Roach War

****roaches. I hate them. I really, really hate them. They are a disgusting and invasive disease vector. Serenity has a thing about paooki, but I have a thing about terrakhani. Maybe it was the weather, maybe they just got a wild hair up their ***, but today those bastards launched a massive, organized infiltration of the apartment.

Occasionally we get one or two of the little buggers in our home. It is something to be expected when living on the ground floor of an old apartment complex with foliage around, and a dumpster within 50 feet. We get about one a month, which I immediately seek out, close with, and destroy by fury and clobbering combat. I usually employ a size 13 M1A2 steel toed combat boot on a 240 pound frame. The ****roaches never win that one.

Today was a massive assault. Instead of the monthly unpleasant suprise, there was close to a dozen infiltrators spotted. First, domestic-6 spotted one in the living room, and called in close spouse support on the little buggers grid coordinates. The lead boot's immpact missed, but the follow boot adjusted of the lead and nailed it. I thought it was a little early since the last one had been spotted and engaged about two weeks ago. Within the next hour, no less than three enemy troops were spotted trying to infiltrate all areas of the home base. All were engaged and killed. Things were getting tense. Another one was spotted by the kitchen area, and was terminated with extreme prejudice. Then I saw it; the hole in the defenses. A little brown carapace crawled under the back door from the rear garage area. "Damn!" I thought, "they are coming in through the motor pool!"
I went on a reconaisance patrol.
It was an ambush. two of them pounced out from under the car, trying to overwhelm me with numbers, and get into the chow hall. There were several seconds of cursing and stomping as I lit those little exoskeletons up.
"Eat boot tread, Mother****ers!" I screamed. I killed one on the concrete, the other one I had to chase down, as it made a break for the pantry.
"You can run, but you will only die tired" I said, as the little brown thing made a satisfying pop under my heel.
I turned back to the carcass on the concrete, and flipped it under the car. I left that carcass there as a warning to the others about their fate if they went any further.
I was starting to get worried. I knew that once night fell, they would have free reign to infiltrate home base under the cover of darkness.
...That, and the fact that I have to sleep sometime.
By now the enemy KIA's were mounting quickly, but I knew that time was not on our side. Neither were the numbers. I left Domestic-6 with orders to observe and report while I went for reinforcements.
I returned with Agent Raid loaded. Time for some chem warfare!
I asked for a report, and in the 15 minutes I had been gone, two enemy units were observed crossing the TAOR (Temporary Area Of Recreation) into forward operating area STUDY and MWR facility BEDROOM.

I would have to flush them out later. First I needed to secure the perimeter.
I opened the hatch to the motor pool, and another enemy combatant came racing at me. This one is brave; he scuttled right past the goo that a few minutes ago was his best friends face. I knew what to do. I fixed the tubular delivery system for accuracy, and reaching into the corners of my agent Raid gun. He raced closer, while I held a steady bead on the little vermin. Once he was about 3" from the muzzle, I sent a little jet of neurotoxic joyjuice his way. The blast of compressed air knocked him back. Then agent Raid started to take effect as he started to list while running away in a very irregular pattern. He went back under the car, and I could hear his little legs kicking out their last.
I saturated the threshold with agent Raid.
Then I started to push them back. I used the little straw to work along the baseboard. There was about a 3/4" crack inder the wall due to the shifting foundation over time. As I worked my way toward the back of the bay, I could see the little buggers come running out when they got hit. I giggled in glee as they popped out of cracks, and from behind storage bins, only to make it a few feet before they flipped onto their backs and started kicking out their last.
I drove my enemies before me like autumn leaves before the wind. It was like Genghis Khan goes Orkin™. After I had driven them out, and placed security layers at the doors, and natural terrain features, I considered getting some toothpicks out, and spiking their dead that they had left on the battlefield on them. That way I could set them up as warnings to the others. I don't care if they are just insects; they have to know what that means.
After I returned to the TAOR, I relaxed. There were still at least two loose in the home base, but I knew those ****s had nowhere to hide, and nothing to live on. It was just a matter of time before they popped their little antenaed heads out, and that would be the last time they did that.
Sure enough, about an hour later, I spot a dark smudge at the corner of the room. Enemy contact. I grab the agent Raid, and light him up. He runs about a foot before he flips onto his back. I finish him off. A little later, another tries to make a break for it. I am all over him like white on rice on a paper plate in the middle of a snowstorm. Squish.
There was a third. I didn't know it until Domestic-6 went to the head. I heard an urgent call for fire support.
The little xeno**** was perched way up high on the wall, motionless. He was probably thinking that we had not noticed him.
Big mistake.
I stayed to track the target while I sent Domestic-6 for agent Raid. She returned, and I loaded up.
Again, I decided to go with the tight sheaf, and lit him up at very close range.
This time it was fun. The bug took off laterally, making a dash along the wall near the ceiling for the ventilation shaft.
"He's running, and he's running..." I said, as he drew near the vent.
But he wasn't close enough, before he could get there, the poison took effect, and he tripped, falling behind the toilet.
".....and he's falling"
The little bugger kept running, this time trying to get past me out of the cramped CQB (Close Quarters- Bathroom) fight.
No dice. I hit him again with some neuron eating bug poison. He flipped onto his back as half of his body tried to right itself.
I watched him die.
I watched him die slowly.
And I grinned.
"That's what happens when you don't pay rent, ****er."

Things are quiet, now. I have neither heard nor seen any enemy activity since I chemically scorched the earth to arthropods. I think it is time to get some rest. I think I have over a dozen confirmed kills tonight. Twelve little Corrie-esque ****roaches wrapped in individuals paper towels (hey, I had to clean it up; it was nasty) tossed into the trash.
This raid stuff is supposedly good for 6 months.
We will see.
I have plenty more where that came from.
 
Remind me of when a wasp is around - I brandish the fly spray in front and deliver a double tap, the first shot at maximum range, and the second closer when the enemy is incapable of retaliating.

Craneflies, on the other hand get my favourite weapon - it's a plastic model of a 5 1/4" floppy as a flyswat, and one sweep makes that cranefly fly faster than it's ever gone before (the landing isn't so hot though!).

"friendly" insects and spiders, capture and deposit outside unharmed (fortunately, no problem with poisonous wildlife here) - I wonder how far into North America those killer bees will spread.
 
LOL Janie, remind me never to get in Ur way when U in KILL INSECT mode lol :p:D:p

@LTR, crane flies, those are daddy long legs & jenny long legs arnt they?

Top this one for a painfull wasp story :eek:

Years ago in my misspent youth, i stayed in a local area called Hallglen, it was at the top of a big hill/road called the Glenbrae, one day while popping down to me mums, i was flying down the fill on a racing bike no handed (i was a showoff) it was summer so i was wearing baggy shorts, halfway down the hill a wasp somehow got up the shorts & gave me multiple stings to one of me goolies, suffice to say i swerved on the bike & crashed into a wall making me fly through a garden hedge & landing in a pianfull crumpled heap with a very sore groin area, the most embarrasing thing was having to go to the docs coz the goolie in question had become rather swollen & very painfull, the doc was female & yes U can imagine the rest as she inspected the damage, sometimes it a curse to be male lol, she just laughed it off & said it always happens, my face was red for a week :eek: :(

Since that day i have never ever wore shorts, so U all safe from my bandy legs lol :rolleyes:

BaNzI :D
 
Yes, Crane fly = daddy long legs .... what's the point of them?
There larval stage is the Leatherjacket grub, that ats the roots of the grass in your lawn - these things have NO redeeming features whatever, though a good flock of Starlings will keep the leatherjackets in check, so it's "go ahead, make my day" as I deliver the burst of acceleration with my trusty flyswat ... 10 points if they reach the opposite wall!

Shorts + wasp - me too, though not as bad - I used to be practically phobic though - I still don't like autumn wasps much - the fermenting fruit makes them mean.

PS. Have you ever been bitten by a Ladybird?
Yes, those red/black spotted things that eat greenfly..
 
Lady Bugs,as we call them, have been infesting Niagara Falls and Buffalo for a couple of years. When I lived in Buffalo there were masses of them covering my windows and doors and house sometimes. And they find their way inside. They sure do bite!
As for wasps, I got an e-mail the other day that said if you put a Bounce Fabric Softener sheet in your pocket, it will keep yellow jackets and bees away. Maybe wasps too? If you rub it on your windows and screens it is supposed to keep them away too.
 
Have never been bitten by a ladybug (ladies yes lol) :p

Ladybugs are actually a gardenerd friend as the eat afids (wrong spelling) & thise are voracious eaters of Ur greenery, i consider it good luck to see a black ladybug with red spots as they very rare :)

BaNzI :D
 
http://www.ladybird-survey.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/morladypics.htm

The Melanic form (black with red spots), according to one book is a mutation/variation - but while melanic moths were a mutation that has better concealment in areas blackend by pollution, the pattern of the laydybird is a warning, since they can exude a repellent substance when threatened.

The commonest UK ones are the 2 spot and the larger 7 spot which bites worse and more often - like a hot needle.

The larvae eat more aphids than the adults, so if you see them on a plant, hold off on the chemicals!
http://www.bugguide.net/node/view/910
http://www.bugguide.net/node/view/911 - gotcha! - you can just see the wings of the aphid it's eating - these things do nothing but march around the plant eating aphids.
 
the worst thing that can happen 2 someone is that when that a person sleeps with mouth open,an insect may fall inside if he/she 's facing the ceiling and .....
 
Top