Box Elder Bugs...A Religious Plague?

 So a few weeks ago, we're sitting in church, as one is wont to do, and you notice something on the printed program, or you notice something climbing up the wall, or on the window, or in your hair...

Box Elder bugs.

If you notice one, you start to see another, then another, then you see they're all over the place.

I don't know if other areas are affected by these little black and red bugs. I know they're along the Wasatch Front because they flocked to our old house in Davis County. I guessed correctly that they would be at our new house, especially since we moved to Box Elder County and the bugs are called Box Elder bugs. 

I was right.

As far as bugs go, I don't mind these little guys, that is, of course, if there's only a few. I have seen groups of the buggers clumped together where they're literally inches thick. I do not them like that. In church, there were several. There was even a boy of unknown age, who--in the middle of the service--took a pen and tried to stab the bugs as they scurried along the walls and windowsills, the rhythmic sound of "donk, donk, donk" echoed in the space as the tip of the pen hit wood, then wall, then bug, then wall and so on.

Many people I do know not like winter. For them, they'd live in an endless summer with warm temperatures and excuses to wear less clothing. Though I do enjoy summer, I also enjoy the time when freezing temperatures kill bugs like mosquitoes...especially mosquitoes.

The past couple of days have been especially cold, so much so, the ground has frozen. I'm thinking no insect, no matter how hardy, could survive. Church is in two days. I think I'll check to see if there's any of my little friends still around. I'm going to go out on a limb and say, I think there will be.

Is It Winter If The Box Elder Bugs Don't Die?

If you live in an area where little red and black bugs live and breed you might understand what we're going through. You see, in the summer and fall, these little Box Elder bugs swarm the southern facing sides of our house. They love to sit there and bask in the sun.

And who can blame them? Some things like to bask in the sun. Normally we put up with this. It's not so bad except with the little critters make their way into the house. The reason we really don't have a problem with the little bugs is because we know that winter comes every year and will kill them, or send the away so they're not around.

But not this year. This year we've had such a mild winter that the bugs have been swarming since January. I guess we'll have to wait another year before we have an un-swarmed house. So, did winter actually take place if the bugs didn't die? Good question.