When I was a kid the laundry would hang to dry on a clothesline pulley system outside our window. Those beetles would cling to the laundry and we had to pry them off prior to folding. I remember the metallic-like sharpness of their legs and bodies. In those days, the gardeners used very potent chemicals to ward them off. About that same time of year a municipal pick up truck with a smoke generator filled the streets with DDT smoke to help control the various pestilence. We played stickball for hours in the midst of that haze.
