War On Squash Bugs

Before I begin my squash bug saga, I want to say I am impressed by the tooth trauma many of you have experienced.  I got quite the few stories on here and on facebook.  Glad to know David is not alone in his missing tooth.  He gets his new tooth on the 30th of this month.  He is doing fine with waiting and not being all that self-conscious from what I can tell.  The joy of boys! So now to my originally scheduled post:

Every year, I plant zucchini and summer squash looking forward to using up the bounty in many different ways, and every year I am disappointed when rabid squash bugs come in and destroy my plants in a matter of days.  This year, I decided to declare war on them.  In case you are not familiar with what they look like, here is a lovely picture for you:

I researched online about the best way to fight them off and while some companion plantings work okay (marigolds are supposed to help - but my marigolds are suffering in the heat and lack of water this year), they all say the best method is going out and picking off the adults and killing them in soapy water and smashing any egg masses you find.  So that is what I do. I also read that if you put down cardboard or newspaper next to the plants that the adults like to congregate under there during the night and then you just go out and scoop them up in the morning.  I've done that for the past few nights and it does work!  Apparently, when squash bugs congregate, they like to do things together that make more squash bugs.  I have broken up many a happy union of two squash bugs as I drop them into their death of soapy water.  Is it bad that I giggle with glee while doing that?  I also go egg hunting every morning and destroy all the eggs I find.  I think I have rid the world of about 60 adults, 40 adolescents, and untold unborn eggs.  But for all of that, I missed a couple of days when it was super hot last week and that's all it took for them to wipe out two of my five plants.  I am angry at them, so I have redoubled my efforts.  I WILL win.  There are several lovely zucchini developing on a plant right now that I am eyeing eagerly.  So far my plants are looking healthy, and I aim to keep it that way.

And on an unrelated note, Aaron and I went fishing last night. I was surprised when Aaron suggested going because he's not a big fan of fishing at all. But I eagerly accepted his offer. We didn't have any bait handy and with it being so dry, I figured I'd have to dig about three feet underground before encountering any worms.  So I thought hot dogs are kind of like worms, let's try that!  Apparently hot dogs make good bait.  At least blue gill like them - that's what I was fishing for.  I caught four of them within about half an hour span. The down side to hot dogs as bait is that it is easy to nibble it off the hook - I think I fattened up many a fish yesterday as they ate off my hot dogs, but ignored the hook. We were debating if we wanted to keep the four and clean them, but then two of them jumped the bucket and flopped back to the safety of the pond.  So the other two were granted clemency as well and were released.  Poor Aaron hadn't caught a thing, until right as we were getting ready to go.  Then he caught a very nice bass.  Aaron is quite squeamish around fish, so if he ever catches anything, I'm the one who has to handle them and take them off the hook for him.  Don't worry, I am always sure to make fun of him for his fear of touching fish.  On the flip side, he is usually the ones to rip my worms in half for me when we have them for bait.  I don't like doing that, but I'll do it if i have to.  I figure if I have to take care of his fish, then the least he can do is rip my big worms in half. 

How about you?  Any fishing fans here?  Are you squeamish about touching fish?  What about squash bugs?  Anyone have other ways of killing them off?