daily haiku

first snow of the fall

cleans away dust of summer

reveals nature's truth

The dire forecasts did not come to pass, since I woke up to 1/2 inch this morning instead of the anticipated 5". I was lazy and left the sun to sweep it away instead of rushing out with the broom!

I am hoping that the cold discourages or kills some of the bugs that have been a plague as usual this fall. The flies, moths and box elder bugs are ever present but we have developed a penchant towards centipedes and stink bugs the last few years. In years past we occasionally saw a horrifying centipede or two in the house, about 3-4" long and moving like lightning with all those gruesome legs a-wiggling. Most of them were caught under an ashtray in Peter's smoking days, or a water glass in later years, then thrown outside well away from the house.

About 3 years ago, everyone in Birney started complaining about centipedes in the house in the fall, but these are different. About an inch and a half, brown and moving fairly slowly, I frankly wonder if they are a true centipede; they have lots of legs but quite short. Snowy loves them. If I see her staring at the floor I usually know what has caught her attention. She "bats" them with her paw and they oblige her curiosity by rolling up into a ball! Then "mom" interferes and they are flushed down the toilet spoiling all the fun.

This year I've had an invasion of stink-bugs of the type known as shield bug. I have seen them before but left them alone thinking they were a beetle, their shield is quite beatuiful. This year they are plentiful and more aggressive. I'll spare the details but one of them excreted on me in bed one night and I had no idea what it was until I killed another that was invading a roll of toilet paper and the same odd smell emanated from it. At first the smell is gagging but underneath it there is an interesting perfume, which makes me think that their smell is not only a deterrent but could be an attractant to lady stink bugs. I have found a wonderful weapon for disposing of all these invaders and that is a Dustbuster. I usually tour the windows at least once a day and vacuum up the flies, moths, box elders and stink bugs. No mess!

This morning when I was paying bills I looked up to see a stink bug ready to help guide my pen across the check - now that is a useful task. Maybe they have a use after all for paying the stinking monthly bills!