Bring Back The Ladybugs

I've posted about the Ladybug invasions that take place in the fall. We had a couple of years that were really bad, with hundreds of ladybugs in our home, coming out when the sun hit the windows.

Well, we now have a different kind of bug invading the place.

Box elder bugs, or maple bugs, are much larger than ladybugs. We don't have as many of them, thank goodness, because unlike ladybugs, they don't hide when the sun isn't shining. At night, when I'm sitting in bed reading or at the computer, they dive-bomb me, land on my pillow or in my hair, and when I sleep they crawl on the bed. 

When you crush them, they smell like grass. I've smelled that smell in the middle of the night and realized I had just crushed one in my sleep.

They don't bite, they're just there. All the time. Bugging me. 

And they're creepy. And no mater how many I squish in tissues and flush down the toilet, more keep coming in. I swear they're chewing through the walls or something.

I think it's a kind of karmic retribution for making such a fuss over the ladybugs. After all, they're harmless. I'll take them back. Really. And I will not complain. Just get these icky ones away from me.