Gary vs A Piece of Fuzz
We have two bathrooms, which is a blessing at times, usually when we have Chinese delivery. One evening this week we were each in our respective bathrooms when I heard a shriek as if Gary was being skinned and given a salt rub.
“AIIIIIEEEEEE!”
Early in our marriage I would have bolted from my bathroom to his, grabbing the phone on the way so I could call 911.
A few years after that I would have yelled, “What? What? Are you okay?”
However, I have learned as many mothers do, that screaming is fine, silence is when you know it’s bad. I paused, listened, and after the scream that suggested Gary was hemorrhaging his brain out his nose, I heard: (thump thump thump) “ACK!” (thump thump) “ACK! It’s huge!”
“Ah,” I reasoned. “Bug. He’s trying to kill it.”
A few minutes later when we reconnected, Gary said he walked in to the bathroom, took off his glasses, then kicked aside a piece of lint that was on the floor. The lint ran for cover and scurried up the side of the cabinet.
It reminded me of Mom, who woke up one day after I had been born, and without putting on her glasses kicked aside a fuzzy play toy that was sitting out. Luckily, she put on her glasses before she cleaned it up or I’d have found a dead field mouse in my toy box.
Larvae Attack
Since we last heard from the caterpillars, they have climbed to the top of their cup, and hung from the lid like the letter “J” for a week. I probably should have moved them sooner into their mesh butterfly habitat. As it was, I read that after they formed chrysalises, I should peel off the paper they were adhered to at the top of the cup, and pin it inside their mesh habitat house. They’re on the right, below, five of them.
Well, when you move the chrysalises after they are big and strong, it is quite surprising when they go into their self-protective diversionary tactic.It seems a chrysalis can move, or “jiggle” as the instructions say, if it feels endangered.
This time, I got to be the one screaming. I only had to carry the chrysalises three feet and they convulsed. Not “jiggled,” not “quivered.” I know they didn’t want to scare the kids when they wrote the instructions, but these chrysalises kicked like a donkey in a gunny sack. I’m sure my screaming made them even more frightened.
At any rate, I woke up today to three butterflies. I saw another one about a minute after it came out (its wings were still curled up.) I keep checking number five, the runt. Still not out.
Turkey
I don’t know why, but when I see wildlife, I think cartoons. The friendly chipmunk who came by at chattered at me by the Royal Ontario Museum looked like Chip or Dale. I saw a fox and though. “That red dog looks like a cartoon fox. I wonder what breed that is?” That’s why I was able to recognize the cartoon turkey on the way to Starbuck’s yesterday.
Squirrats
You all are trying to give me nightmares, with all the squirrel photos.
11 responses to “Man vs Wildlife”
You and Jammies, for the love of God how can you not like squirrels? They are adorable. I love the little cuties, well except when they bait the dog and she lunges at them and rips my arm from the socket, yeah, then they suck. They are like big gerbils, and I adored my gerbils.Squirrel haters are nuts.
Oh, and thank god I have a man who will deal with insects/arachnids in a non-screaming, non-hysterical manner, otherwise there would be 2 of us screaming, which is so unproductive.
So let me get this straight: You’re good with chipmunks but not squirrels? Why?What have the squirrels done to you?
Not having squirrels here, my cartoon idea of them was as SO CUTE! until I went to Yosemite and read the notices about them carrying RABIES and THE PLAGUE.
BD, every cute creature plus the family dog have potential to carry rabies. Blame the plague on fleas, and the same potential is there for all critters.Poor maligned squirrels.
Gidday Z! I live in NZ. We don’t have rabies or snakes or poisonous spiders or poison ivy or poisonous anything. Our national symbol is a small brown bird that can’t even fly. And I can’t help going just a bit fuzzy at the edges at the idea of growing buboes. Hey Queen, Gary shrieks at a lint spider? Has he read Erin’s on-going battles with SCORPIONS?http://outofcharacter.blogspot.com/2008/05/we-may-have-to-move.html
By the way, that was me again. Typepad keeps protecting my identity.
Were the squirrels (God forbid) flossing?
Zayrina / Sara – I’ll tell you how. I’ll tell you what. As a young woman of 22 I was staying overnight at Mom’s. I woke up early and went out to the backyard where I found eight squirrels on the patio. Eight squirrels is like a squirrel pack. They were all out there and they didn’t leave when I came out. Try it. Try being in the middle of a swarm of squirrels.Big Dot – Yeah, and Hanta Virus, too, I bet. Zayrina – What about otters? Do they have fleas? “” (aka Big Dot) – Oh, no, I would never let him read about the scorpions. He’d be seeing scorpions everywhere.Friend #3 /Flossie – Oh, now that would be cute.
OoOoOoOOO BD, NZ sounds like heaven! No poisony things. Me would like.Queen: Otters have fleas and ticks and can be rabid and fairly aggressive so there is no justification, at least in that respect, for liking them while rejecting the cuteness of squirrels. I am sure those squirrels you encountered were not a rape gang. Plus it is not proper to refer to them as a swarm. It is a dray of squirrels or a dray of squirrels or a scurry of squirrels.I lurves ’em.
Zayrina – Well … ‘scurry’ of squirrels is cute, I’ll give them that.