Critters

My back was so itchy! No more hot showers for me. But after three days with the backscratcher, I used two mirrors to assess the damage. Sure enough, a series of red marks started at my shoulder blade and meandered up toward my neck. Spider bites? Some kind of critter.

Of course, I looked under my pillow and pulled back the bed clothes. Guess it has moved on to juicier pastures.

But when I started to strip the bed to wash the sheets, I gasped to see a full-sized centipede scamper out. For a moment, I registered sympathy for him/her. It looked so—cheerful—to be out of the sheets and into fresh air. Can a centipede look cheerful? Somehow, it did.

Unfortunately, the Great Goddess Nancy descended upon the unsuspecting creature and ended its moment of bliss.

As I dumped the sheets into the washing machine, there was a cringe-worthy sight of a few remaining centipede legs. Ugh.

I had another experience with a critter this week. A Tropical Depression settled over North Carolina, bringing non-stop rain, day after day.

It shouldn’t have surprised me to come upon a frog in my living room. The almost Biblical rain meant frogs were next, I guess. I laughed as I helped him hop outside. Sorry, no frogs allowed here.

Looking back, I remembered the time a North Carolina lizard appeared on my lap, while I was typing away on my laptop. Eeek.

And a bird once got into our house in Whitefish Bay.

Mice at various times in the bedroom and pantry in Cincinnati.

The bat in my first-grade classroom in Iowa was exciting, when I was a teacher. The kids loved it.

How about you? Have you got tales about critters invading your space?