Treat Her Like a Ladybug.

LADYBUGS ARE GREAT. 

They are cute. They are friendly. They are shaped funny. They feel cute when they're walking on the tip 

of your index finger. They don't bite. They are tidy. They even come with their own song. Maybe the lyrics are a tad Jim Morrison — Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home/Your house is on fire, your children 

will burn — but that's not their fault.

What more could we possibly ask of a bug but to be cute, nice, not bite, and have a song? 

Nothing. But still, Ladybugs give us more. 

Ladybugs also eat bad bugs that hurt our garden, like aphids.

In conclusion, Ladybugs are tops.

Only thing about ladybugs: They look bad when they're babies and teenagers. You think you went through an awkward stage in junior high? Imagine looking like a teenage ladybug.

I told you they look bad.

I have killed them before in ignorance. I assumed something that ugly must be bad. That's usually how it seems to work in the garden. (See: white grubs, mealybugs, scale et al.)

Now I know better. This morning while weeding I discovered a bunch of them on the weeds I was pulling, so I had to leave them be. I need these guys. Teen ladybugs eat more aphids than adults.

Like junior high kids, these ladybugs were at all different stages of transformation. Some looked like children, some had really bad taste in music, and some seemed completely lost in their own unknowable world of metamorphosis.

Some were "awkward in-between."

Some looked almost completely grown-up.

Some looked like straight-up badasses. 

To all of them, I say:

PS: I will be playing music today at 4 pm Pacific Time on littleradio.com!