Posted tagged ‘The Deadly Mantis’

“Only very brave mouse makes nest in cat’s ear.”

March 28, 2017

The morning has been a strange one. First off is the scary part. Halfway down from upstairs, Gracie started sliding on the steps. She panicked and started scrambling on all fours for a paw hold. She was five steps from the bottom of the stairs. I grabbed her halter and held on then lifted her to a step where she was able to gain control. The whole time I held her my back was screaming. She weighs 62 pounds. I felt every one of them, but Gracie was able to stand and make it down the stairs without falling. She was even eager to go down the outside stairs.

The second weird event was the finding of a mouse, not dead but wounded. I was on my way into the dining room which I saw it. It was the fattest field mouse I’ve ever seen. It couldn’t have run away so I’m thinking it waddled, which makes me believe Maddie got it. This must be the mouse which has been living in my cabinet, my pots and pans cabinet, where I occasionally store packages of food or crackers.  Last week I went to get the bag of potato chips I had put there a few days earlier. It had a couple of chewed holes. The Equal box which had had about 30 or so packets was empty. The corn flakes were gone. There hadn’t been many, but now there were none. That cabinet is due to be cleaned, and I was going to put a trap inside it. Now I wonder. Kudos to Maddie who is seventeen. As for that mouse, it is outside where I tossed it, still alive at least for the meantime.

I haven’t ever been afraid of bugs or snakes. I know a few people who squeal at the sight of a spider. That makes me want to slap them and say get a grip. In Ghana, I was introduced to scorpions and centipedes. Both took me a bit aback, scorpions because they bite and centipedes because of their appearance and the possibility of a bite. They are not really bugs, but that’s for another time. My favorite looking insect is the praying mantis. It, of course, had its own movie: The Deadly Mantis. The giant mantis had been frozen in the Arctic ice cap but was dislodged by a volcano’s eruption. Terror ensues.

Today is cloudy. What a surprise! Rain is predicted, another surprise, but it will be warmish at 44˚. I have some inside chores today, enough to keep me busy for maybe twenty minutes then I’ll need a nap.

“Wild nights are my glory!”

September 3, 2016

My reason for being late today is a good one. I have been watching Yongary, a 1967 monster movie made in Korea. It was so bad I couldn’t tear myself away. I’ll give you some wonderful examples. The hero is summoned from the first night of his honeymoon to man a capsule into space. His woe begotten wife shows up in the control room where her father is in charge. She is wearing what I figured was formal control room dress: beaded gloves, a hat and a lovely dress. When her husband lands the capsule, she is wearing a different dress, no hat and no gloves. I guess the dress code for safe landings is much less formal. All through the movie she walks in on secret meetings as if she owned the place. The monster shoots fire. Every time he spews flames, the camera goes to his mouth, and you can see the pipe. The sets are obviously models as are the tanks and cars. In one scene a man opens his mouth in horror and puts his hands in front of his face. The next scene is the car going over a cliff and bursting into flames. You never find out why. The townspeople are told to evacuate as the monster is coming. Most are carrying what I assumed were valuable possessions yet one guy carried a dented table globe. A main character is a small boy who precipitates critical plot lines. He even dances with the monster. He twists. The monster just moves his hips and arms. At the end of the movie, despite his dancing skills, the monster is killed. There is a huge celebration but I couldn’t read the banner. It was in Korean. Newspaper men are talking to the boy and ask his age. He says about 8. What kid doesn’t know how old he is? After every question, there is that silly laughter Japanese movies also seem to have. Just think. I spent an hour and forty minutes watching this awful movie, and I’d do it again.

The MGM channel, which showed Yongary, has wonderful films for the whole afternoon. On now is an updated She, then Contamination 7 starring no one I’ve ever heard of and then Tentacles starring a giant octopus.

Last night was chilly. The house was only 63˚ when I woke up. When I got the papers, I could tell the breeze was off the ocean. It has a different feel about it. Today will be in the mid 70’s. Tonight is movie night. We’re watching another black and white movie from the 50’s, The Deadly Mantis. I’m thinking the title gives the plot away. The menu for the evening is Chinese appetizers then candy and popcorn for movie viewing. It will be in the mid 60’s so I’m figuring it’ll be sweatshirt weather.

Tomorrow will be batten down the hatches day. We’ll have 35 mph winds, but there is also a threat for strong tropical storm force winds of 58 to 73 mph. I’ll have to move plants off the deck rail, close the umbrella and remove the feeders. It will rain but only about an inch. It seems like a lot of work for a  storm which could fizzle, but I don’t want to press my luck.