EWWWWwwwwwww!

I have converted to one of those who is utterly disgusted with a specific type of insect.

The maple bug.

I had never encountered these little pests before moving to Swift Current. Apparently they are not uncommon, but seem to come in cycles; a bad year followed by a few mild years. At first, when Ashley showed me the crowds (or 'orgies' as she refers to the seething piles) of teeny red bugs, I thought they were sort of interesting, but now have discovered they are not "interesting"...they are awful.

They start out small and bright red, then grow and grow and finally stop growing at about 2 centimeters long, black with a red stripe and the intellect of small clumsy pebble. The maple bug, (or boxelder bug) apparently lives in cracks in houses or buildings waiting for fall and winter to come out and infest rooms. They come in such multitudes as to make it impossible to really feel like you're rid of them, despite killing what feels like thousands. The kicker? Apparently when one of these creatures is squashed, they release a scent that attracts more. It's really a spiteful way to die if you ask me.

They don't really DO anything, hence my original feelings that they're interesting, but then I learned that they just crawl around, and morph into kamikaze bugs, fying headlong at full throttle into anything, including my face while I'm trying to read my news cast. Seriously. Disgusting.