Invaded!

With the unseasonably warm weather comes millions of these:

We call them Stinkbugs because if you disturb them they let off a cloud of really bad odor. We also call them Pine beetles because they live in pine trees. I don't remember what the official name is, but my brother-in-law Dan knows it, if you should ever run into him. Regardless what they're called, they are a huge huge HUGE pain in the patoola! The one above is on the umbrella on the deck. Literally thousands of them are hanging on the side of my house sunning themselves right now as I write this, and a fairly good number of them are finding their way into the house. They are lousy at navigating while they fly, so it is not uncommon for me to be minding my own business when one just flies into my hair by accident, or lands on my face. I'm seriously grossed out. There doesn't seem to be a natural predator around eating them either. The local birds won't touch them with a 10 foot pole. In fact, the local spiders won't even eat them.

It's times like this that I wish I owned chickens. I bet chickens would love eating Stinkbugs. Chickens will eat anything with 6 legs.

Parktoberfest was great! We had a huge turn out. I had every intention of getting drunk, but I just couldn't do it. I guess I'm just not one for inebriation. Actually, I can't think of any one who got drunk. That's pretty unusual for Parktoberfest. Instead I enjoyed the mountains of good food, knit a bit, played a trivia game called Smart Ass (and won!), threw the iron frying pan (best throw ever, but I still didn't win), and laughed a lot. Just good old fashioned fun. All in all, everyone had a wonderfully good time.

I got about 4 inches done on the second sleeve of the Navy pullover. Yay! I also cast on and knitted the first few rows of another pair of fingerless mitts, using the same pattern as I did the fuzzy black ones. Didn't wear the Fuzzy mitts because it was boiling hot out. Clothing of the day was shorts and flip flops. But I had them with me just to be safe. Despite the heat of the day, the night gets pretty chilly. Still, I didn't need them.

I got another few inches done on the sleeve last night. I'm halfway to the cuff. Hurray! I can see myself finishing the knitting on this baby by the end of the week.

Live long and prosper. \\//