Three Rights

An Asian Invasion

After almost a year of anticipation of a Leonard family tradition, a couple of days ago we finally got enough of a break in the rain for Lori and me to start getting our substantial collection of Christmas decorations out of the Conex at our workshop. I backed my 16-foot trailer up and loaded it up until the trailer was full, almost to overflowing. I drove it to the house, and we began the annual task of assembling and repairing our yard decorations.

When we lived in Forney, our collection completely filled our small yard with Santas, snow men, animals, and lights all synchronized to Christmas music. Now our front yard is an acre and a half, and our 130-year-old house in Lone Oak is twice the size of the home in Forney. So, while we have a lot of lights and decorations, we have resigned ourselves to the fact that our annual Christmas display will look a lot thinner that we are used to. That is, outside the house. Inside the house is another story. We have a lot of stuff that seldom, if ever, got displayed in our home on Woodcrest, but here there is ample room now to fill up the house with holiday cheer.

Back to the headline subject, a couple of days ago I was sitting on the porch with my wiring repair tools fixing outdoor decorations when Lori asked, “Have you noticed all of the bugs on the porch?” I looked up from my work and noticed the walls, columns, and celling were crawling with bugs. On further inspection I looked at them closeup and said, “They are ladybugs.” To which Lori said, “They aren’t ladybugs; they are called something else.” At this point, I will stipulate that Lori is a lot smarter than I am as most of y’all in Forney know from when she was the election judge.

I got out my phone and did some research. I found that, sure enough, they weren’t ladybugs, though they looked a lot like the familiar insects that land on children and prompt the rhyme “Lady Bug, Lady Bug, fly away home, your house is on fire and your children are gone,” a disturbing rhyme that children have passed down to each other since the Middle Ages.

No, these bugs are different. Ladybugs always have nine spots, but these bugs had random spots of different numbers and the color wasn’t the same as ladybugs. I soon found that these were Asian Lady Beetles. Another characteristic of ladybugs’ Asian relatives is that the Asian Lady Beetles have a distinctive M on the plate behind their head, or a W depending on which way you look at them.

The insects were first introduced into the US in 1916 to help control the aphid population in crops. It is reported that they do a phenomenal job of eating soft bodied insects. There is almost nothing bad about traditional ladybugs, however Asian Lady Beetles are considered an invasive species and harmful to the environment. However, in their defense, I will say that if they eat soft bodied insects like chiggers, they can’t be all bad.

There is some discussion on the internet that they can be harmful to dogs so keep a close watch on your fur babies. This time of year, they are trying to get into warm spaces like your house. They are attracted to light and dark shades like a white house and dark shutters. They can cause stains and odor so try to keep your doors and windows closed and, if they get in the house, simply vacuum them up as many insect sprays don’t work.