so, i do, in fact, appear to be in the northern range of the boxelder bug, as i'm in that little bit of canadian range around detroit.

i'm not an etymologist, and identifying bugs can be tricky, so i might be wrong, but i'm pretty sure it's not a roach - i spent quite a while studying roaches in the last basement, and this doesn't fit the description of any i've seen. to begin with, it's very small compared to most species of roaches. but, this picture is pretty close to spot on:

i just caught it stumbling around in my blanket when i was napping; woke up to it, initially thought it was a phantom. i'd never seen one before....

and, it is in fact the first bug i've seen in here - excluding a couple of small centipedes.

apparently, they live on trees and winter inside and it's not something to be concerned about until i start seeing a few more of them. but, i'm wondering if this was the smell i was noticing.

i can chase some bugs out if i have to; if this is the worst of it, it seems like a minor annoyance.