Dear Sun Spots: Like so many others, I need your help. A few months ago, the Sun Journal wrote a front-page story about a bug I call a stink bug. When you kill it, it emits an awful odor. I never read the story. Will you please give me all the information about them. They are getting in my house again. – Edith Van Zile, Bowdoin.

Answer: According to the article, which was published Jan. 26: The seed bug is the most puzzling – it has only been in Maine 10 years. Kirby (Clay Kirby, an insect diagnostician for the pest management office at Cooperative Extension at the University of Maine) had received 30 calls since last October from people in Lewiston, Lisbon, Bangor and Topsham wondering about the big bug.

“Usually when I ask people if there’s a pine tree or pine over-story near their house, they say yes,” Kirby said. The bugs eat pine cone seeds and lay eggs on pine needles. Indoors, they’re generally harmless, although distinctive.

“From what I hear, when people smack them there’s quite an odor,” he said.

As the fall nights start to get cool, opportunistic insects look for any opening into your home, said Don Ouellette, a forest entomologist with the Maine Forest Service. They’re drawn to cracks, attics and wall spaces.

Since they’re cold-blooded creatures, they don’t really move when the temperature drops below freezing, Ouellette said. “They can’t flex their muscles, so to speak.” When the sun beats down and warms up a wall or attic, they’ll seem to come back to life.

The best way to keep them out? Tightening screens and siding, checking vents and caulking around windows.

Sun Spots hopes you will also find the following insect facts helpful. This bug looks like: a super-skinny leaf, brown camouflage, ¾-inch long, a little flare on hind legs. Eats: seeds in developing cones; really likes pine and Douglas fir. Factoid: first spotted in Maine in 1994, and a relative of the stink and squash bugs. Source: Cooperative Extension, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Dear Sun Spots: You had an article in the paper for people to save prescription bottles and film canisters. Could you please print the address where to send them? I think it was in Norway, but I’m not sure. I misplaced the inquiry in your column. – F. C., Dixfield.

Answer: To make donations of empty prescription bottles and empty film canisters for a fund-raising project at the Galilee House homeless shelter for women and children, call (207) 744-0936 or mail to Galilee House, 25 Deering St., Norway, ME 04268. Sun Spots advises readers submitting old prescription bottles to remove any labels before mailing them.

Dear Sun Spots: I have a computer monitor and keyboard in good condition to give away to anybody who can pick it up. Please call me at (207) 786-0114. – Jeannette Lafrance, Auburn.

Dear Sun Spots: I was wondering if you could find out what the New Hampshire Powerball numbers were from May 12 to June 12. – M.S., Wilton.

Answer: The New Hampshire Powerball winning numbers for your requested dates are: 05/15/2004: 01-26-27-43-46, 05/19/2004: 14-15-31-37-41, 05/22/2004: 01-07-36-42-49, 05/26/2004: 03-10-31-35-38, 05/29/2004: 01-16-30-32-39, 06/02/2004: 05-06-12-26-29, 06/05/2004: 05-26-39-41-42, 06/09/2004: 01-31-33-37-50 and 06/12/2004: 06-20-43-48-52.

This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name (we won’t use it if you ask us not to). Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can also be posted at www.sunjournal.com in the Advice section under Opinion on the left-hand corner of your computer screen. In addition, you can e-mail your inquiries to [email protected].