New house + cockroaches = NBD

My friend just bought a house in West Roxbury. She was horrified to discover cockroaches in and around it! At my insistence she captured one, and I identified it as an Ectobius cockroach, probably the Mediterranean spotted cockroach E. pallidus, but also maybe the dusky cockroach E. lapponicus. In either case, these are not pest cockroaches—the Latin name Ectobius translates to “lives outside,” which is what they do most of the time. They get into houses about as often as earwigs and maybe a little less often than ladybeetles. Both Ectobius species in New England are native to Europe.

3:00 snapshot #1714: Friday

There's just enough space to uncomfortably store my bike and trailer in my shed over the weekend.

3:00 snapshot #1715: Saturday

Very dear friends of mine and their wonderful children have moved back to the Boston Area after about 15 (20?) years in Brooklyn. Yesterday they held a housewarming party. This is one of those rare 3:00 snapshots where I told them what I wanted far in advance. Fortunately it's a pretty nice family portrait.


I brought Turkey, and he was the center of attention--at least as far as most of the kids were concerned.


As I left, the party lights on their porch were magical. Welcome back Jeannine and Bil!