Day 57: No escaping the creatures

The three of us are each struggling with our share of creatures that irritate or freak us out. I’m definitely not the only one. This was apparent today when Mike did a nice little jig in the living room after he found a spider swinging from his shorts. He claimed it was “giant” but it was actually smaller than his fingernail. He explained that it seemed much bigger dangling very near his unmentionables. His pictures look much more intimidating than the itsy bitsy spider did in real life. We learned another valuable lesson here though: check not only your shoes but your shorts as well. Never know where these buggers decide to build their homes.

Matt has been prohibited from a few areas of the house due to the creatures that are annoying him. An army of wasps have taken over the balcony adjacent to us – directly aligned with Matt’s. Swinging in his hammock results in two things: the ssssssssss of the Raid can followed by footsteps to the stairwell asking if he can use our hammock.

Since his balcony is not an option and the back steps are in the path of worker ants that could care less if you’re in their way as they walk on you, around you and over you, Matt has resigned to the front steps for his smoking breaks. But the creature that annoys him the most rests there: The Puppy. His visits are daily now, probably encouraged by Mike’s afternoon treats of crackers and fresh water (of which he takes two laps, dumps the bowl and uses it as a chewtoy). Matt’s attempts at relaxing have now been interrupted by keeping The Puppy from eating his cig.

I, on the other hand, have now been haunted by dead creatures. A few days ago, I was the lucky one whose eye spied a mud covered carcass that I refuse to admit looked very much like a cat. I was inches from stepping on it (and in it). Today, I happened to come across a much less cuddly looking giant bullfrog that appeared to have thrown up his insides. Again, seconds before I stomped on it. I’ve done a decent job at remembering where these creature shells are and change my route on the way back to avoid any mishaps. That’s if the vultures don’t relocate them to the other side of the road, as they did with the cat-like creature. Each scream lets Mike and Matt know where not to step.

And even The Puppy has been annoyed by a snake that slithered up to our steps. He’s of the opinion that barking incessantly in the snakes face will get it to leave. It didn’t appear to be working.

Fortunately, there was one visitor that wasn’t annoying but nice to look at. A large butterfly that doubles as an owl's face landed on our kitchen window screen and hung out for a while. We all let that one stay. No swats, no dances, no slaps, no shivers, no screams, no Raid…for once.