Sunday, August 12, 2012

Pest Control

I've always hated bugs and snakes.  HATED.  My mom was the same way, so naturally I blame her for my fears.  Growing up, I have so many horror stories that only fueled the fire.  A wasp flying up my shirt and getting trapped, spiders in the basement showing up out of nowhere, and ants on the living room carpet. 

I used to check out bug books from the library and pour over every detail so I knew what I was up against.  And of course, one hears such facts as to make one's skin crawl.  For example, did you know there are easily over 10,000 spiders per acre in the US?  That humans swallow more than a cup of spiders each year?  Killer bees are migrating toward us at this very moment?  Recalling them now, I realize that most of these are exaggerations or flat-out lies (I blame my brother for these ones...)  True or not, they still contributed to my negative feelings about pests. 

As an adult, you would expect a little bit of maturity to develop.  A fear of practically harmless creatures is irrational, right?  I don't care.  If it crawls, creeps, stings, or slithers, I don't want to have anything to do with it!  The day I learned that you could actually pay someone to spray for bugs I began to hope for a brighter future.  I vowed to never live with a bug problem again.

Then we bought our lovely little cottage with the pond view.  In a rural town.  Across the street from a picturesque field

Seriously, what was I thinking?! 
This "little" guy made himself at home in our backyard.  I made my husband torch him.

I was getting ready for church one morning while my daughter played on the floor.  I turned to check on her only to find a hairy brown monstrosity crawling across her face.  I think I may have scared her just a little bit with my screaming...I did my best to get it off her without hitting her.

I was playing outside with my kids when my daughter kindly informed me I had a spider on my shoulder. 
 
I was putting on my shoes by the back door when a snake slithered out of the wall and across the room. 

And that's just the beginning.  I began to feel like I couldn't handle it!  Money has been tight this summer so we went without spraying for bugs until the end of July.  It was awful!  When we finally broke down and sprayed it was like a spider exodus.  They came out of nooks in the house I didn't even know we had. 

The worst was when I was headed outside and there was a black widow on the glass door.  I killed it immediately, of course!  The problem now is that no one believes me.  I would have taken a picture, if I wasn't sure it was going to GET me.  Although I do have the smudge from its nasty body to prove it!

Doesn't that look like a black widow's guts?  That's what I thought.

Today I nearly died.  I was picking blackberries with my daughter and feeling like a good little mommy.  Quality time, right?  I struggle with the blackberry bushes because they're frequented by the aforementioned critters.  Wasps, dragonflies, bees, spiders, box elder bugs, cats (?)... I was congratulating myself on being brave and picking berries when I happened to look down.  That's right.  I saw this:

That's its head AND body.  Let me know when you see it.
Ummmm...yeah.  I started screaming.  I yelled for my fearless husband to get outside, fast.  I pulled my daughter back from the berries and kept an eye on the offensive beast.  If there's one thing I've learned about scary things, it's that you never take your eyes off them.  If they get away, you won't sleep again...ever.  I can't handle wondering where they went.

My husband donned some gloves (at my insistence) and took the snake over to the duck pond. 
Tell me you wouldn't put your house up for sale after that.  After we bought the house we kept hearing that it was infamous for having a lot of snakes.  We are hoping that our cats help us out with that.  C'mon kitties. 

With all of these miserable stories in only two years of living here, I shudder to think what we have coming.  Needless to say, we'll be spraying for bugs again soon.

3 comments:

  1. oh yucky! Snakes and spiders....two of my fears.

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  2. Well, the myths about pests that we grew up believing have some truth to them, don’t you think? Pests could trigger a home’s deterioration, which should be prevented at all costs. I think you made a good decision in investing on pest control. This way, you can at least have peace of mind that you and your family are safe from pests for quite a long time.

    Lucile Lynch

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    Replies
    1. Lucile, I definitely agree! Our valley has Box Elder Bugs running rampid this year. Thanks to one spring spray we haven't seen any around our house. So worth taking care of the problem before it gets out of control!

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