Infestation!

I’m afraid.  Very afraid.

My yard and garage are INFESTED with  this bug, and I don’t know what it is.  Chances are, they will be eating my entire garden.  I started seeing them a few weeks ago, and they look like this:

Actual size is about 1/2″ long. This one is one the stucco on the outside of my house.

These things started to show up everwhere, but I find them mostly on the side of my house.  There are hundreds and hundreds of them.  I am beginning to get very worried.  Obviously it is a beetle of some sort.

Probably something that likes to eat my garden, then lay eggs inside the house- causing my wife to freak out.

Uh oh.  I started to notice that a lot of them are turning into some sort of worm…attaching themselves to the wall and shedding their outer husk.  This is it- the garden apocalypse.

I know I’ll be inundated with some form of voracious plant-eating beasts.  Maybe they’ll spread some sort of lyme disease to us humans.  Nature is cruel this way…and a bit disgusting also.  I watched this one flick it’s ‘bottom half’ up and down as it was shedding the skin…the worm portion must have been squished into the casing, as it seemed to expand beyond the size of the original bug when it exited.

Now I’ve got hundreds of these things hanging on my house, in the garage, on plants, everywhere!  Call the damn exterminators!  Get a scraper!

Wait..I kind of recognize the pattern on this thing.  I know I’ve seen it somewhere…

Found this one on my roses, doing her thing.

Well look at that!  My yard is infested with ladybugs!  And they’re growing into adults!  This must be some sort of cosmic reward for not killing the spiders my wife is afraid of.

Here’s someone else providing a little bit more information about the life-cycle of ladybugs.

I really, truly did think I had some sort of gross infestation.  The ladybug larva are not as pretty as the adults.  But now that I know what these are, I’m thrilled!

I’ve got more beneficial critters in the yard.  10 points to whoever can tell me what this is:  (I’ve found dozens of these also..but this one, I do know.)

And finally, this guy will take care of some of the bigger pests…

The little ecosystem in my yard is really coming alive this year.  I’m not organic (I believe in science)- but through judicious use of pest controls, I think I have maintained a very good balance allowing for the beneficial creatures to thrive.

Now if I could only get rid of those noseeums…