Newcomers unlearning the old ways

There’s something people do here that those in certain other parts of the country simply do not do.

I’m speaking, of course, of standing under the front porch light after dark with the door held open.

In parts of the U.S., that would invite an insect invasion of biblical proportions. People inside the home would see the person standing in the doorway and begin shouting “Close the door!” or “In or out!” or “Sweet Mother Nature, we’re doomed!”

Oh, sure. It’s possible in Spokane to have bugs fly in through an open door. Happens all the time.

But our insect density is a lower order of magnitude than in the Midwest, the Northeast or the South. People here can get chewed up on camping trips or near the water at night. But it is not simply a given that going outside after dark during the middle of the year means enduring aerial assault.

So if you see someone standing in a doorway at night suddenly do a jerky samba step and hurriedly close the door, there’s a good chance you are witnessing a newcomer to our area experiencing a flashback.

Bugs are no big panic here. But it can take a while to get used to that.