Bugs

RDP # 84 – ELDER

Old English ellærn ; related to Middle Low German ellern, elderne .

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This is an American Box Elder Tree:

And these are Box Elder Bugs:

Cute little boogers, huh?

We’re coming into the season of the Bug.  I work in a very old PA farmhouse, dirt basement, probably well over 100 years old.  Apparently, we have box elder trees nearby, fairly close to the house.  Every year, we get an infestation of these dumb bugs.  They particularly love my office, I think because it’s the closest to the tree.  Every year, the owner of the practice has to get the exterminators to clean up these bugs, and every year they come back.  Like clockwork.

Along with the box elder bugs, we also get stink bugs.

This one looks prehistoric to me.  Like little itty bitty shields with legs.  Harmless, but annoying when they swoop down from behind the window blinds and land on your client’s head.  They’re really dumb, and easy to capture and flush.  I suppose, though, that maybe they reproduce in the sewer pipes.

Now, don’t get the wrong idea. The building has been renovated, recently repainted. It’s charming, and has a colonial look about it inside. People comment all the time on how nice it looks.

It’s just that we’re surrounded by woods that produce these irritating bugs.  Just part of life in my little corner of Pennsylvania 🙂

RDP: Elder