Friday, June 17, 2011

Early Days

After moving to our new home I vowed I would not be spending more time outside than absolutely necessary. We had never seen so many disgusting insects and other vermin in our life.

A variety of different lizards scampered gleefully up and down the trees and around the front of the house. Snakes were abundant as well. More spiders than I had seen in all my years of growing up combined, marched with abandon every where spinning their disgusting webs as they went. Walking outside in the fall you had to accept the fact that you would get spider webs in your face or some where on yourself if you didn't watch very carefully where you walked.

There were insects of every shape and size the way it seemed. More kinds than I had known was even possible. Even with a lot of trees in the yard we were never tempted to sit in the shade because we always got insect bites of some sort. But even worse than all the flying buzzing noisy things were the ticks and chiggers that had to be dealt with every day.

Our house had huge windows on three side but only a little portion of them could be opened. They tilted out which was nice to be able to keep them open even when it rained. One evening before we went to bed I closed the windows. The one window seemed a little extra stubborn but I managed to get it closed and locked.

The next morning when I wanted to open it I was horrified to find that I had pinched a big snake into the window. It was thoroughly dead by now after having been squashed like that all night but that didn't keep me from shivering and running to find LV to scrape the remains off the window and get rid of it.

The house seemed like the safest place to be, but even it was plagued with occasional walking sticks, centipedes, and other things. My poor voice box got plenty of exercise as it seemed every time I discovered something crawling on the sink or on a wall I always shrieked even though it hurt and I was determined to make the best of things and learn how to bravely get rid of those unwanted intruders without letting the entire neighborhood know I was terrified again.

12 comments:

  1. I'd have shrieked too!

    I'm not much of a girly girl, but when it comes to insects and such... Well, I'm a proper girl and run screaming!

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  2. i am also a shreaker and often joke that i make the spiders deaf that come into our house. we always let them outside by putting them in a glass. but not without screaming and running away first! lol

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  3. I had to learn to live with bugs and snakes and things, but thankfully they're not too bad here. There's something to be said for northern climates and winters that kill off or hibernate a lot of creepy crawlies.

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  4. UGHH - That sounds more like a bad camping trip! At least your lungs got a good workout. :)

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  5. I'm not a shrieker but I don't like the creepy crawly things, either. I am so glad I live far north so that we have fewer and kill off many in the winter--hehe! We have enough troubles with ticks and mosquitoes and flies. I don't mind small lizards (of course we don't have those up here), but would never want a snake in my house!!! That had to be sooo scary to find that snake hanging there in the morning!! *shudders* I think I would have spent most of my time indoors, sad to say.

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  6. Walking sticks and centipedes are two bugs that completely freak me out, but not as much as the good ol' Praying Mantis, aka The Swivel-Necked Robotic Alien Bug. ;) CREEP-EEEEEEEEEEE!

    I'm glad you are in a happier place now.

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  7. Mercy girl!~ I snake in the window??? I would have moved into town until LV found a safer place to live. You are one brave lady!!!

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  8. Mercy girl!~ I snake in the window??? I would have moved into town until LV found a safer place to live. You are one brave lady!!!

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  9. Ewww. I'm getting the impression you did not like your new digs. I'm with you - spiders and centipedes, etc. are not allowed in the house, under penalty of death!

    I'm not afraid of snakes, but having one crawl in through the window is creepy. Did you not have screens? (Especially with all those bugs.)

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  10. Knitwit ... Yes our windows had screens but since the windows tilted out when they were open the screens were on the inside.

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  11. as I read your post I automatically raised my feet off the floor and onto the rung of the chair legs! UGH I would have been so freaked out over that snake!!! I had a close encounter with one once....not fun. Blessings, Joanne

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  12. Eeeeek!! I think that I would not only have stayed in the house but considered staying in bed as well!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment. I love hearing your thoughts.