Whitey, Whitey try to hide-y

This guy is special.  It is because of him that now during the month of August we maintain constant vigilance.  He was the ambassador of all those following in his creepy six-legged footsteps in the Augusts to come.  We even named him:
Whitey

On a perfectly normal day I walked out the back door, not maintaining the level of critter caution that is now practiced as August Awareness (ah, the naive years).  I approach the screen door at a rapid pace and as I began to push it open a movement directly in front of my face causes my eyes to refocus.  There, a good 2.5 inches from my face, clinging to the screen, Whitey introduced himself.  I stood stock still for about 10 seconds completely baffled by the thing staring back at me.  See, Whitey wasn't just any roach, mind you, but an albino one.  

I freaked and yelled for my hubby to come squash the varmint.  Alas, Whitey scampered away before the foot fell (roaches can run at the alarming rate of 3 mph).  An expected amount of Googling ensued.  I research things that scare me in the hopes that I will develop an understanding of them and not be so frightened.  Ah, Google!  What more could an Amateur Insect Hunter Girl need?

A few FF (in this case Freaky Facts):

• Roaches wear their skeletons on the outside of their bodies.
• Cockroaches bleed white blood. (did not need to know that)
• Roaches outgrow their skeletons and must shed them to regrow (vomit, vomit, vomit)
• Albino? nope, just happened to see a roach naked, which they are for approximately 8 hours while the new roomier skin/skeleton regains its regular color. (lucky you)
• During the nude fest - a cockroach is white with black eyes. (have fun sleeping tonight)

Check out these and more interesting, albeit disgusting, Roach Facts <-----do it.

So there you have it!  Casper the not-so-friendly, freakishly white roach.  If anyone is wondering, I had no luck chasing my fears away.  In fact, it is still coming my way at the surprising rate of 3 miles per hour.

Peace and watch out for the Whiteys!

August Annuals

August signals the start of so many things.  School starts back (yippee), the oppressive heat begins to relinquish its hold (not in South GA), fall is just around the corner and with it comes college football (Go Dawgs!), and each of these things hold different meanings for us.  ‘Round my parts, August signals something quite different from the aforementioned joyous occasions, and the only meaning it holds is regret.  Regret that I don’t have the desired arsenal to deal with things at hand:  Critters.

These invaders are not of the common house pest variety.  I could deal with flies, roaches, spiders (Ok I lie – ew, yuck & original arachnophob).  The point is – a Google search is necessary when identifying our annual visitors.  Things they have in common:

1.       Always creep into our happy, normally bug-free (Thank you Astro) life in Early to mid-August

2.       Always causing a moment, amidst the panic, of extreme curiosity & equal WTFocity of the unidentified specimen (one exception – read on)

3.       Always come at you in a rather shocking and surprising manner. (read apparate right next to you causing you to scream and jump around thereby leaving neighbors no choice but to call 911)

4.       Once initial contact has been made, they come back – just once a year, in early to mid-August to scare me right out of my pants.

Whether this is in honor of our Annual Augustinians or a sacrificial measure, I have dedicated a special section just for them to get cozy and randomly jump out to say “Hiiiiiiii”.  Stay tuned for individual  Tales of the Creep!