So, I've been having a couple of insect problems lately. For a while there I was having to squish several (5-15) mosquitoes a night in my apartment. Then, they stopped showing up, which caused me to believe they did the only sensible thing and fled before me. This was apparently not the case. There is a huge light on the staircase up to my apartment outside, which was naturally attracting the mosquitoes and flies. Now, what do mosquitoes and flies attract? The iron lattice work on the roof overhang of my building near that provides the most ideal place I can think of to spin a web, if I'm thinking like a spider. About a week and a half ago, I found a spider on my bedroom wall. I got a paper towel and squished it, tossed it in the trash and thought nothing of it. Then a morning or two after that I went to put on my pants to go to work and something fell out of them onto the floor only to scurry across my carpet. Hmmm, what was that? Yep. It was a spider. So then I thought, well, that solves the mystery of why the mosquitoes stopped coming in to the room. Then one night I went outside and happened to glance up. I lost count of the fat, eight legged kings and queens lounging quite happily in their evolutionary marvels of a trap above my door and along the entire ceiling to the staircase and light. Since then, I've averaged killing 2 a day in my bedroom (I think they come in through the air conditioner.) So, tonight, I got my snow shovel out and knocked down all the existing webs I could find and smeared all the egg pouches up there. In so doing, the adults started coming out of their day time hiding places and I got them too. I felt kinda bad about it and all - I mean, they're just doing what they do. I don't mind that they do that, I just want them to stay outside and do it. I know we're invading their space and all, but can't we just respect each other. I won't mess with their homes if they don't mess with mine.

-R