Paranoid Basket Case!

        

Hey everyone!  How do you react when something menacing invades your "safe zone" space?  More power to you if you can remain calm and take the necessary action but not get all weird-crazy.  That's typically not me!  What am I talking about, you may be asking yourself?  Well, it has to do with one of these........

Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida.  Well, that pretty much just means "creepy" in my dictionary!

We have lived in the AZ desert for 28 years now without ever having one of these inside our home.....until two nights ago!  One of these "#^%$" invaded the safe, sanctity of my master bathroom!  After summoning the "brawn" of our home (The Man) to smash and flush this little creeper, I had a very tough time going to sleep.  I shook all the bedding, repeatedly, kept shining a flashlight all over the ceilings and walls, and was most happy when the first inkling of dawn showed so that I could get up and out of what I was sure was a "scorpion infested" space!

The first thing I did was call our pest control service, Magic Pest.  We have them spray the house periodically for crickets, cockroaches, & spiders -- just those typical annoying creepy crawlies.

I was really expecting wanting them to drop all other appointments and come out immediately, but Saturday is the soonest.  Well, that means two more nights in this "scorpion-infested" home.  Okay, is one scorpion an "infestation?"  Well, if you are a paranoid basket-case like me, then, YES IT IS!

I spent the entire day, yesterday, walking around looking at the floor and then scanning all the walls and ceilings of every room in our home.  I knew we already had one of these ........

A black light flashlight makes scorpions glow in the dark, so I asked The Man if "we" could search outside and inside our home after dark and he agreed -- he was kind of freaked out, too, just a little bit!

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As if scorpions weren't frightening enough, when illuminated by ultraviolet rays from a black light, the armored arachnids glow an unnatural neon blue. UV light that hits these creepy crawlies gets converted by proteins in their exoskeletons into light of a blue hue, which is visible to the human eye.  I am so rethinking whether this "turquoise" color is still such a favorite of mine.....lol!

Well, about 9 o'clock last night, The Man, armed with the black light and me, armed with my camera, went in search of what we I was certain would be those little "creeps" crawling all over the sides and base of our home (they can get through an opening the depth of a credit card -- oh, yay!)  I'm sure it would have been comical to any neighbor who might possibly have seen us.  I could not have been following closer on The Man's heels unless he was actually carrying me on his back!  We searched the entire perimeter of the house, then the perimeter of the yard along all the block walls, then to the front, then inside the garages, and the entire interior of the house -- closets, under furniture, and inside lamps.  Do you know what we found?

NOTHING!  NADA!  ZIPPO!

Well, I did sleep a tad bit better last night.  Will we still be getting Magic Pest and their scorpion treatment on Saturday?  YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!