Bugs (Then and Now)

Don't let this tropical paradise fool you. It is beautiful during the day, but watch out at night. All sorts of crazy creatures are living with us... Now that we have lived here for 9 months, we have made a few changes...


Then: I was shocked at how easily they got in the house.
Now: I look for holes, patch them up, pray that we won't get bit/stung and hope for the best.

Then: I bought pasta and flour in cardboard boxes or bags and left them in the pantry.
Now: I immediately take them out of the boxes, wrap them in plastic ziplock bags and put them in an airtight rubbermaid container. If I don't, these little "carb bugs" (I don't know what they're really called) will drill through the box, find a crack in a bag, and swim in the carby goodness, laying eggs and ruining many bags of good food. No, I'm not bitter! (OK just a little... no one told me about these little guys).

Then: I tried to catch every cockroach I could find when getting up in the night to check Kaiah.

Now: When I wake up to check her and hear a subtle crunching noise on a crumb I may have overlooked, I just try not to look, and I try to get the past fact that there is a disgusting bug in my kitchen taunting me, and I make a mental note to do a better job cleaning/sweeping the next day... because for every 1 you catch, there are 5 more and it's better just to have them come check out your kitchen, see that there is nothing to eat, and leave again.

Then: I would get a huge container to trap centipedes with. (That's a quarter. Not a nickle or dime.)

 Now: I try to grab them with salad tongs.

Then: I knew they could sting and it hurt.
Now: I know that if you get stung, you will be in so much pain, you will need narcotics to get any relief. It hurts so bad, huge Samoan men are reduced to writhing babies on the floor. And your hand will swell up to twice the size of normal.

This is my friend Amy's hand after she was stung by a big one!



Then: I tried to catch the huge cockroaches and I missed about 80% of the time.
Now: If I try to catch them, I miss about 20% of the time. I'm getting good!

Then: If I was tired at night, I would do the dishes in the morning.
Now: It's not worth it. Dishes are either done or very well rinsed out before going to bed.

Then: I reached into every dark space (shoes, garden gloves, cabinets, cupboards, wicker baskets) recklessly.
Now: I shake it out, shine a light in it, take a glance, or stomp.

Then: I was perfectly normal neurologically. (Yes, I realize some would debate that).
Now: I scan white or solid surfaces or walls for any discoloration or dark shape and think I might be developing a tic.

Then: I put coconut oil or Deet on my and the kid's skin every time we went outside (mosquitos are BAD!)
Now: I have almost perfected my own natural mosquito repellant and people, who suffer from insect bite reactions like I do, tell me I should start selling bottles of my creation!

Then: I found huge cane spiders on my wall and freaked out, waking Cliff in the middle of the night, making him deal with it.
Now: I realize that they are actually beneficial and eat all the other things I don't like (mostly cockroaches and centipedes.) Cliff is still not at all ok with them though...

  
Then: I left cat food out.
Now: I leave a little out, enough for them to eat, and then put the rest in an airtight container. Making sure that all little crumb bits that have fallen out of their mouths make it in the trash.

Then: I didn't realize that some insects are seasonal.
Now: I know that in October and November huge armies of sugar ants will invade your house. be crawling on every surface diligently looking for crumbs, and make ant highways that would impress people from LA.

Then: I only put raisins in a sealed rubbermaid container.
Now: I know that raisins are very well loved and no rubbermaid container is enough to stop sugar ants from finding a way in and destroying two huge Costco sized bags of them... again just a little bit bitter.

Then: And now for an ocean pest... the Portugese Man O War. We get stung by these all the time! They really hurt too. We used to just hope we didn't get stung... and cry when we did.
Now: We bring sting treatment with us in our beach bag every time we go. It really helps take the sting out! 

Then: I thought when I figured out my bug problems and how to alleviate the infestations, that the problem was pretty much fixed.
Now: I know that there is always someone lurking in my kitchen/house. Some come certain times of the year, some come only seasonally. But I now realize how very clean you must leave the state of your living space if you want to minimize contact with these guys. Also, I have come to accept that's just a part of living here. :)