A: The box elder bugs you see indoors probably have been there since last fall. That's when the black and orange insects entered gaps, crevices and cavities in your home's walls and foundation to spend the winter.

Now, the warmer weather has prompted them to become active and they actually are seeking a route to the outdoors. Once out, they may linger nearby, but they are heading away, said Jeff Hahn, extension entomologist at the University of Minnesota.

Box elder bugs are harmless, but they leave a stain and an unpleasant odor when crushed.

The best way to get rid of them is to simply pick them up with a paper towel. You may need to use a vacuum cleaner for heavy infestations. (Try covering the open end of the vacuum hose with pantyhose to catch the insects and make disposal easier.)

As for this being a bad year for box elder bugs, "it's too early to say," said Hahn. They are more abundant when a warm spring is followed by a hot, dry summer.

To keep the insects from entering your home in the fall, seal as many holes, gaps and spaces as you can this summer. That includes around windows, doors, siding and where the foundation meets walls.

Q: Without the aid of electric tuners, how were musical instruments kept tuned centuries ago?

A: In the 18th century and earlier, there were differing pitch standards throughout Europe, which complicated things for instrument manufacturers and performing musicians.

Beginning in the early 18th century, tuning forks began to be used as a reliable pitch-reference source. These are two-pronged metal forks that sound a given pitch when struck. Choir directors favored so-called pitch pipes that sound one or more pitches.

Since at least 1938, when the British agreed to adopt one fixed-reference pitch, the standard reference pitch for tuning forks (and pitch pipes and later electronic tuners) has been the A above middle C on the piano, which vibrates at 440 hertz or 440 vibrations per second, referred to as A440.

That's more or less the standard universal pitch today, though there are many local deviations. School bands and orchestras, for example, tend to play a little higher (A444 or thereabouts) due to the inexperience of the student musicians and/or the lesser quality of their instruments or reeds.

-Tim Maloney, head of University of Minnesota Music Library

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