Sunday, March 28, 2010

what lies beneath


There will be a break in the hospital tale to share a little safety tip with you.


Everywhere I have lived has had its share of things that creep and crawl.  However, the two places I have lived in Mexico have been well-situated to afford some up-close and personal experiences.


Saturday offered another.


I was trying to open a jar of chipotle salsa.  Mexican food manufacturers must seal their jars using zero atmosphere.  The lids will usually not budge without using all of the tricks I learned from my father to open recalcitrant jars.


I had tapped.  I had twisted.  I had put the lid under hot water.


The next step was the dish cloth as a friction piece.  Without looking, I picked up the dish cloth -- and something fell in the sink.  Something that did not like being disturbed.


It may appear small, but that centipede is about two inches long.  And he was not pleased to be out and about.  At least, not in the sink.


Rather than dispatch him, I grabbed my camera.  And once again proved thart I need to learn how to use my closeup function.  But you get the drift from the photograph.


I thought about picking him up to release him.  Then I remembered being told that these little beauties have a venom that rivals a scorpion sting.  True?  I have no idea.  but I was not going to offer up my hand as a testing lab.


Begging his pardon, I took two dinner knives (awaiting washing) and divided him into three equal parts.  And each part started running for cover.  That is some nervous system.


Not every tale has a moral.  But this one does.


Look before touching folded items.  Many an enemy can hide within.


At least, I did not have a new hospital tale to add to the one i have interrupted.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Last week a rather large centipede managed to crawl into a glass light fixture in the kitchen. He was very long and freaky looking against the light of the bulb. I let him die with the light acting as a slow killer. He was too scary for me to attempt to remove otherwise.

Chrissy y Keith said...

eeewww, I would have done the same thing. We had a HUGE one crawling for its life along the tile in our pool. After I drown him I left his nearly 8 inch body on the pool deck to see if any of the birds might want him as a tastey treat. He was there for 2 days before I pitched him over the fence.

Todd said...

Another tip...
ALWAY leave the toilet seat down.

You have no idea what might crawl on the underside while you are not there.

Or else, when you take you regal position upon that throne, you may get a big surprise.

Todd

Anonymous said...

Death by the slow cooking of incandescent light sounds rather horrible. A bit like some poor bloke rendered to a foreign jail, left to live out his days under the incessant light of his cell.

There is something worse than that however. A friend had a sewer rat come up into basement toilet. Her guest heard a noise in the device before using and took a careful peek inside, only discover the rodent's little red eyes staring back.

My guest and her friend had a very frenzied discussion about what to do. Flushing it down seemed useless.

But they fell back on WWI chemical warfare, and with the help of a funnel and tube, flooded the toilet pool with straight clorox.

There was great thrashing, then silence.

This poor rat was one of the later victims of poison gas, chlorine.

ANM

Leslie Harris said...

I haven't seen any centipedes around here in awhile, BUT I did kill a scorpion and 2 black widow spiders this week! :P

How's the ankle?

Steve Cotton said...

Laurie -- Stir-fried?

Chrissy -- I have yet to see a bird eat one. But I unerstand chickens love them. You don;t happen to have any chickens around your pool, do you?

Todd -- The toilet seat and shoes are two thing that always get a good pre-use inspection.

ANM -- Historical re-enactments are far too rare.

Leslie -- We could start our own pest control testimonial business.

Islagringo said...

Having bit stung 14 times by an alacran, I am now twice careful about creepy crawlies. But I never thought about the toilet seat! Guess I will be a little more careful during those night runs from now on!

Steve Cotton said...

"Toilet" and "runs" are two words that paint an interesting picture.