So I am back to battling the Horseman of Pestilence. As alert readers will remember, I have been wrestling with God about this situation lately. Is my fitness, as demonstrated by my ability to use the information I read on the CSU extension website to defeat my enemy, moral? Am I justified in murdering moths and their larvae because that is the natural order of things?
This weekend at a family gathering, my brother and sister in law were talking about their mouse problem. They had mice last summer under their deck. They didn't do anything about the mice because, as they said, they thought they were "cute." Now that the mice have entered their home, B and S.I.L. don't think they are cute any more. They are, in fact, rather distressing. My brother put it this way: "They're not cute. Now when I set the traps I look forward to seeing their little backs broken."
Dear brother, I have felt the same way. Years ago in my married house, there were mice. They were everywhere. They ate the dog's food, they built a nest under the refrigerator. They darted out from dark corners when I was least expecting them. I was at my wit's end. But we had to live, and to do that, they couldn't live. We called in an exterminator.
Other "pests" have provoked reactions from me that are simply mammalian. At the same married house, there was a cactus in the garden. The puppy went out in the night and stepped on the cactus. We pulled the stickers from his paws. The next day I went out with rose gloves and pruning shears and cut the cactus to bits. Don't mess with my babies.
Recently, I came home to find wasps building a next just outside our front door. One came into the house. I panicked. I implored J to do something. He leaped to my rescue, smashed the inside wasp, then, using the only weapon he could find, sprayed WD40 on the nest.
Similarly, I do not feel sentimental about roaches. We don't have roaches, but occasionally I see a beetle that I've never seen before and imagine that we do.
So, here I am again, devising ways to conquer the moths. I am not sure what I am doing is right, I am only sure that it is animal.
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I have so much joie de vivre that if I were a character in a Hollywood movie I'd only have six months to live.
I have so much joie de vivre that if I were a character in a Hollywood movie I'd only have six months to live.
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You Might Also Enjoy
"Comin' Through the Rye," by Robert Burns
1. O, Jenny's a' weet, poor body,
Jenny's seldom dry:
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!
Chorus:
Comin thro' the rye, poor body,
Comin thro' the rye,
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!
2. Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry?
Chorus
3. Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the glen,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need the warl' ken?
Chorus
4. Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the grain;
Gin a body kiss a body,
The thing's a body's ain.
Chorus
5. Ev'ry Lassie has her laddie,
Nane, they say, have I,
Yet all the lads they smile on me,
When comin' thro' the rye.
Chorus
"Jenny Kissed Me," by Leigh Hunt
Jenny kissed me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in:
Say I’m weary, say I’m sad,
Say that health and wealth have missed me,
Say I’m growing old, but add
Jenny kissed me.
"Pirate Jenny," lyrics by B. Brecht, music by K. Weill
You people can watch while Im scrubbing these floors
And Im scrubbin the floors while youre gawking
Maybe once ya tip me and it makes ya feel swell
In this crummy southern town
In this crummy old hotel
But youll never guess to who youre talkin.
No. you couldnt ever guess to who youre talkin.
Then one night theres a scream in the night
And youll wonder who could that have been
And you see me kinda grinnin while Im scrubbin
And you say, whats she got to grin?
Ill tell you.
Theres a ship
The black freighter
With a skull on its masthead
Will be coming in
You gentlemen can say, hey gal, finish them floors!
Get upstairs! whats wrong with you! earn your keep here!
You toss me your tips
And look out to the ships
But Im counting your heads
As Im making the beds
Cuz theres nobody gonna sleep here, honey
Nobody
Nobody!
Then one night theres a scream in the night
And you say, whos that kicking up a row?
And ya see me kinda starin out the winda
And you say, whats she got to stare at now?
Ill tell ya.
Theres a ship
The black freighter
Turns around in the harbor
Shootin guns from her bow
Now
You gentlemen can wipe off that smile off your face
Cause every building in town is a flat one
This whole frickin place will be down to the ground
Only this cheap hotel standing up safe and sound
And you yell, why do they spare that one?
Yes.
Thats what you say.
Why do they spare that one?
All the night through, through the noise and to-do
You wonder who is that person that lives up there?
And you see me stepping out in the morning
Looking nice with a ribbon in my hair
And the ship
The black freighter
Runs a flag up its masthead
And a cheer rings the air
By noontime the dock
Is a-swarmin with men
Comin out from the ghostly freighter
They move in the shadows
Where no one can see
And theyre chainin up people
And theyre bringin em to me
Askin me,
Kill them now, or later?
Askin me!
Kill them now, or later?
Noon by the clock
And so still by the dock
You can hear a foghorn miles away
And in that quiet of death
Ill say, right now.
Right now!
Then theyll pile up the bodies
And Ill say,
Thatll learn ya!
And the ship
The black freighter
Disappears out to sea
And
On
It
Is
Me
And Im scrubbin the floors while youre gawking
Maybe once ya tip me and it makes ya feel swell
In this crummy southern town
In this crummy old hotel
But youll never guess to who youre talkin.
No. you couldnt ever guess to who youre talkin.
Then one night theres a scream in the night
And youll wonder who could that have been
And you see me kinda grinnin while Im scrubbin
And you say, whats she got to grin?
Ill tell you.
Theres a ship
The black freighter
With a skull on its masthead
Will be coming in
You gentlemen can say, hey gal, finish them floors!
Get upstairs! whats wrong with you! earn your keep here!
You toss me your tips
And look out to the ships
But Im counting your heads
As Im making the beds
Cuz theres nobody gonna sleep here, honey
Nobody
Nobody!
Then one night theres a scream in the night
And you say, whos that kicking up a row?
And ya see me kinda starin out the winda
And you say, whats she got to stare at now?
Ill tell ya.
Theres a ship
The black freighter
Turns around in the harbor
Shootin guns from her bow
Now
You gentlemen can wipe off that smile off your face
Cause every building in town is a flat one
This whole frickin place will be down to the ground
Only this cheap hotel standing up safe and sound
And you yell, why do they spare that one?
Yes.
Thats what you say.
Why do they spare that one?
All the night through, through the noise and to-do
You wonder who is that person that lives up there?
And you see me stepping out in the morning
Looking nice with a ribbon in my hair
And the ship
The black freighter
Runs a flag up its masthead
And a cheer rings the air
By noontime the dock
Is a-swarmin with men
Comin out from the ghostly freighter
They move in the shadows
Where no one can see
And theyre chainin up people
And theyre bringin em to me
Askin me,
Kill them now, or later?
Askin me!
Kill them now, or later?
Noon by the clock
And so still by the dock
You can hear a foghorn miles away
And in that quiet of death
Ill say, right now.
Right now!
Then theyll pile up the bodies
And Ill say,
Thatll learn ya!
And the ship
The black freighter
Disappears out to sea
And
On
It
Is
Me
1 comment:
I feel your pain, Jenni.
I have shared my living space with a variety of tiny creatures. Carpet beetles and paper moths come to mind. There is recent talk from my upstairs neighbor about bed bugs. Ugly, bloodsucking bedbugs, for goodness sake!
When I heard about the bedbug sightings upstairs, I realized that there have been bugs I've been tolerating for years. I immediately went to the internet to prove to myself and my landlord that what I have seen, in the spring, mostly, have not been bed bugs. The internet confirmed it. I have been tolerating carpet beetles.
The most horrific visitors I have dealt with were house centipedes. I lived briefly in a house with my brother, a house infested with house centipedes. I still utterly despise these creatures, and shower gallons of boiling water down on their heads and on the drains they have been lurking around. And this is upon seeing only one of the little monsters.
I will blog on the subject sometime.
Good luck in your survival efforts!
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