8.20.2012

August 19, 2012

White Dog came in to make sure I heard her sisters. in the bathroom. It was impossible to miss; especially since I could SEE Nuka's tail wagging a million miles a minute in addition to hearing her yips and Puff's growling. It was obvious that they were working together not fighting which gave me relief as WD and I walked down the hall and looked in.

"Holy dog!" I said squeezing past Nuka and standing behind Puff as she stood in attack mode at the outside corner of the tub. She had cornered the biggest ickiest looking roach I have seen in this country. I am not squeamish around bugs and in fact, rather appreciate them, but cockroaches are where I draw the line. We pay a monthly bug service to make sure these beasts stay far away from us so where this guy came from and how he made it to the innermost room of my house makes me nervous to think about.

He was easily 3" long and every time he tried to scamper away, Puff blocked him. I was not about to pick him up in my hand and even if I have been wearing shoes, I do not think stepping on him would have ended the incident.

I looked around frantic that he would slip past my huntress and escape to some other part of the house. The only container at reach was the drinking glass on the sink. It was an old jelly jar type glass and I figured I could sacrifice it to a greater cause. I grabbed the glass and after a few tries managed to get it over the insect. That is how I truly knew its length, he barely fit across the diameter of the tumbler...AND he was strong enough to move it! He didn't seem able to topple it at least. Puff laid on the carpet and watched intently and Nuka stood over her shoulder. The others in the White Dog Army were crowded in the hallway waiting for a chance to view the prisoner.

I was worried that one of the pups would spill the glass and the chase would be on and I wasn't about to do my usual "trap and release outside" routine. And although I wanted to just shut the door and leave it for Steve, my womanly pride just would not let me become the helpless wife. So....

Reaching under the sink into the cabinet I grabbed the rubbing alcohol (I was a girl scout, right?) and a wipe. I saturated the wipe with rubbing alcohol (think grade school science bug collection). I rummaged through the magazine rack to find the latest issue of Albuquerque Magazine which has a heavy well laminated cover and ripped off the back. I spread the wipe over the cover and slid the 2 plys to the edge of the glass.

The trick would be to lift the edge enough to slide both under the glass without giving the beast room to escape. I got the glass completely up on the cardboard and a bit of the wipe underneath but then the wipe began bunching up outside the glass. I waited a few seconds and chased the WDA from the room. Shutting the door, I put my hand under the cardboard pressing it to the lip of the glass and stepped into the bathtub (in case of escape, he would be confined was my thought though later I realized--confined with my BARE feet!) I flipped the jar upright and shoved the rest of the alcohol wipe into the glass and recovered it with the cardboard.

Followed by White Ones, we carried the jar out to the sunporch. I tried not look at my soon  to be victim as I turned the glass bottom up again on the cardboard and set it on the floor.  The WDA was fascinated. I weighted the top of the glass just as a precaution, called the WDA back inside and shut the door on my murderous act.

NOW I would play the helpless wife. When Steve comes home. He will have to dispose of the remains and all the evidence. I gave my hunters, in fact all of the pack, a duck jerky reward...and tried not to flinch every time I felt the air whisper against my arm or a stray bit of floof blow over my foot.

10 comments:

Brian's Home Blog said...

Oh my goodness, what a monster!!! Where's the roach motel when you need it???

Angels Amber and Max DaWeenie and Mom said...

UhOh....A monster loose in your house! Did you ask the WDA if one of them brought the visitor in and invited him to stay for dinner?

Teddy Bear said...

Ew, what a scary buggie. We've seen some big roaches before and they were not fun. We're so glad everyone is safe and sound.:)

Love,
Teddy Bear & Sierra

Random Felines said...

oh ewwwwwww...... we know mom uses alcohol to kill ticks, so we guess she should have known it would kill all bugs. that is just yucky. we have what mom calls "big hairy bugs".... if it makes you feel better, we heard mom scream from the garage this morning as one ran by her foot.....
(BTW - did you get our email?)

Sally Ann and Andy said...

Your Mommy is brave! Mommy wouldn't have quite acted as brave.
Sally Ann and Andy

Jo's World said...

Its amazing what you can do when something really nasty invades your house. You did good!

Cheers,

Jo, Stella and Zkhat

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

Great story and we loved how you told it:) Mom is pretty good about bugs, just stamps 'em out,but if it were a rodent, she would be screaming for Dad.

Woos - Phantom, Thunder, Ciara, and Lightning

Kari in Alaska said...

Big Carl hides from bugs in our house

Stop on by for a visit
Kari
http://www.dogisgodinreverse.com

Tweedles -- that's me said...

I loved your story so much.
I am terrified of bugs
love
tweedles

Suka said...

hey WDA,

Well done Puff! Furry impressive! Such a brave pup to corner such a monster insect. And your mom - barefeet in the tub with the monster?! That is pretty brave!!

After all that excitement I bet the duck jerky tasted delicious!

Suka