Saturday, May 27, 2017

The lucky one

Last night, I lost an earring in our bedroom. So I grabbed James' super-duper, high-powered flashlight, turned it on, and shined it under my bureau. Ewwwww. Dusty! Ugh, a dust bunny, too....

From there, I swept the light beam across the floor toward James' cedar chest....

.........and.......

......oh, my.....

......time to fetch a critter container......

Using a pen, I coaxed the critter into the plastic jar, then carried the occupied jar down the hall.

"What cha got?" asked James from the couch in the living room. "A spider?"

I shook my head.

A roach?

No.

A scorpion?

Pause. 

"You've got a scorpion, don't you?!"

Sheepish grin.

"Let me see it!" James took the jar from my hand and held it up to the kitchen light for a closer look. "I'll take care of it."

"No, you won't," I retorted. "I will."

But first, we had to have a brief photo session on the back porch. Then I tossed the striped bark scorpion (Centruoides vittatus) across the fence into some grass (no one lives there). 

Later that night, James made a startling announcement from the bathroom. "There's another scorpion!" 

No way! I've lived in this house 15 years and have found less than a handful inside the whole time. Two in ONE NIGHT? Sure enough, I ducked my head past the door and saw a big scorpion, nearly flattened by James' shoe, on the tile floor. 

"We're gonna have some storms," James muttered as he flushed the unlucky one down the toilet.






5 comments:

Ann said...

My daddy always said scorpions traveled in pairs. To this day that statement haunts me because when I find one I must begin a search to find the other. Hard to sleep at night knowing one is lurking nearby!

Sheryl Smith-Rodgers said...

Really? Wow! Never heard that one before!

sl lawrence said...

HA! Ann has already entered my intended post! Just to confirm, yes, scorpions travel in mated pairs. I empathize with her; I, too, always feel creeped out when I can't find the mate! So the one in the field is a widow (or a widower!) :(

Sheryl Smith-Rodgers said...

Goodness. I've got to look into that! Never heard of scorpions pairing off like that.

James Hearn said...

Not a friend of scorpions...never will be ...

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