Eeebie Jeebies!

So Emmy has challenged me again. This time, I am to share one of my creepier and crawlier moments. I could only think of one. When I told my mom which one it was, she said, "I thought for sure you would pick the one when you put the bowl over the spider." My eyes widened. Oh man! I forgot all about that! That was horrible!

I was pregnant with my second child, and I was home alone...isn't that always the way??? My daughter was taking a nap. Thank goodness. I was watching TV or something--this part escapes me--when I saw something on the floor moving. I looked over to where I saw the movement. There was no mistaking what I saw. It was HUGE. Borderline on a tarantula. And they were actually not unheard of where I lived. I stared at the monster spider frozen in my spot. What do I do??? Rich is at work. I can't kill it. It might try to eat me! It might eat my baby girl sleeping in her room. Thank goodness she was sleeping. She is so high strung. I can't imagine where she gets that. But what can I do about this holy terror that is obviously going to take over my house? No men were at home--we lived on a military base. It was wives only at this hour. Besides, Spider-zilla was blocking the path to the door! I called my mom. She couldn't kill the spider either--not form 500 miles away-- but maybe she could calm my nerves and help me find the answer.

My mom wasn't home, but my dad was. I told him about the spider. How big it was, what color and so on. He said it sounded like a brown recluse. Those are dangerous. He also mentioned a wolf spider. Well I don't know what it was, but I did know it was big. Very BIG. He asked me if I could put something over it. I grabbed the first thing I could think of that would be big enough. A crystal bowl. And for added insurance, a book on top of that. Then I just prayed that Kristin would sleep until after Rich got home and took care of the intruder.

When Rich got home, he was bombarded by his crazy, hormone raging, pregnant wife to get rid of the beast that was threatening the life of his wife and unborn child! Okay maybe it wasn't that bad, but it was close. It was big enough that even he didn't want to step on it. After some careful consideration of the situation he looked around for something flat. He finally landed on a 3 ring binder. He carefully slid the binder under the bowl and the spider and then carried him outside and released him back into the wild. Joy filled the land.
This is what I was looking at that day.

So what was the other buggy story? Well, if you are from CA you might know what a potato bug is. If you are from ID, it is something totally different than what you are thinking! A potato bug, is actually a Jerusalem Cricket or Mother of Earth bug. Whatever it is, it is ugly, big and scary! As far as I know, they do not bite or sting. They are not venomous. Their size and appearance alone are enough to ward off any predators. Except for maybe a seagull.

One summer night, we were all hanging around on the front porch. My nephew, Jason was about 7 if that, was wearing his brand new cowboy boots. He was jumping all over the place. The sound they made was awesome to his young mind. He was loving those boots. It was then, that the grown-ups spotted the bug in question. Eeeeeew! Nobody, and I mean nobody wanted to try stepping on it. They are very hearty critters. But nobody wanted it crawling around, or worse getting in the house. So in a moment of brilliance, we told young Jason to stomp on the bug with his boots. Being a boy, a boy with no fear and grand stomping boots, he happily obliged. He took a flying leap and landed smack right on top of the unsuspecting insect. SPLAT! Bug guts and juice everywhere. It was definitely a dead potato bug now. Bleah!
A potato bug, Jerusalem Cricket, Mother of Earth bug. Nasty!

Comments

Emmy said…
Oh.. yuck those are some good stories. Growing up in the Midwest I thought of a potato bug as something different too, that things is nasty!

Reminds me of the time we had Alex reach into the water to rescue the grasshopper, no fear :)
I totally could have enjoyed your post more without the photos. Sick. I am probably going to have nightmares.

I have used the bowl method to detain bugs and spiders. Once I also trapped one with a dixie cup. Somebody noticed the cup on the floor and picked it up to throw it away. They were very surprised to have the spider run out. Luckily they were able to kill it.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!!!
Rachel Sue said…
I had to scroll just right so I didn't have to look at the picture of that spider. EWWWW! And I would have made my husband find some way of killing it rather than releasing it. It's still alive. Giving it the opportunity to return to the house!
Carolynn said…
I was here...agreeing I did not need to see the critters I do not like seeing. It does remind of the spider, like that one, that I sprayed with so much poison it must have left a six inch ring around it. It did die by the way.

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