All last spring and summer, the house was infested with these stink bugs. If you don't know what these are, they're like Box Elder bugs, except smaller, and they have a brown "X" on their backs. But even worse, they smell like rotten cucumbers when you squash them.
If that sounds gross and creepy, well, it is. These things were everywhere. They would sneak in through tiny cracks in the back windows and the back sliding glass doors, but despite my efforts to seal up the cracks- they'd still get in. I tried spraying for them outside, around the windows and door. Didn't work; these things were immune to that particular bug spray. So I tried laying duck tape, face up, next to the base of the windows and the door. That... KINDA worked. As in, it would trap roughly 40-50 percent of the stink bugs that snuck in, and after a couple weeks, the tape would be covered in dead stink bugs. Fine but... what about the other 50-60 percent? These would be crawling across the ceiling and windows, hanging out on the house plant, or, just randomly, you'd find one crawling on you, on the book you were reading, or even on your plate of food. ICK!!! It got so bad that I ended up leaving the vacuum plugged in at all times, and every day, or even every couple hours when I was home, I'd use the hose to vacuum them up. But I always told myself, keep your hopes up, hang in there, because once it's winter, they'll die off; the cold weather will kill them.
It didn't.
For one thing, it's been a fairly mild winter. But even when temperatures dipped into the low 20s or upper teens, somehow, these things survived. Like they are freezer proof or something. To be fair, I don't get as MANY of them as before, but I still deal with them- I killed six of them yesterday, including one that had jumped onto my hand and was crawling on me, and another one that appeared on the cover of a book I was reading.
House ants and spiders suck, but they usually don't stink when you smash them. Wasps suck, but they are mainly outdoor pests. These things, however, are just the fucking WORST. I have finally broken down and called an exterminator, who will be here in a couple days. Hopefully that will at least turn the tide of battle. (And as I write this, what should just buzz by overhead, but another one of those wretched stink bugs. ARRGH!)
On another note, in a few weeks, I'm not sure when, I'll probably make what will be my last visit to my old childhood home, where I grew up and lived for over 19 years. Almost every year since then, I've gone out and spent time there for Christmas, and for the last 12 or 13 years, I've visited with mom for a couple weeks every summer and hung out there. But she's leaving it finally, to move to a smaller assisted living place. I do not disagree with her decision, in fact I probably would have insisted on it myself, sadly, because it's come to that.
In those long years- decades, since I grew up, moved on and lived my adult life, I've seen the old neighborhood slowly fade. The old neighborhood kids are all gone, and even, in most cases, their families are as well. A lot of the open spaces we played in are either fenced off now, or developed. Tall trees now screen out the view of the valley and ranch below where we played as kids, which is too bad, as it was always relaxing to be able to look out over the valley and enjoy the view, which we can no longer do. The town has changed a lot too, become way more fast-paced and less laid back, with Silicon Valley tech millionaires pushing out the blue collar and middle class professionals like us. They are about to tear down our shopping mall, and the old high school and K-8 Schools I went to are no longer recognizable. It feels like everything I knew there is dying or dead, but that's just me- it actually hasn't, so much as, it's just moved on. Only memories are left now, but I'm grateful for those.
In a way, now I kind of envy the kids whose parents moved around a lot growing up, or who lived in different places. You don't get as attached to places, and don't get those nostalgia vibes like that, so you learn to adapt much easier, and so when it's time, it's easier to let go. So... I'll go back, pack what's left of my stuff there (mostly stuff like old yearbooks, and old toys like legos and what not, that I'll probably end up donating.) and it will finally be the end. The last real trip "home." Even though it hasn't been "home" now, for decades. But, I can't say I won't be sad to finally let go. Mostly good memories there, of course over 19 years, it wasn't always sunshine and roses because when you're growing up, things happen. But one thing should be said- none of the "Bad" memories there ever involved stink bug infestations.
So that's all I got. Thanks for reading, see ya.