Meet My Nemesis

The stinkbug. Hideous little wench isn't it? They're hard and crunchy and huge and apparently they don't know how to fly b/c they always erratically dive into me causing me to freak out.

Stinkbug, I've tried to kill you many ways but you pushed me over the edge when I saw you on my curtain which caused me to chuck my dog's treats (my dog's expensive, organic, delicate, blueberry treats) at you and the entire bag crumbled, yet you stayed alive you little tank.

These little suckers have been invading the outside of our house and now they've taken to coming inside for a little bit. I swear I just thought I got rid of spiders and then I discover these.

New nemesis...

...meet old nemesis

This bothered me enough to call the Orkin man last month. Our house is not conducive to being bug free. We have an attic, we have a basement that's attached to a garage, we don't have a storm door to seal the front door and our house set vacant for many moons before we moved in. I used to *never* see bugs in my apartment with only one entrance and few windows. Now I feel like I've stepped into a safari (I'm probably being dramatic, but it happens).

Anyway, so I called Orkin and I really just couldn't justify the price seeing as how we aren't facing scary things like roaches or termites. Someone suggested Terminix had better prices so I had a nice conversation with the Terminix Man (TM) on my lunch break today:

Terminix man gives me the rundown on the way the business run, yeah yeah, heard this all with Orkin.

Then he breaks down the service prices, which still seem expensive but are certainly better.

TM: ...so this is the way our service operates on a quarterly basis, unless you have termites. Do you have termites?

Me: I don't think so, should I see wood falling down or something like that?

TM: ... you would probably know if you had termites. What kind of bugs are you dealing with?

Me: Well first off, spiders, but they kind of tapered off and now I'm seeing stinkbugs.

TM: Your spiders didn't taper off, they're hiding in your home probably preparing to hibernate. I'm sure the stinkbugs are also not fun, and that's certainly not a pleasant smell.

Me: For some reason mine don't smell. I think they're defective.

TM: Right, so do you think, this is a service you'll be interested in?

Me: I really don't know.. the price is still high and we don't really have detrimental bugs, just annoying ones...

TM: Do you want to know what the stinkbugs are doing in your home?

Me: No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me.

TM: They're laying eggs, and for every one you see in your home there will a hundred more to that one bug. Thanks for calling and let me know if you change your mind, have a nice day!

Now that sir, is effective salesmanship.

That is also why I'll probably get an annual membership set up. I'm a pansy and I really don't like bugs and I don't want them in my house. I know they were here first and that's awesome for them and everything but they have trees, land, jungles, mountains, and woods to live in, do they really need to live in my home to? Don't you think that's just a little selfish and a little creepy that they're trying to invade my home?

I sat down the other night and talked to Casey about this and I told him that I feel like it was something that we should set up until we can get a storm door and possibly an energy audit to see where the cracks are in our home. He seemed to agree and said the spiders didn't really bother him. I told him it was enough to make me not want to go in the basement more or less the garage. He agreed and said he didn't like going in the garage either because he had a fear of opening the door and seeing a 10 foot spider just staring at him.

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I don't really know what to say about that, but hopefully Terminix covers those too.