Opening my door, ten brown shield stink bugs clung to my screen. I flicked them off with my finger. These pests were back seeking the warmth of my Pasadena home for the winter. I turned and spotted one dead on the sill with its feet in the air. As I reached to deposit the dead body into the trash, it turned over and flew away-playing opossum.
I recalled escapades from previous years. Never seeing them enter, I was always surprised to discover the creatures. Taking down a picture near my front door to replace it with a Christmas decoration, I screamed when I saw the back of the picture covered in stink bugs. Knowing they are harmless to humans does not prevent the scream on discovering them. They must have snuck in the door somehow and found the first hiding place available.
They turn up in unexpected places to shock me. Retrieving my purse for my car keys, one wiggled his antennae. Turning off the light, one flew in my face. Opening up a kitchen drawer, another clung to my hand. Removing the quilt off my bed, a marmorated stink bug crawled on my pillow. Reaching for my jacket in the closet, I screamed - the invaders were in my clothes.
My husband was called for the removal. Armed with a tissue he grabbed the bug carefully, not wanting to squash it. A strong pungent odor circled the room. My husband, immune to the smell, insisted that he did not squash it when he flushed it down the toilet. I left for the outside where there were no stink bugs; they were all in my house.
Desiring to escape, we drove to the mountains and left the sink bugs to find places to hide. Arriving at our hotel, I opened my suitcase to remove my clothes. A stink bug looked up at me, smiling. I screamed. My husband came with the tissue and did the ritual. I demanded that he search through my clothes in the suitcase to find others. He found two more.
Today I learned the procedure to catch the stink bugs in a bottle of water. My son insisted that this was easy and it worked, no smell and they died in the water. Spying one crawling on the French door, I asked my grandson to assist. I did not have a water bottle so I improvised with a jar filled with water. The opening would be larger in which to trap him. We carefully snuck up on the stink bug placing the jar underneath to make him fall in. When we touched him, he flew into my face and I screamed along with my grandson.
