The Coffee House

[snowbear135 66]

Anyone in the DC area that's interested, our Fire Chief is going to be on DC Fox5 news at 6;30 this evening talking about being a first responder to the Pentagon on 9/11 - he was with Arlington County at the time.

 

[limr47]

I have a fear of centipedes. I hate them. I don't know if it's the legs, their wiggles as they walk, or the fact that one fell on me when I was a kid and decided to crawl across my shoulder. LOL--it's funny now. But, I hate them. I mean, I can typically gather courage to plop a cup around them and take them outside, but I'm not going to cuddle up next to one.

That said, yesterday, I went to take the dog outside the back door through the "rec room" (which is just a small room that we're using as storage). I turn the lights on and see a centipede on the ceiling a couple feet away from me. I immediately freeze, and I'm just staring at it. Okay, okay, I may have let out a yelp, which caused the dog to be on alert and my wife to call down to me. So, as I'm staring at it, my wife asks me what's up. My eyes are locked onto it, and as I start to respond to her, out of nowhere it just falls from the ceiling. Just like that. One second it's on the ceiling, the next second it's raining fear, daggers, and legs.

Thanks for making me feel like I'm alive centipede.

I sympathize. There are a few things that make me freeze like that. Heart starts racing, blood rushes to my head - total fight or flight response. Millipedes, stink bugs, palmetto bugs, and these big black gross grasshopper things that jump really far amd randomly. Don't know what they are called but I have killed two in my basement in the past year while trying to do laundry, and I hate them enough to consider starting to use a laundromat!

 

[snowbear135 66]

I sympathize. There are a few things that make me freeze like that. Heart starts racing, blood rushes to my head - total fight or flight response. Millipedes, stink bugs, palmetto bugs, and these big black gross grasshopper things that jump really far amd randomly. Don't know what they are called but I have killed two in my basement in the past year while trying to do laundry, and I hate them enough to consider starting to use a laundromat!

Take your pick.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Just went to the eye Dr. myself yesterday. I think they were trying to do me in... there for almost 3 hours and way too much sitting in and getting in and out of frankenstein's laboratory style chairs. My hip/thigh aches today (on the side affected by the stroke). It does get better and easier all the time, but earlier I fell asleep before I even finished my coffee.

My best friend took a few days off work so besides the appt. yesterday (while she ran errands and still came back to wait and wait...) we'll see what we decide to do rest of the week. Maybe go check out an area fabric/quilt shop (if it's accessible enough since it's in an older historic type bldg.). Not sure about getting out and doing any picture taking til maybe later fall.

Gnats. Those have been bad with the leaves coming down and all the rain. But I guess I'll take those over big funky bugs. Between bugginess and going from spring to fall allergies with not much break in between, I'd be just as glad to have a snowpack on the ground anytime now. Maybe a hard freeze??

 

[vintagesnaps]

Thought of this the other day - Charlie you're an artist, why not offer to dab some fabric paint over the unnecessary apostrophes on the motorcycle guys' jackets?? Bet that'd be interesting.

 

[snowbear135 66]

Thought of this the other day - Charlie you're an artist, why not offer to dab some fabric paint over the unnecessary apostrophes on the motorcycle guys' jackets?? Bet that'd be interesting.

I'll outsource that job.

 

[SquarePeg]

On my way to Cataract Surgery this morning for the 2nd eye!!! Will be so glad to have equal vision again.

Good luck on the surgery! Coloring with my 2yo grand daughter today and she picked up a crayon and said red. It was red. Thought of you. Then the next dozen crayons she picked up and said red.

I hope you got a photo of that for this week’s challenge.

 

[waday]

I have a fear of centipedes. I hate them. I don't know if it's the legs, their wiggles as they walk, or the fact that one fell on me when I was a kid and decided to crawl across my shoulder. LOL--it's funny now. But, I hate them. I mean, I can typically gather courage to plop a cup around them and take them outside, but I'm not going to cuddle up next to one.

That said, yesterday, I went to take the dog outside the back door through the "rec room" (which is just a small room that we're using as storage). I turn the lights on and see a centipede on the ceiling a couple feet away from me. I immediately freeze, and I'm just staring at it. Okay, okay, I may have let out a yelp, which caused the dog to be on alert and my wife to call down to me. So, as I'm staring at it, my wife asks me what's up. My eyes are locked onto it, and as I start to respond to her, out of nowhere it just falls from the ceiling. Just like that. One second it's on the ceiling, the next second it's raining fear, daggers, and legs.

Thanks for making me feel like I'm alive centipede.

I sympathize. There are a few things that make me freeze like that. Heart starts racing, blood rushes to my head - total fight or flight response. Millipedes, stink bugs, palmetto bugs, and these big black gross grasshopper things that jump really far amd randomly. Don't know what they are called but I have killed two in my basement in the past year while trying to do laundry, and I hate them enough to consider starting to use a laundromat!

Yuck! I'm generally ok with millipedes and stink bugs, and I can take them outside no problem with a cup. No thank you to palmetto and other random jumping bugs. Another "nope" for me is spiders. I'm generally ok with spiders, as long as they're not big and they don't jump. And, they're not near me. But if spiders start rivaling the size of quarters, I tend to freeze. The biggest I saw in my house was around the size of a half-dollar, and I had a hard time with it. I did manage to get it outside.

When I was in the field with a coworker, we were in a small building in the woods. I'm standing behind the guy, and I look over at the wall. There sat a spider, nearly matching the color of the wall, with a leg span/diameter of around 3-inches. I let out a "holy ****", and I took a picture of it (not sure if I'll be able to find it). The guy turns around, sees it, and kicks the wall with his arms flailing about. Terrifying and hilarious at the same time. I did feel bad for the spider, because it was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[snowbear135 66]

A few years ago, this was in the corner of the dining room. I took a few shots then decided to see what it was. Yep, male Black Widow. I figured it was deceased as I shot it with the speedlight at close range, several times and it didn't move. I was getting ready to just pick it up when I thought better and poked it instead. It moved.

Fly swatter fodder.

 

[Gary A.]

The male Black Widows are harmless to humans.

 

[snowbear135 66]

The male Black Widows are harmless to humans.

Yup, sure.

 

[smoke665]

On my way to Cataract Surgery this morning for the 2nd eye!!! Will be so glad to have equal vision again.

Good luck and a quick recovery. I just scheduled myself for cataract surgery in November.

The first one a week ago was a piece of cake. Because of schedule conflict I had to have this one done at a different surgery center. The surgeon was the same. A lot of the procedures at this one were different. Not sure if that was the reason but this one was more uncomfortable. Lingering headache and eye that feels scratched.

 

[limr47]

I sympathize. There are a few things that make me freeze like that. Heart starts racing, blood rushes to my head - total fight or flight response. Millipedes, stink bugs, palmetto bugs, and these big black gross grasshopper things that jump really far amd randomly. Don't know what they are called but I have killed two in my basement in the past year while trying to do laundry, and I hate them enough to consider starting to use a laundromat!

Take your pick.

View attachment 163066

Nah, if I'm going to have bad aim with something, it had better have a longer handle or some other superpower. In some cases, like the jumping grasshoppers or palmetto bugs, even anything with a handle is too close. I prefer dumping an obsene amount of bug spray from as far away as I can physically manage while still delivering a lethal dose of poison.

These things are awesome, though, for the bugs I don't mind getting a little bit closer to, mostly because they don't fly, or they're too dumb to fly:
Mosquito and Flying Insect Bug Zapper Racket

 

[CherylL1]

On my way to Cataract Surgery this morning for the 2nd eye!!! Will be so glad to have equal vision again.

Good luck on the surgery! Coloring with my 2yo grand daughter today and she picked up a crayon and said red. It was red. Thought of you. Then the next dozen crayons she picked up and said red.

I hope you got a photo of that for this week’s challenge.

Not for the challenge, but did take a few of the little one. She had pink on today. The photo session was cut short when she fell outside and skinned her knee. We were outside a total of 5 minutes. I did get some in the house before the incident.

 

[SquarePeg]

I sympathize. There are a few things that make me freeze like that. Heart starts racing, blood rushes to my head - total fight or flight response. Millipedes, stink bugs, palmetto bugs, and these big black gross grasshopper things that jump really far amd randomly. Don't know what they are called but I have killed two in my basement in the past year while trying to do laundry, and I hate them enough to consider starting to use a laundromat!

Take your pick.

View attachment 163066

Nah, if I'm going to have bad aim with something, it had better have a longer handle or some other superpower. In some cases, like the jumping grasshoppers or palmetto bugs, even anything with a handle is too close. I prefer dumping an obsene amount of bug spray from as far away as I can physically manage while still delivering a lethal dose of poison.

These things are awesome, though, for the bugs I don't mind getting a little bit closer to, mostly because they don't fly, or they're too dumb to fly:
Mosquito and Flying Insect Bug Zapper Racket

2 tips

1- aerosol hairspray will knock down anything that flies or crawls. Usually more handy than bug spray and won’t leave your house quite as toxic smelling.

2- mom zapped herself with one of those a few years ago. She said it hurt like a sob. Be careful.