Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me!

To say the last week has been interesting would be an understatement. Last weekend we had Diego's brother as our first official visitor to the apartment. Tons-o-fun was had, and I'll share a few details next time, but today, I have something much more important to share. Quite frankly I wish it was as easy as 'shooing' them away! While D was driving to pick up his brother I thought I would get a few things done. I went into the guest closet to get some office supplies, and what do I find? Well, I wasn't really sure, actually because it scurried away too quickly for me to find out, but it was some kind of critter! In Texas, I figured it was either a lizard or a scorpion, and that last one means you know I wasn't going to chase after it! When the boys finally got home I made them dig around for it. Fortunately we found this little guy (forgive these pictures, in my terrified state I wasn't really trying to get great pics):

Whew! HUGE sigh of relief all around! It was just a little lizard crawling around in the closet. Although it might be creepy to have something wandering where you can't find it, they are pretty harmless and even it spiders, so I can deal with it. We let him go outside near a tree and he lived happily ever after. Fast forward two days and I was not so relieved when I found a second, more dangerous intruder. Enter: Scorpion.

Again, a terrible picture, but this midwestern gal is not prepared to deal with this stuff! I threw a kitchen container on top of him until my hero came home and once again saved the day. We had heard that if you pour alcohol on a scorpion it will sting itself to death. This seemed like the easiest route, but we had no rubbing alcohol. The highest proof and nastiest stuff (we don't feel bad wasting something we don't like) was brandy. It had to do the trick. Or not. But it did get the little guy terrifying monster tipsy enough to not really know what was going on. After D poked at it with a stick for a while and I yelled at him to stop making it mad and just kill it already, he swept it into the dustpan, took it outside, and stepped on it. Good bye evil villain! The end!

Not so fast. Thursday night we found yet another intruder! And yet again, this one was more dangerous. Yippee! Thankfully I wasn't the one to find it this time. I probably would have had a heart attack at this point. Diego was headed into the bedroom to get his laundry when he heard an unwelcome scurry. Enter: Red Headed Centipede.

Not even he knew how to handle this one. At this point, all we could do was put a bucket over it with something heavy on top and stay with friends for the night (Thanks J and C!!). After some time spent away from the 8" monster D felt brave enough to catch him in the jar you see him in above. I'm still not quite sure how it happened because I was too scared to watch in case something happened. If you're not sure what they do, google it. Or don't, you won't sleep for days. D named him Thompson against my will, but he is no longer with us, as he met quite the demise, details of which I will not go into.

We've been ok since, but sleeping has been a little rough. Bed checks anyone? Shoe checks in the morning? Not exactly my idea of a great living situation. Unfortunately we're stuck. I'll of course let you know if any of these villains' little friends try to stop in for a visit. Until next time, stay safe and watch out for dangerous critters!