What should I do with my old Keurig machine?

[Scepticalscribe]

To the OP: To be honest, this is a situation where - in a First World country (yes, the Third World is different, which, in turn, can call for different decisions and responses to a given situation) - I would not accept this machine if someone offered it to me as a gift, for free.

Actually, I think you'll be lucky to get someone to accept it as a donation, let alone persuade someone to buy it.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

While I generally object to all insects in my house, there are three insects I especially can't abide by living in my house- mosquitos, house flys, and roaches. No mercy, unlike the kind reception I give to spiders and small lizards.

For the OP, repeat story- 20 years ago when I lived in Texas, the large flying roaches would come in from outside. As a rule my understanding is they don't live in your house, just come to visit. I'd get up in the morning, kick the kitchen trash can and listen for a faint scurry sound. If I heard one, the trash got treated with Raid (insecticide). I eventually kept the kitchen trash out in the garage... This time around in Texas, twice a year, I treat the outside door thresholds, and under sinks/plumbing areas with Ortho Home Defense. It seems to be very effective. I keep the attic storage space stocked with roach bait, the kind they take back to the nest and share with their foul, disgusting little family members. It also appears that having 2' of cellulose, blown into the attic, which just happens to be treated with borate that's toxic to insects and small rodents was a good move.

Hm. I must say that I like the way your mind works on this sort of issue.

And I agree with the Zero Tolerance Policy on house flies, mosquitoes, and cockroaches. And yes, I am kind to spiders, too. They get removed, politely, as do bees and other beneficial life forms.

Over twenty years ago, in the early 1990s, shortly after the collapse of the USSR, I was awarded an EU travelling fellowship to spend a few months in the Baltic states. I rented a lovely old flat - a really gorgeous 19th century place with high ceilings, those lovely double doors that you see in central Europe, wooden parquet floors, original modern art work on the walls, and an outstanding library which contained some very interesting works in five languages, (not that I could read them all) in the old town in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. However, it also had a few of those hideous scuttling visitors, - not many - but they were persistent visitors.

My Lithuanian hosts - missing the point somewhat, I thought - actually missing the point completely, if I am honest - inevitably, and hilariously, blamed the Russians. "The Russians brought the rats, and the cockroaches and bad language to our country," I was informed solemnly and with great certainty, the kind of certainty that brooks no contradiction or dissent. "There were no swear words in this country or in our language until the Russians came."

 

[Huntn]

Hm. I must say that I like the way your mind works on this sort of issue.

And I agree with the Zero Tolerance policy on house flies, mosquitoes, and cockroaches.

Over twenty years ago, in the early 1990s, shortly after the collapse of the USSR, I was awarded an EU travelling fellowship to send a few months in the Baltic states. I rented a lovely old flat - a really gorgeous 19th century place with high ceilings, those lovely double doors that you see in central Europe, wooden parquet floors, original modern art work on the walls, and an outstanding library which contained some very interesting works in five languages, (not that I could read them all) in the old town in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. However, it also had a few of those hideous scuttling visitors, - not many - but they were persistent visitors.

My Lithuanian hosts - missing the point somewhat, I thought - actually missing the point completely, if I am honest - inevitably, and hilariously, blamed the Russians. "The Russians brought the rats, and the cockroaches and bad language to our country," I was informed solemnly and with great certainty, the ken of certainty that brooks no contradiction or dissent. "There were no swear words in this country or in our language until the Russians came."

I've been told in apartment buildings, when one flat gets fumigated, all the vermin go to the adjacent apartments for a vacation.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I've been told in apartment buildings, when one flat gets fumigated, all the vermin go to the adjacent apartments for a vacation.

Hm. Yes, well.

For some reason, when they came to visit, (and they only came to visit, one at a time) they had a favourite spot, just on the wooden floor, in the hallway, immediately outside the bathroom.

I was astounded at their speed, at the tiny spaces such creatures could squeeze into, at their extraordinary indestructibility - I remember thinking that these things would survive a nuclear holocaust, and evolution would proceed to further refine the cockroach life form as everything else might have been exterminated.

And the sounds; quite, unmistakably memorable. That scuttle, and that sickening crunch.

 

[Huntn]

Hm. Yes, well.

For some reason, when they came to visit, (and they only came to visit, one at a time) they had a favourite spot, just on the wooden floor, in the hallway, immediately outside the bathroom.

I was astounded at their speed, at the tiny spaces such creatures could squeeze into, at their extraordinary indestructibility - I remember thinking that these things would survive a nuclear holocaust, and evolution would proceed to further refine the cockroach life form as everything else might have been exterminated.

And the sounds; quite, unmistakably memorable. That scuttle, and that sickening crunch.

Those trips down memory lane...

Cockroaches are among the most common of insects. Fossil evidence indicates that cockroaches have been on earth for over 300 million years. They are considered one of the most successful groups of animals. Because cockroaches are so adaptable, they have successfully adjusted to living with humans. About 3,500 species of cockroaches exist worldwide, with 55 species found in the United States.

(PennState Entomolgy link)

 

[Scepticalscribe]

What an interesting thread to develop out of a query asking for thoughts as to what should be done with an old Keurig machine.

(By the way, I think that the OP has been given his answer…..in quite clear terms.)

 

[Huntn]

What an interesting thread to develop out of a query asking for thoughts as to what should be done with an old Keurig machine.

(By the way, I think that the OP has been given his answer…..in quite clear terms.)

Looks like we share more than language: U.K. Pest Contol link I noticed the term "Palmetto bug" used here too for the American variety because they do hang out in palmetto/palm trees.

 

[davidg4781]

I've never seen that movie. And I don't want to. I checked with Best Buy and they won't take it. Any other place to check, maybe in Austin? I live in a small town and I think they only do this kind of recycling once or twice a year.

FWIW, I haven't seen any evidence of roaches since about a week after the heavy rain. I think they came in out of the rain, I killed them, and that's it. Hopefully they're not just multiplying in the walls and preparing an attack. I may have to pick up some blue face paint.