They could survive a nuclear bomb

There are a lot of things I miss about your old house. There are a lot of things I miss about Oklahoma. One of those things does not include the cracks in the house. Another is not all the nasty creatures and pests that reside in Oklahoma and find their way into those cracks in our house. We got little mice two of the three years we lived in that house. Mike has a weird sense of humor and liked to take pictures of the unfortunate creatures once they were caught.

Those mice brought me to tears when Mike was in Guam and my attempts to catch them were fruitless. But the pest that brought me the most grief and nightmares, literally, were the cockroaches.

Yes, we got cockroaches. Nasty, nasty. They came about six months before we moved. Each morning I would walk into the kitchen and take a deep breath before turning on the light just hoping not to find once scurrying across the floor. Ugh, just thinking about it makes me shiver. One night I was so crazy about it that Mike just looked at me dumbfounded,

"What is wrong with you?"

"There are cockroaches in my house! What do you think is wrong with me? It makes me physically ill thinking about it. I don't feel safe."

"Good grief."

Yeah, until one Saturday morning something tickled my arm and I jerked my eyes open to find a cockroach on my bed. Filthy, disgusting pets of the devil. I screamed and Mike took back his "Good grief."

We did everything we could think of to get rid of them. Our sinks were spotless, free of dishes, wiped dry of any water drops, and plugged in case any cockroaches decided to climb up the spout. Floors were swept and garbage taken out right before we went to bed. Dirty diapers were moved far from the house. We had cockroach traps and Borax spread all over the house and garage. We saw a drastic decrease in cockroaches. Then we went to Maryland in January and when we got back we were sure we had gotten rid of them because we didn't see any....until March.

I found one and my stomach just ached. How could they be back?! We were selling our house and it was spotless. I couldn't possibly keep it any cleaner. I didn't see any for a few days and I had felt this feeling that I didn't need to worry about the cockroaches. Then I found another, and another. And when I found the third cockroach I cried quite a bit. I could not feel good about selling our house knowing it was infested by cockroaches. I had felt so certain that I didn't need to worry about them but my feelings seemed to prove incorrect.

But, I was wrong. We never saw anymore than those three cockroaches. Maybe they were hiding...


Saturday night we watched The Chronicles of Narnia. When the movie ended and we turned the lights on, imagine my surprise when I saw something scurrying across our floor at lightning speed. It was a...

COCKROACH! Gasp!

No wait,

It was a spider.

Phew...

I've never been so happy to see a spider in my life.

Comments

Jess and Jen said…
I'm glad it was a spider...I was going to be SO sorry for you! We had cockroaches in Arizona too. We lived in one house for six months that had them inside and outisde, then our next house only had them here and there...they are SO nasty!
Jason said…
Cockroaches are indeed nasty pets of the devil. I used to work in a building that was built in 1918. It was the oldest building the University had on the west side of the river. My lab was in the basement and it was infested with cockroaches. Every morning, we would flip on the lights and listen to scurrying of little feet across our lab benches and the floor. It was disgusting. If we ever cornered one, we would flip it upside down, grab a can of forced air, turn the can upside down, and squeeze the trigger. Since the can was upside down, we ended up spraying the propellent on the roach which froze it solid. It was nasty. I hate roaches. I don't like spiders much either. If you ever want to hear Dad scream like a school girl, surprise him with a spider. Mom's got stories.
Lokodi said…
this is a hilarious story. I am right there with you about cockroaches. I hate them! Of course, I hate spiders almost just as much and we get huge ones here. There are spiders everywhere here. I'm dying!
Joe and Liz said…
OOhhh yucky. I can't stand cockroaches either. I cry when I see them too just like you. when we first moved to Tennessee I saw one in our apartment and it was HUGE! I cried and wanted to live in our car! I was so scared, but we've been blessed ever since with no more. So gross...your stories are crazy! I'm so glad you only saw a spider!
Zach and Nikki said…
I hold my breath when I turn on the light at night also-and I should be used to them living here! The apartment we lived in right after we got married had a SERIOUS problem with them- that's why we were so anxious to get a house and move out. Then, my dad informed us of this amazing bug killer. We used it one night and the next day we found close to a hundred dead cockroaches littered all around the perimeter of our house. It was an incredibly satisfying sight.
Michelle said…
Funny story and what a relief it was just a spider.
Cali said…
You had me cringing throughout! I absolutely despise spiders, though I'm sure I would have been relieved, too! Hope that you are well.
LanceandNance said…
We had tons of cockroaches in our house when I was growing up in Florida. I would leave notes for my mom begging her to get pest control, but she never did. Now my parents use some kind of organic pest control, but they probably just don't have a bug problem anymore cause they are no kids leaving messes around. When I got up to nurse the baby the other night there was like a centipede wriggling across the floor, I almost barfed, it was worse than a cockroach or spider!

-Nancy
Nolo and Lauren said…
I TOTALLY agree about cockroaches. They are my biggest fear. Death - sure, snakes - walk in the park, anything else - bring it on... just not cockroaches.
Rachel said…
I hate the nasty bugs we get here in Arizona! They're big and crunchy when you kill them. Yuck!
Jess and Jason said…
I will try to never again complain about my ant issues!

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