Sitting outside early — before it gets swampy hot — I saw this crawling on the table…
It’s a potato beetle.
These beetles are common garden and agricultural pests across much of North America (including Indiana). Both adults and larvae feed on potato plants and related plants in the nightshade family (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, etc.).
I don’t have potatoes here. I don’t have tomatoes, eggplants or peppers. Matter of fact, I don’t have anything close to what these beetles eat.
But Mr. Pesky does!
I figured out what happened, though. Mr. Pesky stole some of my hummingbirds and sent me a darned potato beetle.
What an awful trade — and I did not agree to it in the first place.
Now you know: Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham, suffered from intense homesickness to the point of crying on tour in the US. His manager, Peter Grant, bribed him with expensive gifts to keep touring and Bonham relied on alcohol to cope, which ultimately led to his death from alcohol poisoning at just 32.