For the last hour, I have been hearing this random "tap tap tapping" noise. Maybe it was more of a "drip drip dripping" noise. I could not identify what it sounded like, but even more frustratingly, I could not identify where the sound was COMING from.

I kept thinking that maybe it was my chair. My little office desk chair squeaks sometimes, but I wasn't moving at all. Was I leaning back at a weird angle, causing it to creak?

Maybe it was my shoes. I'm wearing sneakers today for "casual Friday" so maybe the new shoe choice led to some new sounds of my feet against the hard plastic mat my chair is on?

Then, I stopped and put my head down to just listen, and decided it sounded like it was coming from behind me - from the direction of my trash can. Being that it's after lunch, maybe my lunch trash was settling in the can and making an annoying noise.

After sitting with my ear to the trashcan for a couple of minutes, I realized it wasn't coming from there, either. But, lo and behold, I did find the culprit once I changed my perspective.

.....

(This would be much more dramatic if I had taken a picture)....

It was a beetle. A big, gray beetle/stinkbug kind of thing was making all the tappings.

Poor thing was stuck on it's back and tapping it's hard little body against the hard plastic mat and trying to roll over. Relieved to have found the source of the noise, I told my coworkers to come in and take a look.

Courtney took a look at it and said, "You need to kill that thing."

I couldn't do it. So he did. With one more little tap and then a big ole' cruuunch, its tap-dancing was ended forever by his shoe.

I feel bad for having written its death sentence. Ryan said he felt bad it spent the last hour of its life on its back. Courtney said we shouldn't feel bad but should figure out where it came from and how it got into my office. Ahhh....non-sentimental advice.

I figure, with a mating ladybug colony to keep me company, who has time to mourn over a dead beetle or where it came from?