Japanese Beetles

I think most of us who garden are familiar with the invasive pest known as the Japanese beetle. While they were introduced into Wisconsin in the 1950's, they exploded in the southern part of the state in later 1990's into the 2000's. They are a pest that likes to destroy certain plants.

The first time I noticed a Japanese beetle was quite some time ago, but within that explosion time frame. That year I had planted Blue Lake pole beans, in lieu of my standard Blue Lake bush bean. The bean plant was nice and healthy until one day in early July I was in the garden checking my plants and noticed that the leaves were all skeletonized, and that is where I noticed the beetle. I did not know what it was at the time, but the internet, even before AI, quickly informed me of the pest. 

Three Japanese Beetles partying on a raspberry plant leaf

Currently, they mostly attack our raspberries and roses, but have been seen on other plants, such as Hollyhock. They burrow into the rose bud such that when it opens you find them feasting on the rose petals. We pull them off the plants as we come across them. I used to simply hold it and take my thumb nail and puncture through the bug, but that got messy, and would take me away from raspberry picking as my hands smelled like Japanese Beetle. It is not a pleasant odor. Now, I pick them off and place them in a container of water and some Dawn dish soap. I am not concerned about killing an invasive specie. A couple years ago camping at Mirror Lake Gypsy moths, now called Sponge moths were literally falling out of trees, and I asked a ranger what to do and she said smash them. That made sense to me. We got one container filled with the beetles, and did not know what quite to do with them, so I dug a hole and dumped them in. 

When I look at the raspberry plants and see them on the foliage or on a berry, it is not uncommon for two to be hooked up, likely fertilizing eggs to continue the spread of this pest. I have to say, they are not usually too shy and I have even come across a fivesome. I am quickly becoming an expert on the sexual habits of Japanese Beetles. While they like the tops of the leaves to mate, some, in this recent hot weather, hook up on the underside of a leaf. I take it they are not monogamous.

Pulling them off can be a challenge, particularly if you already have some in a closed hand. In the closed hand, the sharp little legs like to stick to you hand, or even worse they are trying to wiggle out between the fingers or the palm and finger tips. Perhaps the spot most vulnerable is the between the little finger and the palm . They vibrate the hand which provides an odd sensation. With several in the hand you try to keep them in before they can escape and dump them all in the water-soap mix. This is not always successful.  

Cucumber leaves eaten off plant, likely be deer

If you have not tried to pick a Japanese beetles off a plant and hold them in your closed hand I suggest you do so. It becomes more difficult as you add the beetle to the hand with several already vying to get out.  I do have to say, picking the fivesome off was rather difficult to make sure I got all. I think I put my handover the group and pulled on the leaf. Sometimes I am fortunate to get them all, other times not so much. 

The beetles do three things, eat, have sex, and party. At some point the beetles will lay the eggs, which have a 10 to 12 day period to hatch. The females burrow into the ground lay the eggs and depart to eat, party and have sex some more. As much as they destroy my garden plants, the majority of their 10-12 month cycle is spent underground eating roots of grass. I get the feeling that we will forever be fighting the Japanese beetle. It is too bad the deer don't go for them instead of my cucumber and other plants. Or, that the Canadian wildfire smoke does not hamper them.

If it is not one pest, Japanese Beetles as an example, it is other pests, deer eating plants, squirrels stealing out bean seeds, rabbits nibbling on lower leaves, chipmunks destroying plants. And other creatures I am not aware, perhaps racoons, groundhogs or whatever. 

Priorities

This past winter, about a month apart, I saw death notices for two religious sisters, one a Dominican from the Sinsinawa convent, and the other a Benedictine based at Holy Wisdom Monastery. Besides that both were near the same age and committed themselves to religious life, I quickly noticed they had one other thing in common. Both funerals were at Holy Wisdom Monastery which is slightly north of Madison, WI. Each of the funeral services were led by a female, and with communion using gluten free hosts. Needless to say they did not have a Catholic funeral mass. At least for the Benedictine it is not like a priest was not available, as one priest played the music, and another gave the homily. Instead they went with a female who preaches at Holy Wisdom which was started by the Benedictine sisters. At one point Holy Wisdom was under a different name until then Bishop Robert Morlino helped encourage the split and asked them to give up the tabernacle that had been housed at the location, at that point they changed the name. I bring this up  as it shows the priority for the Catholic Church and its affect on even religious sisters.

1 July 2026 SSPX recently consecrated bishops (white)
Google images

Unfortunately, as many in the Amazon can attest, the chief priority of the church is not the resurrection and saving grace of Jesus, or service to the faithful, but rather a single all-male clergy. Persons in the Amazon can go over a year without a priest showing up. So much for the church serving those at the margins. At the same time, in the United States, we see many foreign priests such that we have become a mission area. The priests from India or Africa or wherever, are favored by some of their home territories because the American diocese pays their diocese for their services, a rent-a-priest program. The problem is many of the foreign priests are hard to understand, so it further drives away people. Why attend mass when you cannot understand the celebrant, whether it highly accented English, Latin, or Bengali. According to EWTN in the 1990's over 80% of Brazilians were Catholic, and it is now down to 52%...and falling. It does not take a genius to figure out why. In the meantime, Evangelicals are the recipients of the Catholic loss. Given the move to Evangelicals, it is not that the church is not sufficiently traditional, as many rad-trads say, but it is failing to have boots on the ground, and clergy rooted in the community. 

Diocese of Detroit, symbolic of decline in the Catholic Church
Ryan Burge is a professor at Washington University
L to R: Baptisms, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriages Funerals

People are voting with their feet and leaving, and the church lets its institutional sclerosis and its conservative nature keep it down. Even the firmest trads, SSPX, recently split with tradition by not getting papal approval for consecration of new bishops. Recently, some news outlets, pointed to recent high number of converts, but the incoming does not offset those who leave, and the number is actually lower than pre-Covid years. Yet, the church will take it as a win. Mass attendance is at 28%, much less than most other faiths. One wonders if Benedict's change to the mass also led to disaffection. If it is the one true church, in trad minds, why is it loosing so many people? Over the centuries this idea of one true church has led to a significant arrogance that has become embodied in the institution. When my grandfather used to say "The walls of hell are lined with the souls of priests!" it was not the abuse crisis, but the arrogance priests exhibited, clericalism. Here is a link to an article on the disconnect in the Church. While the data is almost ten years old, it shows the clear disconnect between the rad trads who demand purity and compliance, compared to the parishioners. This is part of the reason, I believe, so many have left or are leaving. Yet, even the rad trads, as pointed out in a prior post lose themselves, lace only goes so far in binding rad trad clerics to the faith. When Pope Francis proclaimed Todos, todos, todos, he was recognizing that people can disagree with church teaching and still be Catholic, to him it was a matter of accompaniment and not putting people down. This is different from John Paul II and Benedict XVI who both seemed to demand strict obedience. Even Poland is starting to go the way of Ireland. The bible may say, regarding Christ's church, that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it," but that does not say anything about the folly and sins of men.

Sadly, the increasing number of young rad-trad priests think their main activity is to wear funny hats and dress in long black cassocks, rather than provide service to their parishioners. I know of one rad-trad, who no longer identifies as a priest, but when pastor of a parish got rid of its 24 hour hotline for its congregants. If you needed anointing of the sick, or confession, you may be dead by the time you get it. Unfortunately, this is becoming more the rule than the exception with the Morlino priests. In less than two decades we will only have Morlino priests and the church will increasingly be smaller and more doctrinaire focused on Latin, funny hats and long cassocks rather than people and God. The "gift" of Robert Morlino keeps on giving. Hence, rather than accompanying congregants on a spiritual journey, they think of themselves. 

The problem is the priests then complain about how few attend mass, but yet many clergy fail to accompany parishioners. They complain even more about the lack of giving, but yet they preach exclusion and have a mass more like SSPX than Vatican II. They do not like the effects of their preaching and actions, yet they still do it. The actions of the local bishop has also driven congregants away. The Church is in a perfect storm when you add in its clericalism, and what that has led to in the church. It is now getting worse as many diocese close churches, consolidate, and cut back on masses because of the priest shortage. Figures show when this occurs 20% of the congregations are lost. Yet, they keep doing it. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, and that is where the church finds itself.

So much focus of the church over the past few decades has been on trying to keep the conservative, Holocaust denying SSPX in the fold. So much so that leaders have been blind to the other end. It is a true misreading by the church when two religious sisters do not have a Catholic funeral mass. The church not only cannot preach to a choir which has dispersed, as at St Maria Goretti, and Christ the King, but it has failed to keep its own religious properly in communion. It is not like these two religious sisters up and got married, they still lived within their respective religious communities. The conservative nature of the church, in trying to patch things up for so long with SSPX, failed to recognize the crumbling foundation, leaky roof, and all that entails on the other end of the divide.

Ryan Burge

The injustice is even greater for the persons in the Amazon and other regions at the periphery who desire to better practice their faith, but lack clerics to attend to their needs. It is not like the issue is not known, the Synod on the Amazon brought the issue of lack of clergy for many communities to the forefront. It seems to me the Church made a pact with people when it baptized them, and now it throws them to the side and fails to live up to its end of the bargain because of the single, all-male priesthood. Poor John Paul NO, in his rush to maintain male clericalism, he used historic arguments that make little sense. After all, the first person to encounter the risen Christ was not male, but Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18).

Yet, even John Paul apparently did not say no to female deacons, which existed in the early church, but no longer exist due to patriarchy and clericalism. Pope Francis got some things right, but choose not to go too far, perhaps a concern with what Cardinals Burke and Mueller would say. When the US bishops visited the Vatican on their ad limina visits a few months after the Amazon synod, it was not the issue of declining priests or drop in attendance that they wanted to broach with the Vatican, but to make sure the Pope (Francis) would not think of allowing ordination of married men, or allow female deacons, two issues that synod document touched on. The final no action was a win for clericalism and patriarchy. One would think the rad-trads would embrace female deacons, since they were active in the early church, but they do not. Rather, they look to Pius X and the 19th century as the "highwater" mark, not the first centuries of Christianity. Even with this, the church still studies the matter and the recent study committee document (2025) was laughable for its incomplete and poor treatment of the issue.

To help with the lack of clergy one would think deacons could become more common. However, Bishop Morlino forbad any new deacons. I have a man in my book club who had wished to become a deacon  when Morlino was a bishop, but Morlino said no. Fast forward to present time, and another member of my book club noted he had received a letter from the diocese asking him to consider becoming a deacon. Apparently the letter was sent to a certain demographic of males, as the one who earlier had desired and is retiring this year, did not get a letter. So, we go from the short-sighted Morlino to present time when they are now wanting more deacons. Do they finally realize the negative effects of the lack of clergy? They realize the clergy shortage is real, and perhaps they realize that the Morlino priests really do not wish to work all that hard. Why do Morlino priests dislike work? It could be thta they are too busy tidying up their lace, and dusting their beanies. 

Hence, the Catholic Church is left with people having been praying for the past 50 or more years for more priests and the situation has not improved. It reminds me of the joke...

A devout person refuses evacuation during a flood. They stubbornly decline a rowboat and a motorboat, insisting God will save them. Even when a helicopter arrives, when they are perched on the roof of the house, they refuse the rope. Eventually, the person drowns. They meet God, and ask why He didn't intervene, to which God replies, "I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more did you expect?

Clearly, in the above joke, the Catholic Church is the devout person. Maybe God is telling the Church that it has failed to properly use all its human resources, In that sense, in holding to a single, all-male clergy the church shows that its priority is not attending to the Gospel or the bringing people to encounter Jesus, but rather its priority is the single all-male priesthood to which all else in the church is subservient. 

Those two religious sisters continued to live with their religious communities, showing the diversity of thought in the church. But, community, long a standard of the faith is being lost and its decline is increasing as parishes are closed, or consolidated. It may be an urban legend, that Pope Benedict XVI desired a smaller more doctrinaire church, but that is coming true. The church will look much different in a couple generations, as more churches close due to declining attendance, and fewer priests. The priority of the church for a single all-male clergy feeds on itself and this priority is what has led to realignment, closures and consolidations. The church is reducing its population to align with its decreasing number of clergy. It is a matter of priorities, and the message of Gospel is second to the single all-male clergy. 

Gone Garden

I first noticed a kale plant, started by my brother-in-law, who gave it to my sister who gave it to me at Easter. Due to the heavy rains in mid to late April, I did not get the garden soil worked up as early as desired for cool season crops, hence this kale, an my own plants were not in the soil until late April. It was a less than a week later, that it was chewed to the ground. My other plants went missing, like they were pulled out, even with row covers. I put a wire basket around it, and since it has struggled to once again take off. My other kale plants have seen the same fate. I am not sure what it is this year, but critter damage to my garden started early and has continued. I have plants or vegetables being eaten that have never before been eaten. It began and April and has continued unabated. This has meant that much of my garden is gone.

Critters eating Kale

I am not sure why an animal would like kale, but for its supposed benefits of varied minerals. Yet, it is not just the kale. Leaves have been chopped off Brussel sprouts, the fruit and/or leaves of kohlrabi have been eaten. The collards have been left untouched, by a critter who seemingly prefers kale over collard greens, but now have the usual holes in the leaves eaten by some type of caterpillar or worm. Yet, even before all this my self-started kale, collards, broccoli, and cabbage plants were fully eaten to the ground. It was so bad, I had to go buy plants of kale and collards and broccoli plants. The critters got them too, and have little left. I am not sure what squirrels may do, but one time as I entered the garden I saw a squirrel with a plant in its mouth moving quickly out of the fenced in garden. 

My second planting of beans was all destroyed, likely by squirrels, but maybe chipmunks, digging up the seeds I had planted. I even covered the next planting with screen weighed down by stones, and some where still dug out.

Kohlrabi leavaess eaten 

My pea plants were eaten off at the ground in May, just as they were about to produce. Some of my bean plants had the same, but the bean plants in the raised bed were looking good until we got back from a camping trip on July 2, and noticed they were all eaten down.

While the garden is on a hill in the backyard, my eggplant seem to need more sun so I planted three on the southside of the house in our flower bed. A couple weeks ago I noticed the lower leaves had been eaten, but the critter left the small fruits starting to be produced on the plants. for two of the plants, I have placed a large tomato cage over the plants, and used old screening or chicken wire to wrap around the cage. The critter apparently did not like the fruit of the eggplant. Of course, the critter ate more than vegetables. I had a nice snapdragon from last year that survived and had flowered, and I dead-headed to get it to flower again, only to find a couple days later it had been eaten to the ground level as some cosmos.

Brussel Sprout leaves eaten

Fortunately, my tomato plants have been left unharmed, although earlier in the year deer seemed to have eaten them as they did my rose bushes which delayed roses on most of my rose shrubs.  Adding insult to injury, the impatiens I planted in a homemade planter, that sits about 7" above the concrete floor of the porch, were cut down to a couple inches high, destroying all the nice flowers. Our neighbor plants impatiens in the ground and they never have damage, perhaps because they have a dog, and while an inside dog, they do let it out in the backyard on occasion. I am not sure if the critters smell the dog even though it is not in the backyard too often, or what happens that they know to attack my plants. It all makes me wonder if the critters have trail cams to find out what we are up to and when we are away from the house. 

I do know that I have seen a rabbit in the garden, and not sure how it got in, perhaps through the door. I wonder, with all the damage it lives in there and hides under the rhubarb leaves. I want to know why the critters can not eat things, like the volunteer Kentucky Coffee trees that pop up, or the creeping Charlie, or the burdock, or the grapevines growing up back in my somewhat wild area? But, no, they have to eat something I put time and effort into growing and had to replace (some replaced twice, i.e.  three plantings). I know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. 

Kale

I have tried row covers over seedings and as another fence, but those techniques failed. I am now trying another fence, to have the kale and Brussel Sprouts fenced within the fenced in garden. I keep wondering if I have to put a netting over the top, supported by some type of structure. I am attempting to reinvigorate the remaining plants, but not sure if that will work to which I will have a mostly gone garden.

Demographic Mortality

A few months ago there was an outbreak of the Hantavirus on a cruise ship, possibly due to some bird watchers who became infected while visiting a rat infested dump in Argentina. As I was reading the article I mentioned to the wife that an outbreak of the Hantavirus was on a cruise ship. As I was reading, she asked if anyone died. I then replied some old man died, his wife and at least one other. When saying "old man" was aged 68, it did not occur to me that I was the same age. Unwittingly, I labeled myself an old man. I did not know this man, but, things hit home with two other deaths over the past several months. One was a college friend who lived next door in the dorms, and another a former classmate from high school.

While I am a seasoned citizen, although not as seasoned as the wife, women live longer than men, on average about 4.9 years, say five years. Given that, perhaps I am a more seasoned citizen than my wife. Currently, in the US, men are expected to live on average 76.5 years, although if you get to 65, you have, on average 18.4  more years to live. At my current age, the wife may have to put up with me for an additional 15 years. Although the math does not always work since other sources identify lesser years on earth if you live to 65. 

It was midweek when I read a Facebook post about the high school classmate who died. He lived in Minnesota, but his funeral will be in Sun Prairie. We were both part of the 1976 bicentennial class. There have been others that have passed on, one of which I was acquainted with since grade school died about 14 months ago. There are also college classmates. Several years ago the wife of one of my college roommates, who was in the same 1980 college class, passed away. Last November, a former friend from college, who lived in the dorm next to me passed away. He was from Madison, and while spent much of his time in Colorado, was back in the area with his funeral and burial in the Madison area.  

Population Pyramid, US, 2025
populationpyramids.org

This increasing level of departing the bonds of earth is starting to become more common for my demographic. The mortality level increases as we age just as travel insurance, and other insurance rates increase for the seasoned citizen set. The wife got her driver license renewal notice recently, and saw that there were options to renew on line, but she did not qualify due to her being a senior citizen.

 According to the 2025 US population pyramid, it is at the 60-64 age cohort where females begin to outnumber males. This of course does not bode well for widows, or single women in the age group looking for a similarly aged man. Does this lead to cougars?  Women live longer than men, and often it was that the man is older than the spouse he marries. Kind of a double whammy. My wife is smart--she is a cougar, marrying a bit younger than her demographic. She has always denied being a cougar, but a former coworker of mine, also a cougar by about the same age difference with her spouse (but a millennial), is proud to be one and suggested that my wife embrace being a cougar.  

The mortality rate for men tends to increase dramatically in my age group. At 68 (65-74), the rate is 2,000 to 4,500 males per 100,000 males, and for the next ten year group (75-84) it increases to 4,700 per 100,000. At 84 it is 14,000-17,000 per 100,000. I am not sure why they have such a large range, it seems as if it is an easy statistic to maintain. Genetics, lifestyle and other factors all play a roll in determining life expectancy. 

As an unwittingly self-described old man, the demographic mortality is starting to hit home.

Have a safe and enjoyable Independence Day!