Invasion of the Monster Insects

Yesterday was a pretty good day in most aspects. All the chores we wanted to do were completed. The day before I fasted and prayed in honor of the National Day of Prayer designated by President Bush, so I was rather hungry and thirsty most of the day.

I put a few items up in the Freecycle page for our town and part of the items were picked up quickly. I was very thankful for that. I had 3 items (a lamp, a radio, and some house plants) offered and the houseplants were picked up within a few hours. Freecycle is way cool.

Later on in the evening, my wife started to trim/groom the dogs on the patio, since it was tolerable. She set out all of her equipment and began. I was in the office typing up a budget for our son so he will have something he can go by when he decided to move out on his own. He is almost 18 and has expressed a desire to be on his own. I cautioned him, but hey, he is 18...he knows it all :-).

When I completed it, I wanted to show my wife, but she was at a delicate point in the dog grooming, so I waited until she release Maggie, the biggest dog. I stepped out any my wife told me, "El Gee, there is a HUGE bug in the crack between the patio and the wall. It is weird looking with a black head and a brown body. It looks like something you would see on the Sci Fi Channel."

I was planning on spraying some of the FIRE ant mounds that have popped up over the past few weeks, so I figured spraying for some alien bug would be no problem. Before I sprayed for it, my wife and I heard a noise similar to a cricket. My wife said, "THAT'S IT. That is the sound it makes before it comes out. I cracked jokes about my wife's description of the insect for a while and when she was done grooming I sprayed the crack with a heavy dose of bug killer. Die, insect, die.

Then I put away the spray and went inside to wash up. I started to head back outside and a HUGE cricket started stumbling around on the patio. He had just came out of the crack. My wife said, "That's the bug!"
"Honey, that is a cricket."
"Oh...it did not look like one when I saw it...but I guess you are right."
Monster Insect. Please. :-)

Before I sprayed for the killer alien insect, I sprayed the FIRE ant mounds. I was not fast enough and one bit me. I have a rather extreme reaction to fire ant bites. The bite swells up, it burns like fire for hours, then itches. It will stay swollen for a week, at least.

I hate Fire ants.