Disgusting Little Buggers

Repugnant. Loathsome. Abominable. Repulsive. Obnoxious. And those are some of the nicer names. I cannot tell you what I call the stinkbugs that invade our area every year around this time.

I would post a photo, but I'm sorry to say you will have to Goo-gle them to see what they look like because I just don't have the stomach to put one on here. It would make me want to run off to Siberia...where they are not and never will be.

These bugs are not indigenous to this country. Back in 2001 some of them hitchhiked from somewhere in Asia (thank you U.S. government for back and forth trade), and they decided to hop off in Allentown, PA. That is just a few miles away from where I am sitting.

We were told that this season (end of summer into early fall) would be the worst infestation ever - and they weren't wrong.

They want to come into the tiniest of spaces they can find so they can "winter" in warmth. They don't like cold weather. The only decent thing they do is not breed or lay eggs inside; they lay their eggs under leaves outside.

They were coming in where we recently installed two window air conditioners. My husband got the idea to saran wrap the air conditioners along with a lot of masking tape. We tamed those areas; however, the front door is now the spot they love the best. They crawl into the opening between the door frame and the storm door, then again past the other door and voila! there they are...on the inside.

They resist all kinds of pest repellents so spraying them is out of the question, especially since we have three cats living with us. Oh yes, then there is the cats. Our hunters. When one of them is sitting still looking down at the floor near the front door, we know enough to get a tissue for the nasty little intruder(s).

And God forbid, don't ever squash one once it is in that tissue. No, they must be put into the commode and flushed immediately as they are also good swimmers. If one is squashed the smell is horrid. I myself don't mind the odor as it sometimes is a sickeningly sweet smell. There are a lot of people who cannot stand the smell of them once they are squashed.

We have killed so many of them we have lost count. Keeping them out of the house is the biggest problem because they like to crawl away and hide. And then when you least expect it they will kamikaze you with an annoying buzzing sound. That's when I start running...anywhere but where they are. And when we have the overhead fan on, they like to fly around with it like it is the mothership or something.

So here I sit writing about these nasty little buggers and I am itchy all over. Those of you who are not inundated with them now may be dealing with them sooner or later. Just take comfort in the fact that they eventually do stop wanting to come inside, but it has to be really cold outside for that to happen.