Invasion

I'm talking about Leptocoris trivittatus. Also known as the Box Elder Bug. This disgusting little creature takes its name from the trees they feed off of. Plantboy has informed me that these trees line the canal behind our apartment.

These sneaky bugs get in the house somehow. Once they are in, it is only a matter of time before there is a veritable infestation as the primary function of the adult seems to be flying around scaring my kids or copulating. I'm sure it is only a matter of days before my observant five year old asks me if they are wrestling when one sits on the other like that.

In Texas, I had a six year old tell me once that it was easy to tell which bugs were the love bugs. They were the ones with the two heads. Now, I may be scienceteachermommy, but I wasn't HIS mommy, so I just smiled and said, "That's right dear."

I'm not REALLY complaining. I mean, it isn't like they are malaria-infested mosquitos or anything like that. But the bugs in conjunction with the heat and the moving and the single parenting are really getting to me.

The newstory, right out of Hitchcock, will read, "Woman Instituionalized After Infestation: A woman staggered from her apartment today covered with Leptocoris sp. insects crawling in her hair. She was muttering over and over, 'All I did was lay down for a nap.' Her husband has flown in from Oregon to pick up the kids. His only comment was, 'She kept saying she was okay; I had no idea it had gotten so bad. At least the move will be easy now. It appears the bugs have taken everything.' Even his wife's sanity."

I will dream in orange and black tonight.