better understand-

Join The Land Online! ing spatial and temporal changes in corn rootworm populations. Individual field locations will be kept confidential. Facebook.com/TheLandOnline If you think you might want to participate in this project during 2021 or have corn rootworm trap data Twitter.com/TheLandOnline from 2020 you would be willing to share, contact bpotter@umn.edu or tvollmer@umn.edu.

Instagram@thelandmagazineonline This article was submitted by University of Minnesota Extension. v