Box Elder isn't just a town in Montana

At last, spring is in the air!

We know this for certain because just as the salmon swim upstream, the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano, the mighty boxelder bugs reappear throughout Phillips County.

These little buggers, measuring about a half-inch in length and being mostly black in color with a dash of red, have returned to once again annoy us all. 'Tis beyond me how they manage to survive our harsh winters. We prepped our homes with foam-stripping along the door jam, cover our windows in tight clear plastic, and squeeze out caulking for miles to keep the annoying little buggers out of our homes. When I spot one inside it is usually a lonely hermit boxelder bug, but I have on occasion spotted two or three together racing along using my kitchen floor as their private drag strip. While working in my yard recently I spotted dozens of them, AKA Boisea Trivittatus, holding a convention on my sunny south wall. Perhaps they were bragging amongst themselves that there is a town in Montana sharing their name. More likely they were sharing ideas of how to get within our old home. Annoying as the boxelder bugs can be, at least they don't buzz, bite, or sting, take up residence in your oatmeal box, or gnaw through your back porch wooden steps.

Soon summer will arrive and with it, the boxelder bugs' third cousins twice removed the !@# mosquitos. Now there's an insect thats truly dangerous and annoying ,which makes the boxelder bug not so bad after all. Enjoy!