The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

Nothing like having your house invaded by these.

(After Aaron commented that this looks like a urinal handle I should tell you that it's the soap dispenser in the bathroom.) Anyways, a bunch of these little guys showed up after Christmas. We thought that maybe they snuck in on our Christmas tree. But, old houses have lots of cracks and crevices, so they might have come in anywhere.

Despite their evil look, we found out that they're pretty much harmless aside from their stinkiness, but they only stink when crushed. Supposedly they aren't poisonous, but I'm still scared of the dog eating them, so the strategy has definitely not been live and let live. It's been a journey to the center of the vacuum cleaner canister for them. After a little research I found out that these non-native friendlies are invading all over the country. If you haven't met them yet, look for them soon!

Here's the website I used to find out what the little guys were: http://www.insectidentification.org/identifying.asp

I also found lots of info on them here:
http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/brown-marmorated-stink-bug