That's a good one! And you resisted the temptation to wonder if he was torqued.

Skunk is a welcome smell to me too, but like most perfume, I'm sure I wouldn't want to wear it. Just puts me to mind of a Heineken, not a bad memory.

These stinkers first impressed me as rancid grease. First time I smelled them it was at a Fort Frederick campsite alongside the Potomac. I thought someone had discarded their breakfast grease on the ground near the fire pit.

When we got home, I learned the smell was supposed to be most like cilantro; the stink bug had made the front page of the paper.

Turned out the bugs were swarming that weekend; they each have a very accurate calendar (or ability to gauge the sun's time above the horizon) identifying Sept. 22 equinox every year. At the campsite we discovered the bugs are attracted to metal, like earwigs are, but especially to our white-gas fueled stoves and lantern. On returning home we saw the bugs had hitchhiked in the door panels of the 245.



They will inject a tiny bit of their saliva into a tomato which will immediately prevent its ripening, but not change its appearance too much. The apple growers probably have the biggest case against BMSB.


--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

"Hanging is too good for a man who makes bad puns...
....he should be drawn and quoted."