When I was a kid, it was a somewhat rare thing to encounter a ladybug. In fact, when we did find one, it was thought to be good luck. Well, after experiencing the annual fall swarm of these little critters for the eleventh time now, I have had just about all the good luck I can stand, thank you!

I thought we'd be lucky this year. There had been a few ladybugs around on these last few warm days, but nothing like past years. I was optimistic that maybe the ladybugs had run their course, and were diminishing. Until today.

See those dots? Those are ladybugs trying to get into my kitchen today. It could be worse, I guess -- they could be flies, or hornets!

Maybe it was the hard frost that finally arrived this week. Or maybe the warm, sunny afternoon; after all, it had caused me to head outdoors to the sunny corner of the porch, computer in lap. I spent a lovely hour doing a little writing and just generally enjoying the view. And then it happened. About 3:30 PM, a ladybug landed on my keyboard. Then another on my hand. Then another on the railing, on the chair arm, on my glasses, down my shirt, up my pants leg . . . they were suddenly everywhere! I was being attacked!

I had a just a few more lines to write. I tried to tough it out, but the little beetles crawled down into the spaces between the keys. They strolled across my hands as I feverishly typed my last few words. They bounced off my shirt collar and rolled onto the keyboard. They crawled across the screen like a dozen little orange pumpkins. It was type, flick, type, flick, type, flick. Everybody who has had to defend themselves from the orange and black plague knows that the last thing you want to do is smoooosh a ladybug -- they stink! They have this odd lingering smell, like moldy cucumbers. It is not pleasant.

I finished my writing and headed indoors. I just finished picking the last ladybug out of the keyboard, unsmooshed. Phew!