Owl Pine Homestead

08/13/2025

These are hoverflies. Though often misidentified as "sweat bees," they are not bees. Unlike true sweat bees, they cannot sting (or bite). But, you can sometimes feel them licking -- they're after the salt and water in your sweat.
These flies are pollinators too.
You'll see less of them as we enter the gap between summer and fall. So enjoy them for just a bit longer 😊🐝

07/29/2025

This is brilliant! We recently had a professional exterminator come out because it seems a community of mice decided to take up residency in our old farmhouse. Of the many things I learned from the exterminator, the most amazing thing was that cotton actually makes the best bait for mouse traps. You see, the mice use the cotton for nesting, and they are almost always nesting, because… well, they breed like mice. And unlike food baits, you can actually roll the cotton up and stick it inside the trap’s trigger, which means the mice have to activate the trigger to get the cotton out, giving you a nearly 100% dispatch rate. And as you can see from the image, it only takes a small amount of cotton. You can use the cotton from the end of a Q-tip. Tell me this isn’t brilliant!

07/19/2025

07/19/2025

That makes sense 😅✌🏻