For a day that started off frightfully cold—it was 18 at daybreak—things warmed up fast, and by evening, it was pushing 50 and enticing at least a few invertebrates out of their cold weather shelters under the leaves, logs, and house shingles. To keep us comfortable inside, I kept the fire going, and on one of my slow, stubborn, and inefficient forays to the wood pile—I can still only carry one or two pieces of split stove wood at a time—I noticed this handsome insect on the Periwinkle leaves by the basement door. It's some kind of Camel Cricket, with that characteristic curved, even humped, back that gives the orthopt its common collective name. There's a fairly common invasive species called the Greenhouse Camel Cricket that is now often spotted in damp basements, but the spot pattern of this cricket doesn't jibe with that of the invader. I'm not good on the IDs of most crickets, but, based on a look through the appropriate section of BugGuide, I suspect that this hardy critter is a member of the Ceuthophilus congregation... and a true northeast native.