In yesterday’s blog, I wrote about all of the stinkbugs here at the Hershey Thousand Trails preserve, and I said a couple of things about them that apparently ticked them off. So they decided to take things to a new level, just to let me know who was boss.
I was getting dressed, and about the time I was putting my shoes on, I felt movement inside my jeans, very close to some of my most prized possessions, if you get my drift. I decided to check and see what was going on. Actually, I checked very fast. I shucked those Wranglers off faster than a sailor on a four hour shore leave!
My visitor turned out to be a stink bug, which was quickly dispatched to the Happy Hunting Ground, all to the great amusement of Miss Terry. Me, I didn’t find the episode all that funny, which delighted Terry all the more.
I guess I really shouldn’t complain. It’s been a lot of years and 100 pounds since anything has wanted to get into my pants!
That was about the most exciting thing that happened to me all day (as if that wasn’t enough). We had planned to go out and play tourist, but I woke up with the crud, so I called Greg and begged off. I tried to get some work done, but my head was in a fog and I finally gave up and spent most of the day feeling sorry for myself and commuting between the sofa and the bathroom.
Late in the afternoon, longtime blog reader Sean Magee and his son Chris showed up to say hello. We got to know Sean a couple of years ago when we worked the Hershey RV Show and he drove for 90 minutes just to come and meet us. Sean brought me some chicken soup from a local restaurant to help me get to feeling better. What a nice guy! We had a nice visit, and plan to get together with Sean for dinner today.
While I was being lazy, Miss Terry was busy finishing up this lovely baby cocoon she has been crocheting for her soon to be born grandbaby, who is due in December. She has to get back to work and turn out another one real fast, because her son Cody and his wife Jonna are expecting twins! I guess that’s not a big surprise, since Cody is a twin himself.
Yesterday was a beautiful warm day, but the weatherman says it’s probably the last one of the season. A cold front is coming through and it’s going to be down in the high 30s tomorrow night. Not being fond of cold weather, we are leaving here on Monday and driving about 200 miles south to Colonial Beach, Virginia.
This will be another stressful trip for me, because we have to cross the very high, very narrow Governor Harry Nice bridge over the Potomac River, and as most of you know, I am terrified of driving over high bridges.
But the alternative is to take a round-about way that adds 50 miles to the route and would put us on the Washington D.C. Beltway, which comes with its own share of stress. So I will try to push my phobia of bridges way down inside, put on my big boy panties, and deal with it. Which means I plan to have Terry drive over the bridge while I keep my eyes closed and cry like a little girl.
If you are having a cold weekend too, and need a good read, my friend Chris Ward’s book The Tube Riders is free this weekend on the Amazon Kindle bookstore. Check it out and download a copy.
Thought For The Day – Your dreams of success will never come true until you wake up and get to work.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Don’t forget to check those big boy panties for stinkbugs 🙂
Good one, Elaine! Nick, it sure seems like you guys get sick a lot! Is it the climate? Is there a place in the US where you enjoy better health? Something to consider when you decide to hang up the keys.
Nick,
A couple of years ago, we got our Bus infested with the bugs. Unlike the ones in Texas, when we crushed them, they really did not stink that bad! I thought they had died off while in storage, but the next spring, they were still in the coach. They seemed to like crawling up the inside of the windshield while I was driving.
Our home bug control guy also does the coach as a courtesy, when it happens to be parked in the driveway….. always a coincidence when he is scheduled!!! He finally gave me a bomb to set off before we got rid of them. I don’t know if they lay eggs or what, but they are not easy to get rid of.
When you get to Florida, you may need to find an IED!
Safe travels,
Richard
I agree about that bridge being stressful, but am even more scared of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge at Annapolis MD (which we do several times a year in our rig) and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel that connects the Lower Delmarva area to Norfolk VA. I was terrified in a car on that one – can’t image taking a bigger vehicle over it. The worst part is that my husband likes to sightsee while driving on these – looking at the boats and the birds instead of the road !!
Nick,
Good luck with the Stink Bugs. We bought our 2004 coach in April, 2 years ago in Ohio, but it had come from Pennsylvania. When we returned to North Carolina and the warmer weather, we started seeing them. I did some research, and the good news is they don’t lay thier egg inside, they only lay them on leaves, although you will swear that they have be reproducing like rabbits when you get to warm weather and they come out of hiding. We were visiting family in Pennsylvania late last September and came back to the RV one afternoon to find the sunny side literally covered in them. They were crawling into every crack and cranny available. I saw them crawling up into the tubes of the slideout seals. I thumped the seals and many came falling out. I tried to get rid of as many as I could when we packed up to leave, but in the spring they started crawling out of the woodwork. I read about many ways to get rid of them including a vacuum, but then you get the stink in there. I have found that the only saving grace is that they are extremely stupid. I keep a glass jar with a quick turn lid available. I spray a little bug killer in it to help speed their demise. When one shows up, I grab the jar and slip off the lid and place the jar over the bug. They typically drop right into the jar and I put the lid back on and wait for the next one. Good luck! With you heading to Florida, you will probably get an early introduction to dealing with them.
I left a Navy Base campground in Colts Neck, N.J. today and when the slide came in, so did about 100 stink bugs. I captured many of them and showed them the door. We traveled to an Army Base, Fort Meade and while checking in I asked if they had a stink bug problem and they said they are terrible this year. Let’s forget about curing bubonic plague for a couple of days and figure out how to eliminate these darn stink bugs. I’m not happy to hear that Nick had his close enncounter with one but I was wondering why they were leaving him alone. Maybe they heard about “Bad Nick.”
Seems to us here that bugs in general are the worst ever this year!! We have nats sneaking inside and even some weird HUGE bug, hubby says from the bee family, hairy and ugly and flying around, got in the other night!! Sucked him up in the vacum. But I guess that does not work with all bugs!! Hope you find a solution soon!!
I would be like you on that big of a bridge…seems I always want to hold my breath on the big ones!! When we crossed the Mississippi, someplace or other, on our journey east almost a decade ago, I thought we would NEVER reach the other side…and of course, something or other slowed down the traffic…and I HAD to drive that one cause hubby was driving the other car….ARGH!!! I am not fond of heights!!
This one made me howl out loud! Very funny and I love your descriptions. I want to thank you again for introducing me to Judy Howard – we are now blog buddies and I enjoy hearing from her. Oh perhaps someday I can be a real writer like you guys instead of a lowly wannabe.
Nick, there was an article on my USA app yesterday about stink bugs and mentioned that TX has a problem now due to some rv bringing them from PA to TX.
If you want to have some bridge fun try the New River Gorge bridge near Fayetteville, West Virginia on hwy 19. Its 3,030 feet long and 876 feet above the New River. Then imagine crossing it in a fully loaded 18 wheeler at night with the wind blowing…….I’m always glad to get to the other side.