Posts Tagged ‘pest’

Impossumable

I'm a fainter not a fighter

One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen was a ”fainting goat”. If you havn’t seen the video, you gotta check it out (it gets really good 50 seconds in).  Either way, these chubby little goats will stiffen up and flop onto their sides as soon as they are startled. It doesn’t take much: Just swinging a bright christmas sweater around your head will send the goats into a frantic heap.

The older goats learn to lean up against something so they don’t fall over so ungracefully while others learn to hobble around on stiff  legs until they regain muscle control. But most of the goats just end up rolling around on the ground.

I don’t know WHY a goat would think that falling onto its back with 4 hoofs pointing awkwardly up at the sky would improve any situation, but that’s what they do. The whole process lasts about 10 seconds because the goats immediately get back up again. Doesn’t seem like their hearts are really in it.

Possums, on the other hand, take things to another level: They are utterly dedicated to playing dead. If a foaming mouth and complete paralysis for up to 2 hours isn’t enough, a possum will even make itself SMELL like roadkill to convince us that no amount of poking will bring on a reaction. As far as I’m concerned, the possum is probably a favorite out of all the animals that have ever hissed at me and eaten their way through my pantry.

Possums are troopers from the very beginning: A mother plops out about 20 tiny babies that all have to ‘swim’ their way through her fur and to her pouch to develop further. I’ve stayed with a family of 20 kids before. It’s NOT fun. Poor possums…stuck in a sweaty little room with all of their brothers and sisters for three months. Nooooo thank you.

Anyway, I’m pretty much writing this story because I spent two hours drawing this damn possum cartoon for someone and wanted to have a reason to use it here too.

Some more fun possum (opossum) facts:

-Possums can’t jump

-This is completely unrelated to fact one, but “apasum” (the native term for the possum) means “white”

-Possums have opposable thumbs

-Possums are way better to have around than rats

-I hate rats

-A lot of older cook books call for opossum in their recipes

opossums enjoy the occassional garbage

Pure, Undiluted, Buzzing Evil

evil-mosquito1I was lying in bed wondering how anyone could possibly fall asleep in the stifling heat. And then I heard it…

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz

My red eyes popped open, bulging out of their sockets.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I woke up and flailed around wildly.

The buzzing stopped.

The silence would have been enjoyable if it didn’t mean that a damn mosquito had landed somewhere on my body and was preparing to force its disgusting mouth through my skin for a drink.

I was furious. Nothing pisses me off more than these blood suckers flying around my head at night, waking me up like a rude neighbor and then helping themselves to a meal without even asking!

Mosquitoes have driven people insane since the beginning of time. Even the Jews and Muslims can agree on this one: The Talmud states that the Roman Emperor Titus went insane after a mosquito flew up his nose and into his brain, tormenting him with its incessant buzzing.

In Islamic legends, Nimrod had a mosquito (maybe even the same one) make its way into his skull. Nimrod was tortured by the noise and ordered his guards to hit him in the head as a means for some relief. Eventually, the request got a little old and a rambunctious guard split Nimrod’s head in half after which the mosquito flew off to go annoy someone else.

I could totally relate to these stories as I was about to knock myself out on the bed post, desperate to get some sleep. I had to destroy these damned mosquitoes to avoid injuring myself.

Throwing the sheet to the side, I stomped towards the light switch. Within seconds I was scanning my room for the greedy culprits. I was on a mission, and I wanted nothing more than to add another bloody red dot to the dozens of others that already adorned the bedroom walls.

Some people hang up moose heads and stuffed sailfish, I was satisfied with a squished mosquito.

Mosquitoes are pure evil. As if providing them with a blood meal isn’t enough, these little shits will spit up saliva full of parasites as a goodbye present before they head back to hell.

700 million people get some kind of disease caused by these pests every YEAR! Malaria, Dengue Fever and West Nile Virus are just a few of the health benefits that are associated with a mosquito bite.

There are few things I hate more than a mosquitoes, and I’m not the only one. Maybe we should focus on hating this little insect instead of each other. Maybe that’s even the reason they exist? Or maybe they are just one of nature’s sick little jokes.

Of course, it is only the female mosquito that goes around sucking blood. So, in a sense, it’s not really the mosquito that’s evil…but the babies she carries: Female mosquitoes only stray from their diet of nectar when it is time to start a family. The guys, on the other hand, are harmless.

Sure, I’ll donate a few drops of blood for a worthy cause, but raising families of mosquitoes is NOT one of them.

mosquito