Meet Hey-Seus

We discovered that Hey-Seus, the Praying Mantis, was over for a visit last night when we got home from getting the car washed. He did not call before coming over, so he was on his way out when we were on our way back in. Here is a great profile shot of him (his best side, he said) on our door jam. We've not yet posted about the little critters we have trying to share our space. We were afraid it might scare people away from coming to visit us. I was telling Ralph that this was nothing compared to living on the coast. We have some big spiders. Although we do not name our spiders, the odd ones are allowed to survive Ralph's aggressive Raid Spraying treatment if they can make a substantial argument as to their strategic placement for catching other bugs that may want to live with us and enter through doors and windows that don't have any screening. [Side bar: We continue to be perplexed about why there are no screens on windows in Mexico.]

We shake our shoes out before putting them on in the morning or our slippers in the evening. Ralph thought I was just being cute when I suggested this, until he found his first scorpion, a small grey one, on the stairs. We do not name the scorpions. Ralph does a series of squashing and spraying. They are half dead anyway, the weather here is getting a bit cool for them.

I've only been charged by 1 large roach. After working in a restaurant in the Rail Station in Toronto, roaches that can carry cases of beer no longer bother me, but when they charge at me from the inside of a cupboard door, and take me by surprise, that's another story. No idea where he went off to, but I've not seen him since. Missy, the cat, is not bothered at all with sharing her space. She has a few mosquito bites, and some spider web on her pretty face the other day after exploring the garden, but overall, unperturbed.

Overall, I don't think the bugs are intrusive. Ralph, on the other hand, is still adjusting...