My office, instead of being a neat and tidy spot has always served as more of a storage area with a desk in it so I have a lot of clutter around on the floor partially because I either don’t have storage or I really intend to sort and toss most of the stuff out in a never-ending cycle. This sets the stage for my little tale of horror.
Last night I was sitting at my computer as mostly usual. On this occasion, I was building a spaceship (yes a survival, base building game for some escapism and to forget I’m getting old) when I felt something on my neck, brushed it, noticed it had substance and was brown. As it fell to the floor and scurried away, I stomped at it with my foot. It was a freaking large American cockroach.
Unlike German cockroaches, they’re not known for living inside houses. They usually come into the house looking for food, I don’t think they actually infest houses unless maybe they’re dilapidated, vacated or have a lot of easy avenues in and out.
Some historical background, decades ago when in the US Navy living in Kingsville, Texas, before the days of Home Defense insecticide,, when I got up in the morning, I used to walk out to the kitchen and kick the trashcan. If I heard some scurrying going on within it, I broke out the raid and I sprayed it liberally. Eventually, the kitchen trashcan ended up spending its time in the garage. Today, living in Texas once again, what we see on occasion, is a dead or dying cockroach laying in the middle of the floor, after it crossed the barrier of death.That’s because. I spray the house twice a year primarily at the entryways. The easiest is the front door, which has a small space underneath it that a cockroach can come through that gets heavy treatment of.Home Defense brand insecticide. And dammit, I’ve been meaning to fix the weatherstripping underneath that door. I think I’ve just been incentivized by Mr. bug. Back to the narrative…
OK, so I can’t find it without rearranging the room, but I did break out the Home Defence and layed down a freshbarrier at the office entranceway to make sure the little demon doesn’t get out of the room unscathed.
30 minutes later still at my computer, something on my arm… SON OF A BITCH, It’s the freaking cockroach crawling on me again! Slap at it! Stomp at it! It gets away AGAIN! Why is this thing harassing me, putting its little filthy buggy legs all over me? Cockroaches are ‘notoriously avoid people at all costs’ bugs. Does it know I have generally a really good rapport with bugs? That I’ve been known to capture all manner of innocent bugs, especially spiders and transport them outside so they can continue to live? Apparently it did not know that of all bugs, I detest cockroaches and flies, regardless of what good things they might do in the environment, they die in my house if I have any say about it.
Ok, (sigh) I tell myself “you’re gonna die soon, you little bastard “ so the work continues on the spaceship.
And then 15 minutes later… What comes walking across my desk, that triangular head on the jointed neck, long antennas, waving, walking across my papers as if out on a Sunday stroll? The oblivious cockroach from hell. I mean, this is a casual walk, and I don’t know why it took me so long to realize it, but this was a sick dying cockroach, it’s little bug brain fogged over by poison. But no mercy from me. I quickly grabbed a piece of paper, nabbed it, folded it up in the paper and crushed it without mercy. And then I went to the bathroom and took a shower and tried not to dream about it. 😳
Last night I was sitting at my computer as mostly usual. On this occasion, I was building a spaceship (yes a survival, base building game for some escapism and to forget I’m getting old) when I felt something on my neck, brushed it, noticed it had substance and was brown. As it fell to the floor and scurried away, I stomped at it with my foot. It was a freaking large American cockroach.
Unlike German cockroaches, they’re not known for living inside houses. They usually come into the house looking for food, I don’t think they actually infest houses unless maybe they’re dilapidated, vacated or have a lot of easy avenues in and out.
Some historical background, decades ago when in the US Navy living in Kingsville, Texas, before the days of Home Defense insecticide,, when I got up in the morning, I used to walk out to the kitchen and kick the trashcan. If I heard some scurrying going on within it, I broke out the raid and I sprayed it liberally. Eventually, the kitchen trashcan ended up spending its time in the garage. Today, living in Texas once again, what we see on occasion, is a dead or dying cockroach laying in the middle of the floor, after it crossed the barrier of death.That’s because. I spray the house twice a year primarily at the entryways. The easiest is the front door, which has a small space underneath it that a cockroach can come through that gets heavy treatment of.Home Defense brand insecticide. And dammit, I’ve been meaning to fix the weatherstripping underneath that door. I think I’ve just been incentivized by Mr. bug. Back to the narrative…
OK, so I can’t find it without rearranging the room, but I did break out the Home Defence and layed down a freshbarrier at the office entranceway to make sure the little demon doesn’t get out of the room unscathed.
30 minutes later still at my computer, something on my arm… SON OF A BITCH, It’s the freaking cockroach crawling on me again! Slap at it! Stomp at it! It gets away AGAIN! Why is this thing harassing me, putting its little filthy buggy legs all over me? Cockroaches are ‘notoriously avoid people at all costs’ bugs. Does it know I have generally a really good rapport with bugs? That I’ve been known to capture all manner of innocent bugs, especially spiders and transport them outside so they can continue to live? Apparently it did not know that of all bugs, I detest cockroaches and flies, regardless of what good things they might do in the environment, they die in my house if I have any say about it.
Ok, (sigh) I tell myself “you’re gonna die soon, you little bastard “ so the work continues on the spaceship.
And then 15 minutes later… What comes walking across my desk, that triangular head on the jointed neck, long antennas, waving, walking across my papers as if out on a Sunday stroll? The oblivious cockroach from hell. I mean, this is a casual walk, and I don’t know why it took me so long to realize it, but this was a sick dying cockroach, it’s little bug brain fogged over by poison. But no mercy from me. I quickly grabbed a piece of paper, nabbed it, folded it up in the paper and crushed it without mercy. And then I went to the bathroom and took a shower and tried not to dream about it. 😳
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