An open letter to all you bug squishers

[bjorn_skurj]

BEASTSBeasts in their major freedom

Slumber in peace tonight. The gull on his ledge

Dreams in the guts of himself the moon-plucked waves below,

And the sunfish leans on a stone, slept

By the lyric water,

 

In which the spotless feet

Of deer make dulcet splashes, and to which

The ripped mouse, safe in the owl’s talon, cries

Concordance. Here there is no such harm

And no such darkness

 

As the selfsame moon observes

Where, warped in window-glass, it sponsors now

The werewolf’s painful change. Turning his head away

On the sweaty bolster, he tries to remember

The mood of manhood,

 

But lies at last, as always,

Letting it happen, the fierce fur soft to his face,

Hearing with sharper ears the wind’s exciting minors,

The leaves’ panic, and the degradation

Of the heavy streams.

 

Meantime, at high windows

Far from thicket and pad-fall, suitors of excellence

Sigh and turn from their work to construe again the painful

Beauty of heaven, the lucid moon

And the risen hunter,

 

Making such dreams for men

As told will break their hearts as always, bringing

Monsters into the city, crows on the public statues,

Navies fed to the fish in the dark

Unbridled waters.

 

- RICHARD WILBUR

 

 

[Good Old Neon]

For some reason...this response has bothered me for about three weeks.

 

As someone how IDOLIZES a person who lost the battle with depression, I figured you might have a bit more insight to my "Ziggy inspired, dear diary posts."

 

It's a battle every day. And, I've been winning it for about five years. But I can't always guarantee to myself that I will win.

 

I find the anonymity of this place a comfortable place to let the black dog loose.

 

I will probably delete this post. But part of my battle gives root to my need for being understood.

 

Hey Crow - I tried to send you a pm, but I received a message stating that you cannot use the messaging system, or something to that effect. Is there any other way to reach you?

[M. (hristine]

I really was joking about the "twins" thing you realize...to be all Britney Spears (sorry)"I'm not (quite) that innocent". And I think more people would go to parades if....oh never mind...

And I was just messin' witchoo. Plus I wanted to type luna lovers.

 

And...well yes.

[embiggen]

spiders are good because they eat other bugs. I have no beef with most insects except mosquitoes and tics. they can go to hell.

 

in other news, I saw two flies fucking in a restaurant bathroom the other day. fascinating!

[ih8music]

[Good Old Neon]

removed by request (has nothing to do with the moderators)

[Calexico]

Other than humans, I kill all beings that enter my domain uninvited. Squirrels and mice included.

 

 

Word. They enter, they die. I love hitting flies with one of my flip flops. Federer-esque smash and they are history. I actually did this to a HUGE spider that was out by my garage door yesterday and he hit the wall and totally exploded.

[Good Old Neon]

I love hitting flies with one of my flip flops. Federer-esque smash and they are history. I actually did this to a HUGE spider that was out by my garage door yesterday and he hit the wall and totally exploded.

 

So, your liberal stance on immigration and the porousness of well-defined borders does not exactly extend to other forms of life, then?

 

You know, you’re this >

 

Word. They enter, they die.

 

Perhaps we should adopt this as our official policy towards foreigners?

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

He's not a foreigner, goober.

[Good Old Neon]

He's not a foreigner, goober.

 

Not anymore, but he was, and he’s lucky we didn’t squish him against the concourse glass while we still had the chance.

[yermom]

I doused this beyotch and her big ass egg sac in gasoline earlier this week. I felt bad about it (I always do) but then I remembered I'm a shameless godless whore with a spot reserved for me in hell already and decided the evil deed hadn't cost me much.

 

A little searching leads me to believe she's a rabid wolf spider. Now that I know these aren't really threatening, I'll not off them in the future, but whenever I come across a creepy crawly I'm not sure of, I usually just kill first and Google questions later.

 

 

 

 

[M. (hristine]

In my garage is an old shop with many drawers. I was looking for something, opening them systematically. I began to hear thrumming coming from inside one of the drawers. I opened it to find a giant wolf spider beside the carcass of a Carolina wren. The spider was drumming it's front legs to warn me away. I backed slowly out of the garage.

 

A spider mommy covered in babies on Cloudygirl's house last summer:

 

[Wendy]

My kitchen door has a window in it. The door leads out to the back yard, and my elderly (17-year-old!) cat asks to be let in, let out, let in, let out, dozens of times per day. I oblige, since I work at home, and I'm pretty crazy about that old cat. So when a standard house spider set up making a web in the door's window in early June, and keeps catching a multitude of bugs that get in during each of these cat in&out episodes, I've kept her all summer as my pet, and she has earned her keep.*

 

She has laid many egg sacs, and I have enjoyed watching each "batch" hatch and watched the teeny tiny spiders eventually head out to ... ? somewhere, I don't know. I think most of them end up outside. But I'm wondering how long she might live? She has not laid an egg sac in a few weeks, so I wonder if she's too old now? I will miss her when she goes.

 

 

 

 

*Although, once I worried that she hadn't eaten a moth in a while, and so I left the door open to bring in some bugs for her!

 

 

Update! She laid another batch of babies today!

Edited September 24, 2009 by Wendy

[augurus]

My skin is highly sensitive to the sawing from bugs. So yes, I will kill them so that they will not make me feel ill. I have partial prejudice because I don't want to suffer.

 

It's sort of like defending yourself by preemptively putting an almost dead organism into your body so you don't have to suffer and or possibly die from those effects.

 

You can choose not to kill bugs, but you don't get to judge those that do.

 

And if you do, then stop flame-baiting.

[Guest Jules]

Word. They enter, they die.

 

Perhaps we should adopt this as our official policy towards foreigners?

 

Fuck no. I need employees.

[NightOfJoy]

In my garage is an old shop with many drawers. I was looking for something, opening them systematically. I began to hear thrumming coming from inside one of the drawers. I opened it to find a giant wolf spider beside the carcass of a Carolina wren. The spider was drumming it's front legs to warn me away. I backed slowly out of the garage.

 

 

Holy Jesus, where in the Amazon jungle do you live??

[MunkyKayse]

My kitchen door has a window in it. The door leads out to the back yard, and my elderly (17-year-old!) cat asks to be let in, let out, let in, let out, dozens of times per day. I oblige, since I work at home, and I'm pretty crazy about that old cat. So when a standard house spider set up making a web in the door's window in early June, and keeps catching a multitude of bugs that get in during each of these cat in&out episodes, I've kept her all summer as my pet, and she has earned her keep.*

 

That's crazy. You sound like my sorta person. I'm all for spiders setting up shop out on my patio. They're not my favorite creatures on the planet, but they serve a purpose like everything else so I give them their space. Spiders that make their way indoors get gently escorted outdoors with my handy spider-catcher jar. And I figure if anyone should be an arachnophobe, it's me. I've been bitten by a spider hanging out in a garden glove, and nearly swallowed a daddy long leg that made his way into my coffee mug.

 

Bees and wasps, on the other hand, scare the crap outta me. Cause those things fly.

[M. (hristine]

Holy Jesus, where in the Amazon jungle do you live??

I live in Kansas City. Just north of the Ozark streams and mountains.

 

This part of the world is womb to a vast array of life forms. The earth, streams and woods are home to more creatures than I have ever encountered in my travels to other wild places. I remember canoeing a shallow part of a spring fed stream and seeing hundreds of fish of every kind swimming beneath us.

 

Plus it feels sometimes that I live a sort of magical life where in I get to see stuff other folks don't ordinarily get to.

 

(While I have pondered the possibilities, I honestly don't know how the bird got into that drawer.)

[lamradio]

I live in Kansas City. Just north of the Ozark streams and mountains.

 

This part of the world is womb to a vast array of life forms. The earth, streams and woods are home to more creatures than I have ever encountered in my travels to other wild places. I remember canoeing a shallow part of a spring fed stream and seeing hundreds of fish of every kind swimming beneath us.

 

Plus it feels sometimes that I live a sort of magical life where in I get to see stuff other folks don't ordinarily get to.

 

Hey, I was born in Kansas City! Ahh.. Lake of the Ozarks... good times... good times..

[M. (hristine]

Hey, I was born in Kansas City! Ahh.. Lake of the Ozarks... good times... good times..

You're talking about an entirely different kind of wildlife.

[lamradio]

You're talking about an entirely different kind of wildlife.

 

I am indeed...

 

[Calexico]

The spider was drumming it's front legs to warn me away. I backed slowly out of the garage.

 

 

 

And you didn't return with a flamethrower? Holy shite....I would have burned down the garage to get that thing outta there!

 

Also, why do you have an old shop in your garage? Do you also possess and old shopkeeper?

 

Not anymore, but he was, and he’s lucky we didn’t squish him against the concourse glass while we still had the chance.

 

Fancy talk hiding behind your liberal, pinko stance!

[Wendy]

That's crazy. You sound like my sorta person. I'm all for spiders setting up shop out on my patio. They're not my favorite creatures on the planet, but they serve a purpose like everything else so I give them their space. Spiders that make their way indoors get gently escorted outdoors with my handy spider-catcher jar. And I figure if anyone should be an arachnophobe, it's me. I've been bitten by a spider hanging out in a garden glove, and nearly swallowed a daddy long leg that made his way into my coffee mug.

 

Bees and wasps, on the other hand, scare the crap outta me. Cause those things fly.

Oh, don't get me wrong - I've certainly gotten good use out of my "bug vacuum" over the years. And I get those silverfish now and then, and those suckers are smashed ASAP. I do NOT like those things! Flies? Flyswatter.

 

And full disclosure about my pet spider: I googled her species to be sure she wasn't a biter, and she is a harmless and unaggressive common house spider. So that's when I decided she could stay, because she was serving a purpose and would not bite me.

[Guest Speed Racer]

because she was serving a purpose and would not bite me.

 

Generally speaking, that sums up my criteria for all of my houseguests and roommates.

 

I haven't killed a bug since this thread was started. I would like to think the bug-friendly among you have influenced me, but in reality I think that Gertrude, my friendly tabby houseguest (that actually does bite me from time to time) is serving her purpose as friendly resident exterminator.

[kidsmoke]

 

(While I have pondered the possibilities, I honestly don't know how the bird got into that drawer.)

 

Clearly, the spider dragged it in there to finish it off.