June, 21 1997

When I took Francie's book tote out to her car this morning, I encountered the first June bug of the season clinging to the screen on the kitchen door. Francie & Piper fear & loath June bugs. They don't get too rattled about finding the occasional black widow in the garage, but a June bug'll send them running for cover. Considering the relative danger from the two creatures, I find this puzzling. Black widows (being deadly) give me the creeps, but June bugs have always struck me as being comic relief of the insect world. Lumbering and hissing with their pinstriped wings, they look like they might have been designed by Thomas Nast as a pet for Boss Tweed. Having rattled them around like dice for years, I can testify that they're quite harmless. I'm sympathetic to the plight of having one of these little joy buzzers stuck in your hair by its Velcro® claws, but it's nothing to lose your head over. So anyway, I found the first one of the season this morning. I snuck him inside while Francie wasn't looking and gave him a ride in the scanner. After Francie left, I released him safely back into the wild where he could live the rest of his life as he chose. Unwisely, he chose to spend the rest of his life playing with our dog Phydeaux, who seemed to get a buzz out of it.