Loathing

In spite of Thursday nights' snow storm, things continue to warm up here, slowly but surely. Spring is tantalizingly close, just around the corner. But now that it has decided not to be true winter anymore, I really wish that things would hurry up and start growing. Lets get at least a little tinge of life in the air to intoxicate my nose! Because until some of those awesome spring treats start to come out and start making me giddy, I am going to be desperately wishing it were the dead of winter again, in spite of my cold hands!

Why on earth would I say that?? Because right now I am dealing with the WORST part of the in-between seasons that I can think of. Nope, not the mud or the dirty slush. Not the temperamental weather. Not even taxes. It's much, much worse. It's revolting. It sends shudders down my spine and makes the hair on my neck prickle. It fills me with disgust and loathing. It's the biannual invasion of the Box Elder bugs. Shudder. I despise these creepy arthropods - like an invasion of the undead, they just keep coming. I smash one, and two more creep in to take it's place. There is no respite - just a slow, steady stream of red and black crunchy bodies. (Eww!) No matter how many I kill and sweep away or vacuum up, their body parts never truly disappear. I feel like such a bad housekeeper, so white-trash and dirty!

Granted, it is worse in the fall, they have been multiplying all summer and winter kills off a goodly number. But I had forgotten that they come back in the spring, so I celebrated when they finally disappeared with the start of true winter, thinking it was the last time I would really have to deal with them. Their reappearance now is disheartening, and that makes it even worse. The nasty things get into everything - lights, desk, clothes, drawers, cat food, bed... (yuck yuck yuck!) They buzz past my face on their way to the light fixtures or windows, making me jump and slap myself silly. Even worse is when, every once in a while, I'm awaken in the middle of the night with that creepy crawly sensation on my face, neck or arm, which of course sends me flying out of bed, flailing around and wide awake. Quite effectively ruining an entire nights much needed sleep.

What makes it even more pathetic is that they aren't harmful - they don't bite. They don't sting. They don't really destroy anything - just poop on walls and leave body parts and eggs lying around. They are just there, a nuisance. Pests. So no one has bothered to figure out how to eradicate the little buggers.

So Spring, please hurry up and send me something to enjoy. Remind me why I love the season so much. Send me a new blade of grass. A green breeze. The nose of a crocus poking through the snow... A robin... Something? Anything? Please!!