Keeping nature out.
I love nature better than most. I am comfortable with bugs. Moths – no problem. Spiders are ok if they don’t startle me and are reasonably small. I do hate mosquitoes, but only because they love me.
But there is a limit.
I recently I became distressed, though not surprised to find my laminator was scrunching pages as they fed through. In my experience, laminators are temperamental creatures that should be treated like a grumpy old woman. Give it plenty of warning what you would like from it, don’t rush the process, stop for frequent rests and shower it with encouragement.
But the fact that my scrunched pages were accompanied by the odd mud clog was odd even by my expectations of laminator function.
Turns out that a wasp had made a nest inside it. I don’t even know when the machine was out of a box for long enough for this to happen.
A similar nest appeared on the bathroom curtains within 5days of them being hung.
There is no waiting around in this place. Don’t move something for 2 or more days and something has moved into / under it, built something on / in it, or eaten it.
Carpets laid out in the sun to dry off…termites had built tunnels on it’s underside. IN SIX HOURS!!! Cobwebs reappear as soon as I turn my back with the duster. I have watched ants swarm over a wall, appearing within minutes from I can’t say where, only to disperse again before I can get back with witnesses. Our deck is an arachnophobes worst nightmare. A random cat appeared through the bathroom window, yowling like she was about to adopt us, only to make a hasty exit when three humans, two hounds and another feline appeared at the door to inspect the noise.
Last night the cat brought in (into the bedroom, obviously) a lizard the size of my hand. That’s just body – it’s tail had long since abandoned ship. It’s jaws were large enough to latch onto my finger, but fortunately I was wide wake at 4am when dealing with the situation. My first reaction when seeing the creature was “snake” so unsurprisingly I was wide awake and together enough to grab a towel before handling the reptile. On being picked up, it emitted a high-pitched wail / screech that would ensure I did not go back to sleep again.
So please don’t try to call after 7pm, I’ll be catching up on some beauty sleep.
The cat will be locked out, but as for the insects, there’s no telling what they will get up to…!