insects

In the interests of full disclosure, I must tell you that we have an artificial (or phony, as my two brats...I mean wonderful kids) Christmas tree at our house. And, it's things like this that make me glad we do.

If the building that houses our radio stations is any indicator, our area is being invaded once again by that bug that most people don't know much about. The Box Elder Bug.

On the WROK Morning Show, Joe Dredge and I have different takes on creepy-crawlies. Joe will scream and run at the sight of literally any snake, and I am no particular fan of up-close-and-personal encounters of the spider kind. Since I'm the dad around my house, I have to man up and deal with them anyway, though.

Look out, as the weather cools, you may have some scary, hairy unwanted house guests. Get ready to the invasion of 8-Eyed Wolf Spiders, and yes, they have fangs!

In my house, being the husband and father also got me another title: chief bug killer. If it crawls, flies, creeps, lurks, slithers, and/or stings, I'm your go-to executioner and disposal expert. Granted, we don't have much of an insect problem here in the Rockford area, so I'd rather be here than in Havana, Illinois.

Chocolate-covered. Those two words, used together, generally evoke images in your mind of strawberries, peanuts, almonds, pretzels, marshmallows, maybe even ants (grasshoppers and scorpions, too. You can even order them online from places like this)...

What is it with news anchors/reporters/meteorologists and bugs? Some of the best "news blooper" footage contains scattered incidences of the insect world screwing up folks who are just doing their level best to share some information with you...

It was like something out of a nightmare. There it was, in the middle of The Riley & Scot Show, climbing across the ceiling of the studio, oozing menace and malice (well, maybe not that last part). Scot was the first to notice the (Mediterranean, cause I looked it up) centipede. We...