Thursday, August 31, 2006

Rodents and Bugs

So 14 months in I've started to notice that things that in my former life would have made me freak out really don't phase me too much any more. For instance, over the weekend while at our friends' house we encountered a mouse and a cockroach in the same evening. Granted I wasn't the one with the broom batting the mouse out the door like a hockey puck (that was all Shane) but I also wasn't standing on a chair screeching. And I didn't even look up when the cockroach was being chased around with a shoe. The next day another mouse visited and this time it was trapped in the bathroom and knocked unconscious with a broom (once again all Shane). Not that I enjoy mice or cockroaches but I guess I've just learned you can't do too much to keep them away. It has lots more to do with poorly constructed houses where the doors meet the floor at an angle than with cleanliness. Not that cleanliness doesn't matter, but where we live in Portmore the houses are so close together that if your neighbors are messy and bringing pests around chances are they are going to visit you too. Plus there are always the pests that come in along with other items. Food for instance. On Tuesday night we cooked up a yummy pot of spaghetti sauce and when I was adding the noodles I found tons of tiny bugs at the bottom of the colander. Sure enough our other bag of newly purchased pastas was crawling with little bugs. The whole dinner was promptly tossed in the trash and while it was annoying to have to fix something else, there wasn't really much else that could have been done. Well we could have eaten the spaghetti bugs and all, but the transformation hasn't gone that far, yet. For now I'm just content with the fact that I can live with these annoyances and they don't cause me to go into a home sick panic. But I do think I'll enjoy the fact that in 10 months time I won't have to keep every single item of food in the fridge (packaged food included) to keep the ants away. For now I'll keep my crackers chilled, inspect my groceries closely, and make sure Shane is always around with the broom.

- Kaelyn

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those spaghetti bugs were probably weevils. Mmm, tasty weevils..

Dariush said...

Ohh my God this post is so true to life. I hate mice and roaches and even though I am kinda ok with them here they are still gross. The other night I saw a huge slug on my ceiling it was almost a half a foot long and I just left it there because I was afraid to touch it! You have to read my blog to find out what happened next!!!

Unknown said...

I'm not sure what to recommend for the bugs, but for the mice, Victor Multi-Kill electronic traps are effective and they can kill up to 10 mice before needing a reset.
Here's the trap I'm referring to:
http://www.victorpest.com/store/rodent-control/m260