Playing God and the first snow flurries

The end of October brings a pestilence to many areas of the eastern seaboard that I've simply dubbed The Invasion Of The Ladybugs. They are like the plague of locusts, they are everywhere, and I find them...delightful. They are such harmless little creatures, beneficial to us in so many ways, and I just can't bring myself to dislike anything named ladybug. And did I mention that they were beneficial? Ladybug larvae and adults eat aphids, mealybugs, and mites (which are garden pests). Ladybug larvae can eat about 25 aphids a day; adults can eat over 50. There are quite a few varieties as well. A common species is the two-spotted ladybug; it is orange red with one black spot on each wing cover. Of course, our British friends will correct me by quite rightly refering to them as ladybirds. I remember the first time I heard that usage, it was in an episode of David Attenborough's Life On Earth back in 1981. I thought it was a mistake at first, did he really say ladybird? So I can't really warm up to that derivation. They're bugs for crying out loud, not birds. So while I defer to my Brit friends on many usages this is one I'll go to the wall for. And who's going to cross me about this anyway? Who and what army? Huh? Huh? There, see? I thought not.

So every year we have this explosion of ladybugs and inevitably they will find their way into the house. They'll piggy-back on my sweatshirt or trouser cuff and as soon as the coast is clear they'll make their way to the nearest window shade. Crawling about, with no purpose in mind it seems. After all, they're a bit out of their element inside the house so I imagine they're just looking for something to do. Maybe a game of cards or charades, who knows? Thank God I hide the remote or they'd probably have Animal Planet on 24/7. I was watching one of them fly over to the drape by the window yesterday and marveled how the lace-like wings stuck out of it's shell and then retracted as soon as it was sure of it's footing. What I could do with a pair of those!

I wake up this morning and to look up at the ceiling (since that's the first thing I see) and I notice two ladybugs directly above, just sort of meandering about. I make up my mind then and there to collect them all from the bedroom and throw them to the four winds outside. Yeah. Time for them to make a living like the rest of us and get on with life. Or death. Or whatever they do out there. Getting up, I gaze out the window and realize that my local weatherman was right after all. It's snowing. Just the first snow flurries, but snow nonetheless. And here we were just two days ago with 70 degree weather. I knew we'd be plunged into the icy depths fairly quickly, after all, nobody comes to Ohio for the weather. Realizing that the climate is radically different from two weeks ago gives me pause and so I nix the idea of evicting my little beetle friends. It doesn't hurt to leave them where they are and they certainly don't eat much. Besides, I think I'd miss them if I didn't see one crawling over my keyboard now and then. If I get to know them well enough I may give them names, identifying them individually by the black spots on their shells. They can be my new best friends.