Another disgusting roach story
This morning as I was listening to the radio and waiting for my tea to steep (I let it steep a loooooong time, usually - I love it dark and probably like the tannins, which some might try to avoid...), I decided to clean the countertops. I do this every so often, but this cleaning was prompted by the appearance over the past few days of ants. Not a whole bunch, but maybe a dozen at a time, small ants, but still. So I also took the opportunity to clean out the bottom of the toaster oven. I had noticed recently a burning smell after I started some toast in it, so I figured that some crumbs had fallen on or close to the element. Well, the smell may also have been due to the *roach corpse* in the bottom of the toaster oven. Ew.
Ew.
Ew!
So after removing the body and all the other crumbs, which were probably what the roach was after in the first place, I finished my cleaning job, and now my kitchen is cleaner than it has been in months. There are still pillbugs littering the floor, mostly in the corners, but since they're harmless and keep arriving, I don't feel the need to remove them very often. I'd rather wait til they stop coming in, which should be soon, from what I remember in previous years in this house. Speaking of which, it is here that I've lived longest since moving to Austin in 2002. My first apartment I lived in 3 years and 3 months. I've lived here with A for 3.5 years now (a bit more, actually), but this isn't the longest I've lived anywhere on my own. That honor goes to my first solo apartment ever, in Worcester, MA, where I spent five years. That was a great apartment, but in general, I'm happier now than I was when I lived there. Most of my happiness during that time of my life was experienced out of the apartment, off dancing in one place or another. And I want to become better acquainted again with that dance-happiness. I've some plans in the works that might result in just that brand of joy! [Boy, what a progression - from dead roach to dancing joy!]
Still working on reading The Thorn Birds, which somehow is just a real drag for me. It's not like the language is difficult. I think maybe it's the setting/landscape in the book, which is so unappealing to me: mostly dry, barren land in Australia. Sure, one part is set in a more humid climate in some other part of Australia, and the book starts out in New Zealand, and the characters venture a bit to Europe, but most of it is not someplace I'd want to go. I have lots of other books on my next-up list... so I am anxious to be done with TTB.
I watched the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee, thanks to the DVR, over the past few days. It was held on Friday. Those kids are really cool. And the pronouncer is, too. I wondered why there was a priest (from his clothing) seated next to him. Well, he's the co-pronouncer or something like that, and he is an ordained priest in the Greek Orthodox Church. The sample sentences used in the bee are amazing and awesome and entertaining. For example: "Joe's springer spaniel was fed up with having to always take the blame for his owner's borborygmus."
It has been a good weekend. I was on call, but managed to squeeze in a wide variety of normal life activities in between working. (This included finally planting a rosemary in a small area of dirt (well, mostly rocks, but technically it's a flowerbed...) in front of the house. Will it take over? Here's hoping! :-) Now for pre-workweek rest...
Ew.
Ew!
So after removing the body and all the other crumbs, which were probably what the roach was after in the first place, I finished my cleaning job, and now my kitchen is cleaner than it has been in months. There are still pillbugs littering the floor, mostly in the corners, but since they're harmless and keep arriving, I don't feel the need to remove them very often. I'd rather wait til they stop coming in, which should be soon, from what I remember in previous years in this house. Speaking of which, it is here that I've lived longest since moving to Austin in 2002. My first apartment I lived in 3 years and 3 months. I've lived here with A for 3.5 years now (a bit more, actually), but this isn't the longest I've lived anywhere on my own. That honor goes to my first solo apartment ever, in Worcester, MA, where I spent five years. That was a great apartment, but in general, I'm happier now than I was when I lived there. Most of my happiness during that time of my life was experienced out of the apartment, off dancing in one place or another. And I want to become better acquainted again with that dance-happiness. I've some plans in the works that might result in just that brand of joy! [Boy, what a progression - from dead roach to dancing joy!]
Still working on reading The Thorn Birds, which somehow is just a real drag for me. It's not like the language is difficult. I think maybe it's the setting/landscape in the book, which is so unappealing to me: mostly dry, barren land in Australia. Sure, one part is set in a more humid climate in some other part of Australia, and the book starts out in New Zealand, and the characters venture a bit to Europe, but most of it is not someplace I'd want to go. I have lots of other books on my next-up list... so I am anxious to be done with TTB.
I watched the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee, thanks to the DVR, over the past few days. It was held on Friday. Those kids are really cool. And the pronouncer is, too. I wondered why there was a priest (from his clothing) seated next to him. Well, he's the co-pronouncer or something like that, and he is an ordained priest in the Greek Orthodox Church. The sample sentences used in the bee are amazing and awesome and entertaining. For example: "Joe's springer spaniel was fed up with having to always take the blame for his owner's borborygmus."
It has been a good weekend. I was on call, but managed to squeeze in a wide variety of normal life activities in between working. (This included finally planting a rosemary in a small area of dirt (well, mostly rocks, but technically it's a flowerbed...) in front of the house. Will it take over? Here's hoping! :-) Now for pre-workweek rest...