A lot comes to mind when I think of India and animals. First mental picture is driving through ridiculously over-crowded streets dodging chickens, goats, dogs, cows and water buffalo. Next would be the elephant-sized rodent that lived in our roof. And I couldn’t forget the invasion of ants. Christina and I battled the illusive invasion of ants for weeks. For some time there would be nothing. Not a single ant. Then one day one of us would innocently lift a box or bag and find a whole ant colony underneath. As we would run out of the house waving our arms and shouting for Ronald to come QUICK, the ants would all disappear, just in time for everyone to start thinking Americans really are as crazy as the rumors say. I even found a whole flock of them underneath the toilet seat once.
After spending two years in India this country really doesn’t stand out in my mind as being significant for animals. Never the less they have gotten the better of me a few times over the past six months.
First time was the night my very cool room mate Nubia didn’t come home until ten o’clock. I had decided to go to bed early for some much needed beauty sleep, turned off the light and crawled up into my bed with my trusty flashlight when I started to get that ‘I’m being watched’ feeling. You know the kind you get when you have nasty, beady little eyes watching you…Mom would understand…
Well I switched the flashlight back on and caught sight of a mammoth sized spider suspended over my bed. This thing had to be at least the size of a dinner plate…maybe bigger, say twenty, thirty inches across or so. One of the man-eating kind. After I had recovered my mental facilities, I vacated the bed at a shocking rate and started waiting for Nubia to get home.
And I waited and waited, mind you…I had gone to bed early…the whole time sitting on the little chair with my arms folded across my chest and with my eye on that gigantic spider. When all of a sudden the nasty little thing did an amazing scientific feat. I kid you not when I say that this spider that nearly spanned the entire surface area of the roof folded itself up tinny-tiny, itty-bitty and crawled under a beam in the roof, right above my bed…
Well that really did it. I was just getting ready to pack my belongings and head back to the good old USA, land of the free and home of large cans of spider repellant, when Nubia finally showed up and beat it to death for me.
After spending two years in India this country really doesn’t stand out in my mind as being significant for animals. Never the less they have gotten the better of me a few times over the past six months.
First time was the night my very cool room mate Nubia didn’t come home until ten o’clock. I had decided to go to bed early for some much needed beauty sleep, turned off the light and crawled up into my bed with my trusty flashlight when I started to get that ‘I’m being watched’ feeling. You know the kind you get when you have nasty, beady little eyes watching you…Mom would understand…
Well I switched the flashlight back on and caught sight of a mammoth sized spider suspended over my bed. This thing had to be at least the size of a dinner plate…maybe bigger, say twenty, thirty inches across or so. One of the man-eating kind. After I had recovered my mental facilities, I vacated the bed at a shocking rate and started waiting for Nubia to get home.
And I waited and waited, mind you…I had gone to bed early…the whole time sitting on the little chair with my arms folded across my chest and with my eye on that gigantic spider. When all of a sudden the nasty little thing did an amazing scientific feat. I kid you not when I say that this spider that nearly spanned the entire surface area of the roof folded itself up tinny-tiny, itty-bitty and crawled under a beam in the roof, right above my bed…
Well that really did it. I was just getting ready to pack my belongings and head back to the good old USA, land of the free and home of large cans of spider repellant, when Nubia finally showed up and beat it to death for me.
5 comments:
All I can do is smile... and remember the few bugs and other multiple legged creatures I've seen on my trips in Mexico and Peru...and I smile again!
Imagine what you would have done if that spider had landed on your face while you were in bed there...
Glad to see you are still alive and weren't eaten by him... =)
Blessings!
MELISSA ANNE THRASH!!! You told me there were NO spiders down there!! If I had known there were dinner plate sized man eating spiders in Venezuela I NEVER would have said that Jenna could come spend a month with you! YOU...you...you...sneaky little critter! OK...well, the airplane ticket is already purchased, passport is in hand...so the best I can do is send along a big bottle of my handy dandy super-d-dooper spider spray! You know me, I ALWAYS have the very best when it comes to killing creepy crawly things!
Do you remember the day that you walked into our bathroom and were greeted by that overly aggressive silver dollar sized spider? He was on all 'eights' (ha ha...as opposed to all fours for a dog or cat, or all twos for a human!! ) waiting to pounce upon you...you were yelling at me to bring the 'one shot kills all spider spray'...but I was afraid to walk into the bathroom! I would walk part way in, then you would screech because the spider would try to attack, so I'd retreat back out into the hallway...finally I ended up falling into the laundry hamper, Jenna was laughing her little tail off, all the while you were getting madder at me by the moment...I think Eddie came to our rescue, or something like that! Memories...sigh!
I remember when we first moved into our house here in California...before I had Eddie fill in all of the cracks and holes that were easy entrance for the spiders to enter MY domain (BIG UGLY spiders). Well, one day I came prancing out of the bathroom and happened to look UP (I must have felt a 'presence'...beady black eyes piercing a hole through me)...there in the doorway leading to the room that I needed to go into was a great big black spider (well, after hearing YOUR spider story, I suppose this was a little itty bitty spider really) just sitting there (waiting to drop on my head if I dared to go through the doorway I'm SURE!). I stood there, trying to figure out what I could use to get that nasty creature out of my way. The spider spray was in the OTHER ROOM...the one I couldn't get to...so I finally retreated to using hairspray (from a FAR distance) until the spider finally choked and fell to the floor where I beat him to bits with the broom! Yeah, that was fun!
I hate spiders yes I do...I hate spiders and so do you!! Never fear, mommy will send help!!
I love you!
Mom
P.S. I'm not sure what is worse, a spider or a bee! I have some bee stories too. One time, when Christina was just a baby...I was at home doing 'mommy/housewife' chores when all of a sudden a BIG FAT bummbly bee went zooming past my head! YIKES...I dashed for the bedroom (where I planned to lock myself in until your dad got home...which was MANY hours from then) but ended up slipping on the carpet and landed face down! I felt like a cartoon character, trying to make my feet get a grip on the floor so that I could get up and RUN FOR MY LIFE! Well...that's what one does when a big fat bumbly bee is chasing them...right? I did finally make it to the bedroom...but I was so traumatized that i dont' even remember 'the rest of the story!'
Then there's the time that I was mowing your grandfather's lawn with his riding mower. I was wearing a black and white striped tube top that was pinched in the middle with a little black bow. Your dad came out to talk to me about something, so I stopped the mower. I guess he was feeling kind of mischevious because he pointed at my shirt and said 'BEE!!' Well, I looked down, and out of the corner of my eye I saw that little black bow...but I was thinking BEE...so I thought for sure that a black wasp had landed on my shirt...oh dear...dare I tell you that I went wild...trying to smack that 'bee' off of my shirt...and, well, ummmmm...I actually ended up smacking my shirt off of my chest...Boy am I glad that your grandfather wasn't home! MEAN CAL...mean mean mean!
Humph....
I dont' always 'loose it' when there's a bee around though. I distinctly remember my very first Sabbath at Uchee Pines. I was only 16...we sat outside the church in chairs for Sabbath School class. My siblings were all in the youth classes or younger children classes, but I had to stay with my dad and step mom...how UNFAIR! Anyway...as we sat there a bee decided to make his 'rounds'...checking out everyone in the class. He landed on Shirley's hand, she was sitting right beside me...and all I can remember is thinking that this was my first time around all of these people, and I knew good and well that if I screamed, or got up and ran I'd be a dead duck when I got home...so, as hard as it was, I actually kept my composure! Aren't you proud of me!!??
xoxoxoxo
By the way...BEAUTIFUL pictures!
I can hardly wait till you are home.
xoxoxo
Mommy
Hola Lissa. Thank you soooooo much for filling my head with such reassuring thoughts. I was perfectly content with visiting a country that had NO spiders because the deadly snakes made up for their absence. But now my dreams will haunt me for the next month as I picture your buggy-eyed monster.
Mom has some pretty good stories, mine don't quite compare, but they were pretty traumatic for me:
There was that one time when I was happily sitting on Grandpa Martin's couch relaxing. In fact I think I was talking on the phone. I glanced down just in time to see a tiny black spider sqeeeeeeeze under my waistband. That phone was shoved into someone else's ear and I was running to the back ripping my pants off quicker than ever. And I never did find that wicked thing!
My spider experience this year might have been non-existent; you coulda' fooled me! As usual I was sitting at the table in the living room doing my school work... when I felt something very heavy and eight leggish land smack on my cheek. It was a very delayed reaction of figuring out what it might be and then swatting at my face so hard I'm shocked my cheek didn't go with it! Neither mom or I ever found a spider. But every time my hair fell onto my face the rest of the day it either gave me a rush or I smacked as hard as I could. (I'm surprised I didn't wake up with bruises the next morning)
My final spider story is unforgettable. And this time it really is NON-existent.
It was April Fool's night and Jenna was very grumpy because she hadn't thought of any good jokes all day. (Mom was laying beside her in bed for a while.) Suddenly Jenna got a wickedly brilliant idea! She could barely contain her laughter. Quickly, she pulled her knees up to her chest and screeched. "WHAT?" mother gasped as she jumped out of bed. "Spider!" I croaked. I stood there and watched her scan the bed with a flashlight before I flopped onto the bed and burst out laughing. (I think mom tried to forget this story on purpose. But I'll never ever forget. No-sir-ee.
I suspect by the time I get there you'll have smashed all the sauser crawlers to bits?... GOOD!
Pooskie
Dear Melissa,
The spiders will probably only hurt you once. After that--well, there's no pain there. :) Hope that gives you some reassurance.
And Sue's story about the lawnmower--THAT was pretty funny! I can just picture it, out on the front lawn of Grandmother/father's house.
I love you, crazy girl! Can't wait to see you!
:) Ann
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