Happy First Day of Autumn
Happy Boxelder Bug Day
All of the photos here were taken on September 22nd. The first day of Fall for most. Boxelder Bug Day for me.
I hate Boxelder Bugs. They are benign, yes. But their tendency to buzz around and land on anything drives me batty. Their need to cluster into ungodly hordes many layers deep disgusts me. Really. It just totally grosses me out.
They are supposed to be cyclical. As in, “It’s a bad year for Boxelder Bugs.” Presumably then, you might be treated to a few years worth of “they aren’t too bad” years. But no. Not where I live. They are bad every year. The Asian Beetles, too, though they have yet to come out in force.
Every year I say, “It’s a bad year for Boxelder Bugs.” And it’s true. It is.
If having the exterior of the house crawling with live bugs isn’t bad enough, hundreds make it IN to the house every day, with each opening and shutting of the front or back door. There have been days where we have blocked off the front door entirely because it was too covered with bugs to use. But you gotta get in and out of the house somehow. I suspect that many come in all tangled up in my hair. Now there’s a pleasant thought.
As I sat down to write this earlier today, this is what happened: (I apologize for the horrible photos. That bug was moving fast. And, I have a hard time focusing on my stupid black cat)
By the end of the flurry and before I could set the camera down, she had shredded the document. It was all very funny until I realized it was the voting ballot I was suppose to submit.
I don’t really have much more to say on the subject. I just wanted the chance to give you the heebie jeebies like I have.
Sheila says
Yuck. Do box elders bugs contibute anything to our lives as we know it?
laurie says
and you did … if only Alfred Hitchcock were alive today.
Nat Alea from OK (soon to be MT) says
I’m sorry, but the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the outside of your house was “Amnityville Horror” with all the flies??? OOOHHH that just totally creeps me out. NOT that your house has been completely taken over by an evil force, BBUUTTTT . . .
I’m glad your cat loves the bugs and it looks like you have a built in bug catcher. Does it have anything to do with all the rain you’ve been having? Hopefully you aren’t near any flooded areas. Take care. Nat.
Mary S. says
It’s a contest between them and the lady beetles for which is most hated. As of today, the lady beetles win because they are devouring my raspberries.
admin says
For what it’s worth, we have black flies, too.
admin says
I have to share what my friend Mike just emailed me. He gets the feed in his email window and responds via email instead of posting here. It was too funny not to cut and paste:
All that I can say is, “What in the hell did you buy from Victoria Secrets?”
Leave it to a guy friend to notice THAT!
Michelle says
Thank you for the outside house photos. I’m comforted to know that you are suffering from these too. I’ve talked with others who complain about the boxelder bugs, “We have about 100 on the south side of our house!!!” with their noses curled up. If they only knew . . .
Kristi says
That’s disgusting. But, there’s one thing to be glad for the snow about; bye bugs. Satchel just saw his first boxelder bug last week (I’ve never seen them here so this was a big, novel discovery for a second grader… I mean, just LOOK at that COOL orange stripe!) It brought back memories of Central Middle School locker room showers which I tried to describe. It’s hard enough to get used to the whole locker room shower thing for a middles school-er but the addition of a crawling shower wall and a spigot of bugs compounded the trauma. I told him those bugs are everywhere in MN in the fall and thanks to this photo, I just showed him exactly what I meant.
He has removed MN from his list of possible places to live in his future. But, who knows, I never considered WA and here I am going on a hundred years.
Wish I could head over to your place and cook and help you in the garden– we’d have so much fun!