Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Love is in the air

With the coming of warm weather we are once again plagued by ladybugs in our house.

Internet sites tell me that Asian lady beetles (Harmonia axyridis) were introduced by the government to benefit agriculture as a "biological control" of other insect pests.

To me these ladybugs are simply another insect pest. They invade our house. They swarm around ceiling lights. They fall into our food. They emit a foul odor when touched, swatted, swept, or vacuumed up. The stench of these bugs is almost unbearable.

They seem in particular to love our bathroom. They feed on spilled toothpaste. They emerge in force anytime one of us takes a long, hot, steamy shower.

They also fly about my face when I'm shaving. I catch them with dampened toilet paper. Then I flush them down the toilet.

I feel no remorse.


lady killer
the stench of
after shave


3 comments:

Gerald (Ackworth born) said...

an interesting haibun

I actually like ladybirds and have never felt them threatening - well at least you don't squash them!

jem said...

Thanks for sharing the background to the piece. When I was a child we had a small scale invasion of them one very hot summer, only outdoors, not in the house - I remember the crunch of my pushchair wheels squashing them on pavements that had turned red!

Gwil W said...

a nightmare scenario