I'm actually cool with it.
Well, sometimes.
I hate bugs as much as the next normal person. I don't see a spider and think, "Oh, that's cool! I want to pick it up and pet it!" I don't have a spider tattooed on my arm... you know, I'm pretty normal.
The house we currently rent was built sometime in the '50s, I'm guessing, and I doubt anyone ever had any sort of pest control here. For some reason, old houses hide creepier bugs.
Our number 1 bug is the centipede. I see probably 1-2 a day, and those puppies are FAST. If you don't get them right away, you might as well give up. It'll be gone by the time you race back with that tissue in hand.
Our number 2 bug, as Fall has arrived, seems to be the stag beetle. These suckers are evil. They have little pinchers and will use them if they get scared. They are also super fast. My 8-year-old, Natalie, had a run-in with one of these this summer. She stepped on it and started screaming. I thought she stubbed her toe and was doing her normal dramatic "my toe is going to fall off" bit. When the screaming didn't stop, I looked and saw the beetle attached to the underneath of her toes. Talk about disturbing! They seem to be coming out of every little crack right now.
Yick.
Number 3, and my least favorite, is the wolf spider. I assume we have a great quantity of these, but they just stay hidden. They can also be pretty quick, but I really hate that they are hairy. Any bug large enough to grow a 'stache really makes me shiver.
I will say, though, that living here has helped me with my aversion to all things creepy and crawly. I see so many, that it's kinda normal now. If I kill 1-2 a day, I actually feel like I've accomplished something. I wouldn't say I'm a bug ninja yet, but I'm getting there.
We really want to purchase a farm with an old farmhouse, so getting used to bugs is important. If this is what 60 years brings, then imagine 100 or more.
And no, no bugs have ended up in our coffee yet.
... At least that I know of. My husband probably wouldn't tell me.
And yes, we have some stink bugs, too. Those are pretty lame, though. If it can't outrun me, I'm not too worried about it.
I only really have two major concerns about the bugs in the house:
1. I don't want a kid to get bitten. I don't think our centipedes are big enough to bite, but if you google "centipede bite", the pictures are disgusting! Also, wolf spiders are poisonous, and can have very painful bites. And, who wants a beetle attached to their kid?
2. I want to have a yard sale. I have piled up a bunch of stuff in two areas of our basement, and I am more than mildly terrified of what is hiding inside the boxes and linens. I am sure there will be spiders. That seriously makes me not want to touch it. How am I supposed to get it out of my basement if I don't want to touch it?
Maybe I'm not as cool with the bugs as I thought.
In case you think I may be exaggerating, let me give you an idea of the size of the wolf spiders in our house. (And FYI, the centipedes are usually between 1-4 inches long.)
One night, our killer cat, Shawn, started staring at something under a shelf in our foyer. My husband said, "What is he staring at?" We started to watch him. He went under the shelf a little, pawing at something. A spider about the diameter OF A BASEBALL ran out and then back in. The cat went after it for a second then walked away, like "oh well". I literally couldn't sleep that night.
Is that sucker still in my house? Yep, most likely.
It's probably in my yard sale pile.
Say a prayer for me,
Kristin
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