Bugtopia

It hasn't been that long since I blogged about our nasty encounter with yellowjackets. Well, our house must be very inviting to bugs (you don't think it's karma's response to all my moth repellent devices, do you?) because we are now facing Invasion of the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug (halyomorpha halys, for Franklin and the other Latin scholars).

These nasty, crunchy, stinky bugs are invading the side of our house that gets the most sun. I scoop 'em up, I flush 'em, I even have taken to vacuuming 'em, and more keep coming. Sigh. I have it on good authority that these bugs hitched a ride from Asia in shipping cartons and since they have no natural predators here, tend to multiply quickly.

In the meantime, some sort of icky meal bug has infested my flour. (We are big fans of the Pantry Pest sticky trap.)

And to add to the overall bugginess, we had a visitor show up on the outside of a window:



A praying mantis. At least he had the good sense to stay outside. I have a rolled-up section of newspaper and I'm not afraid to use it.