Just when you thought you were finally free of them- they find you :( And in your own house no less! Those blood thirsty little demons have managed to find you despite all odds. Well, maybe not you, but they have found me!

This is why we need to be careful when we’re out cleaning the yard – You never know what you’ll uncover when you turn over a moss-covered rock! While this small little brown blob may not look like much now, come spring or summer, it will turn into the most lovely little blue butterfly. If you have enough of them living in your yard, it might actually look like a Disney fairytale scene :)

Yes, I know the holidays for most people are now officially over, but better late than never right? Besides, it is still winter (where I am anyway), and what looks prettier that holly leaves during the winter :) Probably not the crazy loopy patterns etched into the holly leaves, but I’m going to talk about them anyway, lol.

Winter day, but relatively warm and sunny? Sounds great for this little winter fly! When the weather cools, predators become sparse, making it the perfect time for this defenseless mosquito-look-a-like to come out and play…

If it looks like an armadillo, smells like an armadillo, but is tiny and has too many legs, is it still an armadillo? Probably not, but these cute little critters are likely as close as I’m going to get to an armadillo living in Michigan. And they do have Armadillo in their name… So that counts, right?

Ok. So, normally I work remotely (in Michigan), but this past week I made a trip out to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to do some on-site work at my home institution. That means staying at a hotel while there. Due to my entomological profession, that also means going through my standard routine of pulling apart the bed before I feel comfortable unpacking anything. Why, you ask? Well to check for bed bugs of course!

I have a buddy that hangs out between my window and the screen. He keeps me company. Most days, when it’s colder, he hides in the corners where I can’t usually see him, but on the warmer days he does his funny little slow walk into the center part of the window where I can watch him. He used to have a bunch of friends that were around my doors and periodically came in to visit, but now it’s just him…

In the mornings, I am always sleepily waiting on the coffee pot to finish brewing that first cup of coffee to get my day started. That first morning sip of wonderful, warm, steamy, caffeine laden liquid is much anticipated. Until you see something small floating in your dark wonderful liquid and discover a nasty little fruit fly has decided to take a death bath in your morning coffee. Gross 🤢

It looks like I’m going to need to start watching where I step in my house. Not because there are dog toys on the floor, or rugs waiting to trip me up (although it has been known to happen), but because I have extra critters roaming about. Large, fat, and theoretically grossly squishy if stepped on, caterpillars!

Well, our pool of many–legged critters to write about may be getting smaller with the cold weather, but there are still some winter hardy bugs out and about. Like the little grey thing in the image below. Is it a tiny moth? A weird fly? A bit of lint with legs? Nope, none of the above. It’s actually a type of tiny insect called a Psyllid.