“I’ve just been bitten on the neck by a vampire… mosquito. Does that mean that when the night comes I will rise and be annoying?”
The wind is gone, replaced by still, humid air. We may have rain later today, but the clouds right now look more like your usual hanging-around clouds. I have a few errands today. Yesterday was around the house day. I fixed the cabinet door for about the fourth time, watered all the plants and scrubbed the deck table and chairs. The deck is ready should the weather be inviting.
You’d think living in Africa would have made me inured to bugs. It didn’t. I am ever sensitive to crawly things. This morning I felt something on my arm. It was a tick, now deceased. I am still grossed out. The dog has none. I check her all the time. Now I have to keep checking myself.
The spiders are active. I saw a huge one I recognized as having once starred in his own scifi movie, and I saw baby spiders starting webs on the windowsill plants. The strands go from frond to frond. I don’t hurt spiders, but I do clear out their webs. I think my house would like Miss Haversham’s in a short time if I didn’t. The other day a spider was on a jar on the counter. I took him outside and shook him loose. Faster than a speeding bullet he slid down to the deck on a strand he had just made.
When I was a kid, I loved watching bugs. At the swamp, dragonflies, darning needles to us, flitted and zig-zagged across the water. They were all sorts of colors, and I remember how their wings seemed to shine and reflect the sun. Snakes, especially garden snakes, were common. They’d be in the garden, and we’d give chase, not to hurt them but to watch them slither. I always thought that was pretty neat.
In Ghana I saw poisonous snakes for the first time. I remember my students pegging rocks into the bushes outside the classroom block. I asked why. “To kill the snake, madam.” One of my hens lost a chick a day probably to snakes. That hen quickly became dinner. I saw a boa once and once was enough.
My friend Christer’s special guy Hector, “Isn’t around anymore.” Loving and being loved by a dog is wonderfully amazing. A dog loves you no matter what. Gracie’s stubby tail wags and wags when I talk to her. She looks into my face as if she understands every word. The only problem is dogs don’t live as long as we do. I am so very sorry, Christer.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: cloudy, crawly things, humidity, Miss Haversham, poisonous snakes, snakes, spiders, still day, ticks, webs
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
May 28, 2015 at 12:31 pm
Sending Christer hugs. Losing a loved animal is one of the worst things in life.
May 28, 2015 at 1:43 pm
sprite,
It is just horrible.
May 28, 2015 at 2:24 pm
Big Bummer for Christer – Best wishes from Detroit
May 28, 2015 at 4:05 pm
My Dear Hedley,
We know how horrible that feels.
May 28, 2015 at 2:59 pm
Too many ticks around and some of them live in my garden. Still tiny but already hungry. Two bites so far this year.
So sorry for Christer and his animal family. I saw the sad news on his blog and still remember the puppy photos last year when Christer wrote about Hector’s and Orvar’s birth. This adorable big teddy bear will surely be missed.
May 28, 2015 at 4:02 pm
Birgit,
Far too many around and here they cause all sorts of disease-including a new tick they found this year.
I know what he is going through. Though the pain subsides, you always miss your good friend.
May 28, 2015 at 3:26 pm
Oh, I am so sorry for Christer’s loss…no doubt about it, those things hurt…
My deepest sympathies to all…there is a special place in the afterlife for ALL animals…
Coleen
May 28, 2015 at 4:03 pm
Coleen,
Heaven would be a horrible place without animals.
May 28, 2015 at 7:25 pm
A dog … takes a tick but keeps on licking …
Cheers
May 28, 2015 at 7:48 pm
minicapt,
John Cameron Swayze came immediately to mind.
May 28, 2015 at 7:52 pm
I have always been squeamish when it comes to creepy crawly things especially snakes. When I was a kid there were always neighborhood boys who loved throwing garden snakes on the girls. I always sided with the girls.
Since we have been inundated with rain the mosquitos are having a field day. Tonight another line of severe storms are about a hundred miles west of Ft. Worth and expected in Dallas by ten tonight. During the draught we never thought that we would ever tire of rain, but when you are thinking of building an ark you have some idea how much we would like to see the sunshine.
May 28, 2015 at 8:00 pm
Bob,
For whatever reason, I love all the crawly stuff. We used to race through the field and catch grasshoppers, watch praying mantis and, as I said, follow snakes.
I have seen pictures of your rain and all the flooding. I saw cars under water and people being rescued. It is just horrible. Noah would have long ago built his ark.
No rain here yet.
May 29, 2015 at 5:01 am
Spiders used to scare me in an unacceptable way. Even a photograph could shake me and I couldn’t touch the paper it was printed on. Today it is more moderated. Some experiences with spiders I even treasure. Once I saw a golden ball suspended somewhere in the garden. When I lightly touched it; an explosion of hundreds of golden little spiders! Wonderful.
May 29, 2015 at 9:40 am
Bert,
I loved the story Charlotte’s Web and think any child hearing the story will love spiders. The best part is at the end when all Charlotte’s babies emerge. Your comment reminded me of that scene.
I remember my dad telling me spiders are good because they eat bugs so I was never afraid of them, but with all their legs, their webs everywhere, I can understand why people are afraid of them
May 29, 2015 at 9:40 am
Hi Kat,
I’m casual about bugs in the house except for those horrid miller moths. I feel about them the same way you feel about the Red Spawn. Toward the end of the time my mother was living here, she would buy flour and other grains and forget about them. The miller moths were extreme. If I swatted one, it left a silvery smudge of wind dust on whatever surface it was touching and the smudge didn’t come off all that easily. Ack!
Yesterday early morning I almost walked into a largish spider that was hanging from the light pull in the kitchen. Saw it at the last second before getting spider web and spider in my face. I disconnected the spider line and kind of swung the spider over to the edge of the room where I couldn’t see him anymore. Fly and be free and eat miller moths. 🙂
Christer’s message showed up on my FB page on Wednesday. It was very sad to read about Hector and he has all my sympathy. It’s a difficult thing even when it’s expected.
May 29, 2015 at 9:44 am
Caryn,
I totally agree about the moths. I have become adept at catching them in mid-flight and killing them in my hand. Once I found a canister I had closed and forgotten about. Inside was some flour and so many dead moths I couldn’t count them. That was just gross.
I make sure there are no spiders in the webs I clear. If there is a meal waiting in the web, I leave the web until the spider has dined.
The worst year I ever had was when my mother passed away in October after having been sick a year and then Maggie, my boxer, passed away in January. I was devastated by the losses.