case closed


today i solved one of my life's most haunting mysteries.

when we first moved into this house (1997), we found, in the closet that now holds all my clothes, the creepiest looking bug i've ever seen. i freaked out, we killed it, never again did we see any other of it's type. since that day, the fear and uncomfortability i face my own home due to this horrible insect (particularly while putting on shoes that have been in closets) has immensely restricted my happiness and security. how did i know it wasn't an alien being? i'd never seen one before, and i'd never seen one since. it could have had all sorts of venom and intergalactic poison in it's fangs (if it had fangs). all kinds of bad. that awful little bug, just lurking in the crevices of my own home, the most evil that could fit in two inches of insect. just horrible.

i recently saw someone's picture of the same critter, and they had called it a "potato bug." i googled it. and sure enough, that was it. i feel so much better now. because what we really fear is the unknown, right? so this thing, this potato bug, or "Jerusalem cricket," as it is more formally known, can bite, but isn't lethal. i still don't want any in my house, but the fact is, i can finally mentally categorize this thing whose image has been haunting me for years.

wanted to share that little bit of my life with the world. that's all.

Comments

Laurel said…
I cannot tell you how much I dearly hope that we never see one of those in our room.
1/04/2009 10:31 PM
Theophilus Christmas said…
Aw, come on. You don't like Jerusalem crickets? My older brother loved bugs when he was little, so I got well acquainted these little guys. I think I have seen well over 30 in my life. My neighbors used to think that they were poisonous and would call them "baby face bugs."
1/05/2009 12:16 AM
MT said…
So glad you got that cleared up! To quote the mob song from Beauty and the Beast: "We don't like what we don't understand in fact it scares us and this monster is mysterious at least!" - Thank goodness the mystery has been stripped away!
1/05/2009 9:08 AM
Karyn said…
but it's so cute!!!

{not}
it's strange how weird things apparently come from Jerusalem...check this out:

Jerusalem Artichoke -

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/knowhow/glossary/jerusalem-artichoke/image.jpg
1/07/2009 7:52 PM
Karyn said…
hmmm... i suppose it does doesn't it.
1/22/2009 6:45 PM
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