[CAUT] Fw: AhhhHHHH!!!! BleeeEEAchCH!!!

[Barbara Richmond]

Ah, Michelle, it's a good thing you live in the north land!

Here in Illinois, I've serviced pianos that traveled from Texas and Hawaii
that had "stowaways."  I was sort of shocked by those pianos (not just the
bug carcasses, but the general mess--which I had no idea how to clean
up--someone <could> answer the question, but I'm not sure I want to
know), however, these instances prepared me for my move  to...Texas!

When we lived there, our Terminix man laughed saying we had experienced
everything that Texas had to offer.  I won't list it all (like the snake in
the pots & pans cupboard), but it included the roach that ran up my leg
when I was pregnant.  I'm surprised I didn't go into labor right then.

Speaking of cockroaches, I had a friend in Texas, with whom I discussed
various bug theories.  Of course, if you've never experienced them,
you might not really appreciate it.   Very often, we would see "wood
roaches" or "water bugs"--as they call them (water bug is not as offensive
in the polite South)--those are the big ones that come in from outside.
When a water bug would be spotted a person might be inclined to go step
on it. Oops, there's no time to dispose of it, so later when there <is> time
to do the job and one returns to the scene of the "crunching,", the bug has
disappeared.  What has happened?  After much and may I add, extremely deep
thought, my friend and I came up the following possibilities.

1.  Bug dinner (most likely when the occurrence takes place outdoors).
2.  Bug rescue teams.
3.  Bug rapture.
4.  (The most likely) Roaches could quite possibly have an extra set of
guts.  The outer set that got smooshed (or crunched) was just a ploy to
make  the human think the roach was dead.  After the human aggressor
walks off, the other set of guts has already kicked in, the roach goes
merrily on its way.

There is also the curious way that when one finds a dead roach, it is
almost  always on its back.  What is the cause of this?  During a scientific
survey--in my garage in Texas--I observed a few deaths, myself.  I can
attest that when roaches are ready to meet their maker, they do a death
flip.  Yep, with all their might, they flip over onto the back.  Perhaps
it's a better position (face-up) for meeting one's maker?

Be brave, my dear!  :-)

Barbara Richmond
now residing near Peoria, IL, where two years ago we dealt with an invasion
of earwigs.  eeew.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Michelle Stranges" <stranges at oswego.edu>
> To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 3:35 PM
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] AhhhHHHH!!!! BleeeEEAchCH!!!
>
>
>> UHhh.. too late buddy.
>> A student who I found in the theatre department came to the rescue.
>>
>> In my eyes it was after *me*.
>>
>> I'm sure he has other family members living locally.
>>
>> They'll deal.
>>
>> (And I feel they've found out and are on their way up to the shop...)
>> I *still* have the heebie jeebies.
>>
>> :(...