Texas = Big, Nasty, Bugs

People told me before we moved here that Texas had a lot of big, nasty bugs. They were right. I guess I knew they were right, because everything is bigger in Texas, but of course the bugs wanted to make sure I saw them myself. Here are a few of my experiences:

1) Giant cockroach on our ceiling the second night we were living in our apartment. About as big as Ander's thumb. I used to have a picture of it, but I have somehow lost it. But just believe me, it was enormous

2) Huge, jet black wasps. One got into my house and I was pretty sure that Satan himself was hanging out on my window blinds. He was about as big as MY thumb (which is a lot smaller than Ander's but still...) I went down to the grocery store and bought wasp spray so I could take him out... in my house. I think I stood a good 12 feet away.

3) Crickets. Ander says I'm crazy, but the crickets here are gigantic. The ones in Utah were tiny, like the ones you feed to your pet lizard. A Texas cricket could feed a pet lizard for a day. And they're everywhere. Running all over our front walkway. AND I've killed at least 5 inside our apartment. May-May thinks they're awesome. I, do not.

4) Fire ants. Right outside of our dining room window. We got sprayed a while back and for some reason the other day they just decided they wanted to come inside. All of them are dead when I find them, but they're still all over my carpet.

5) Cockroaches. A lot of them. We decided to move my big stereo out of the kitchen the other day and into our bedroom and do you know what we found? I pulled the speakers away from the disc changer and lo and behold I saw a bunch of baby cockroaches crawling into the slits on the side of the stereo. Yes, folks, there was a family of cockroaches living in my stereo. Ander says it makes perfect sense... the stereo was right by the sink, and I'm sure the stereo was nice and damp and warm. Perfect place to lay a bunch of eggs. I then found more cockroaches behind our toaster oven.

Conclusion: I...HATE...BUGS. Although I have gotten braver and started killing them myself, I still hate the fact that I've found so many in my home. Your home should feel like a safe haven and mine does not. I am constantly afraid that I'm going wake up in the middle of the night and have a cockroach crawling on me. I love Texas very much, but I HATE the bugs. End of story.