Alyssa’s Blog…a modern day diary of the random thoughts of Alyssa Amsbaugh

For Memorial Day weekend, we had our friends Helena and Hugh over for a BBQ. It’s always a pleasure to hang out with them so we had a great time. We had hamburgers, grilled hotdogs that I then baked in phyllo dough, a salad, chili (to dip the hot dogs in), deviled eggs, and potato chips. (Yes, I forgot to put the pickles out. Damn it! LOL) For dessert, we had two treats that Helena brought…patriotically frosted cupcakes and the most heavenly fresh fruit dipped in milk chocolate that you can imagine. OMG, imagine fresh pineapple, blueberries, and strawberries dipped in rich, delicious milk chocolate. Anyway, THEY were our INVITED guests. The night BEFORE, however, we had an UNINVITED visitor…and I’m STILL not sure that he has left! LOL

OK, go back in time to a pleasant evening…J.R. and I were sitting in the living room, watching TV. He in his recliner, I on the couch (folding laundry) when we both were like, “WHAT WAS THAT?”

Out of the corner of our eyes, we BOTH saw a BLUR of something fly upstairs. “HOLY SHIT, WHAT WAS THAT?” We immediately jump up to investigate…only to see the same BLUR of something now flying downstairs, coming straight at us! (Insert much screaming here as I now realize this is a bat.)

J.R. goes into the kitchen to find something to arm himself with while I come running in behind him as said bat now flew into the dining room, where I was.

I’m now hiding behind J.R., clutching onto his back, when he makes me go into the bathroom off of our kitchen and close the door. (I guess he likes to deal with one pest at a time! LOL) Armed with a plastic Chinese food container and a long fish griller thingamajig for the BBQ, he opened the front door, then began a methodical search of the house for our visitor, upstairs and downstairs, room by room.

idk what happened next. (Remember, I was in the bathroom.) By the time I peeked out from behind the door, J.R. had last seen our visitor on the floor at the base of the stairs and assumed our guest had left through the front door. We haven’t seen any sign of him since so I guess he really flew the coop. He lives to fly again and rid our neighborhood of pesky mostiquoes! LOL

In the end, all I can really tell you about this little guy is that he is VERY healthy, as evidenced by his flying speed…unlike another bat that we had years ago. That other poor little guy must have been very sick as he was crawling around on our living room floor. J.R. caught him and put him outside, where he eventually died of natural causes. RIP

Heres the irony of it all. This weekend I just HAPPENED to be watching “Blacula” (a 1972 vampire movie starring William Marshall as a vampire named Mamuwalde, an African dignitary) and “Scream Blacula Scream” (the 1973 follow-up flick). Concidence? Or did Mr. Marshall feel the need to pay us a little visit? Bwaa haa haa. Bwaa haa haa haa. Bwaa haa haa haa haa! (Insert evil laugh here.)

“Stinky” is the live stink bug that I just mailed to Rutgers University. (OFFICIALLY its name is the brown marmorated stink bug or BMSB.) J.R. bagged him and I tagged him! LOL Talk about teamwork.

Stinky has been sitting on my desk at work all morning in an otherwise empty prescription drug bottle. (Don’t worry, we made holes in the cap.) And that little bugger has been staring at me all morning!

OK, as background, you should know that while I was trying to figure out more about the stink bugs invading our bedroom on a regular basis, I came across information from Rutgers University. It turns out Rutgers is doing a study. They want to find out how invasive this pest has become in New Jersey since its introduction almost a decade ago.

You’ll see from the text below from their website that I’m just responding to their call for live specimens. I’m sure they need to verify that we do indeed have stink bugs and not some other pest. So come on, everyone, let’s all do our part and mail those stink bugs today!!!

“Since 2000, the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) has been confirmed in several Mid-Atlantic States and in Oregon and California. It is believed that its distribution is much wider than currently documented.

To determine the risk to agricultural and ornamental industries, we must first determine where the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug is currently located. With the help of sightings from homeowners, Rutgers University will be able to quickly develop monitoring methods and control techniques for this invasive plant pest.

If you believe you have the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, please see the How to Identify the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug link and then fill out the secure electronic form, which will be sent to researchers currently working on monitoring this pest. If you are able to capture a specimen, please do so in any type of container. For more information please see the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) Cooperative Extension fact sheet FS002 (PDF file).

For more information on this project, contact Anne Nielsen or George Hamilton at the NJAES Pest Management Office.”

Or is the Borough of Washington NUTS for letting a rock band play outdoors at the local theater on Saturday nights? Sure, I coulld see if they played INSIDE the theater because, after all, THAT’S what it’s MADE for. But outside on the street? Give me a break.

Think mediocre rock bank. Think electric guitars and amps. Put them together and I think that’s disturbing the peace.

I enjoy rock as much as the anyone (well, classic rock, that is…mainly I’m into soul/funk), but I live a mere 2 blocks away from that cacophony and can’t escape it or block it out.

Dude, what kind of permit did you have to fill out to get permission for this? And what the hell did it cost? Not nearly enough in my book…