Oh joy! Needle-nose pliers are a subject that is close to my heart.

I have a nice long pair which I have, this very day, been putting to a rather unusual use. I have been picking stink bugs off my lemon tree with them. Because the little critters can spray you with acid if alerted to your presence, I hold the pliers at arm's length and sneak up on them, grab them, toss them to the ground and stamp on them.

Today I got a mating pair - two for the price of one. I can just imagine them thinking WTF?? Bit more of a bang than they expected!

And just to think, the first one I discovered one a few months ago, I thought "What a cute little critter". Then they sprayed me, and I found out what they were, and that they were eating all my tender young leaves and buds, and it was NO MORE MRS NICE GUY!

Spraying the tree got rid of most of them, but now there is a new batch, all adults, and they can fly. I think they flew in from somebody else's tree, and were hoping to start another whole new generation of stink bugs.

There are only a few so far, hence the needle-nose pliers method. If it gets out of hand though, I'll have to spray them again.

Critters are all right in their place, until they start attacking me or my plants.