Critters

We've never had a big roach problem here, but every once in a while I'll find a carcass the cat has picked over pinned underneath something - yoga mat, the cat's bed, a trash can. I hadn't seen a live one in months until last week, and then there was the one today.

We seal our open food packages in plastic ziploc bags to keep them fresh and the smell contained, and dirty dishes are either washed when we're done eating or go straight in the washer, and this has been effective. A couple weeks after we moved in, when I was still leaving my cat's food dish on the floor, I watched the biggest roach I had ever seen actually pick up a piece of her dry cat food and begin to carry it off before I killed it. That was disgusting.

The one in my shower when I got home today was about that size. I was pulling a wash cloth out to throw it in the laundry when I saw the thing, and being sporting, I grabbed the cat and gave her a chance at it, but she wasn't very interested and didn't like being in the shower, even with no water running. However, as soon as I put her in, the roach went for the drain, and the damn thing was so big it couldn't fit through the porous metal plate that covers it (see picture above - the quarter is to show you the size of the holes in the plate). And it was trying to squeeze through, believe me. It's little legs were scurrying but it couldn't fit more than its head through one of those holes.

Well, needless to say we won't be worrying about that particular roach anymore, but when I stomped it, there was some foul, utterly black substance that it left on the shower tiles that I don't think I'd ever seen before. And this before I ate supper. Anyway, that's my adventure for today.