When I was in the fourth grade we moved to Hawaii. The day we arrived my parents immediately looked for a house to rent. After looking all day long, they rented a house on the windward side of Oahu. I remember the house had a steep hip roof and a nice front porch. By that time it was late in the evening, so we quickly had something to eat. We carried in cots to sleep on and a change of clothes, and then it was time to turn in. We were all tired after a very long day. Gentle breezes lulled me to sleep and I'm certain I dreamt of playing on the beach and swimming in warm water.
In the middle of the night we all awoke to the most blood curdling screams we'd ever heard. I knew instantly it was my mother; I envisioned intruders of the most monstrous and villainous type. The screaming was intense and we all huddled in our beds thinking the worst was yet to come. The screaming continued and I could hear my dad trying to calm my mother to no avail.
My mother kept saying "Look at them, just look at them! They're every where; there are hundreds of them; we have to leave". My mother said she was not staying in that house another night. Finally my father agreed to stay up with her the rest of the night with the lights on and they'd get their money back in the morning. After a few more screams, we heard my father explaining to my mother the roaches must have come down from the attic after the lights had gone out. In the morning my mother prevailed and we got our money back and moved somewhere else.
Since moving to Florida I've noticed folks here have a way of making something really gross sound so genteel. For instance, calling a roach, a palmetto bug. I can just hear someone saying, "It's just a lil' ol' palmetto bug". In my mind a palmetto bug is a roach and the worst thing in the world. To this day I can't stand roaches and I scream at the sight of them. I've tried to conquer my fear but it's deep seated from that learned response so long ago.
This is the closest I've ever gotten to a cockroach. Thank goodness he's on the outside screen of our house, otherwise you'd hear my screams from where you are right now. I guess I'm better than I used to be because I actually took this photo. However, he's on the outside; if he was inside, it would be a different story. Perhaps if they are on the outside they are palmetto bugs and on the inside they are roaches.
From what I can surmise from diagrams, this is an oriental cockroach about 2 inches in length. He stayed on that window screen all day long tormenting me with his presence. Apparently a cockroach can squeeze through a crack the thickness of a dime; I hope he doesn't sneak in our house in the middle of the night. Up next something more pleasant; anything has to be more pleasant than a roach or a lil' ol' palmetto bug. (All photos except the last two were borrowed to enhance this story).
I have relatives in South Carolina. Visiting there gives a whole new meaning to 'The Palmetto State'
ReplyDeleteHi Brian, thanks, the palmetto state, ugh, I thought palmettos were a type of palm tree till moving here. Ha.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah! I know these things well, no matter how clean you keep your house, they show up. I grew up in SC and we had them all the time, my mother was a screamer too :)
ReplyDeleteHi Tracey, thanks, when we went to North Carolina last year, we left a few dishes soaking in the kitchen sink, big mistake, we came home to lots of babies and not the cute kind, we had to get motels for all of them and finally we got rid of them, Ugh, I was stretching my vocal cords way too often every evening when I turned on the lights back then, gross.
ReplyDeleteIt seems everywhere a person lives, there's some kind of bug that defines it. When I was in Santa Fe the centipedes were outrageous and kept me awake more than one night. For the first time in my life, I sprayed the perimeter and never felt bad. When you have a five inch centipede crawl over your toes in the kitchen late at night, everything changes.
ReplyDeleteNow it's mosquitoes and ticks. Aaarrgh.
Hi Teresa, thanks, Gary just moved a large centipede from the driveway into the grass. Some insects do have to be dealt with unfortunately. When I lived in Hawaii I remember one night a neighbor killed a centipede that was about a foot long and about two or three inches thick, I think they said the centipedes would sting but millipedes wouldn't or maybe it was visa versa, all I know is the thing was huge. One thing I do remember that was good about Hawaii was the lizard eggs and seeing the tiny lizards hatch out of them, they were so cute.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have roaches in Utah, but just seeing your picture makes my skin crawl. I generally love all bugs and insects and spiders, but there are a few I have no tolerance for at all. Here it is the crickets - mostly the really ugly mormon crickets - that get out of hand. We always get a few when it is hot, and sometimes we have an epidemic of them if there is a drought. We were vacationing in Southern Utah when I was a little girl and were driving to a ghost town and my dad started yelling for us to roll up our windows in the 100 degree weather with no air conditioning in our old Chevelle. We all did as we were told, even though it nearly killed us. We were driving down an old road and it was literally carpeted with mormon crickets. I still remember the sound of them thunking against our car windows and the squishing sound under the tires. Ew.
ReplyDeleteHi Julia, thanks, oh boy I can related to that story, sometimes we just have to cinch our belt and endure, but it doesn't make th enduring any easier that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteI've always said the difference between a roach and a palmetto bug is whose house it's in.
ReplyDeleteHi Lori, thanks, you have me laughing a real belly laugh, not sure which house this is. Ha. Ha.
ReplyDeleteI can't say I blame your mother. I probably would have gone into shock. The post was really interesting and I loved the bit of family history you shared with us. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary
ReplyDeletebwahahahaha, I was born and raised in Hawaii and have been living on the mainland for years now. Those cockroaches in Hawaii fly too...I hated that. I don't know if you remember but back in the 70's they use to gold plate those little suckers (not really little) and people would wear them as brooches. Ick!!!
ReplyDeleteI detest roaches too, and that is exactly why I have my home professionally controlled. The price of the pest control is well worth it. I have no bugs, period!
ReplyDeleteah--- palmetto bugs! I don't even like to kill them because of the sound they make--- the crunch! :( and forgot to mention, great new layout and all on your blog.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten about gold plated bugs, but Ceci's comment reminded me! I don't mind beetles all that much, but maggots... I detest, and some caterpillars! Loved the photos of the house with the palm tree, and the one with all that sea and sand, all that warmth! We are heading towards winter here. No snow as yet, but some very cold wind and chilly nights.
ReplyDeleteI really don't like Cockroaches either! We lived in Papua New Guinea for a while and the joke there was that you could use them for skate boards they were so big!
ReplyDeleteHi Mary, thanks, I probably would have gone into shock too, now a childhood trauma still has me traumatized.
ReplyDeleteHi Ceci, thanks and welcome, I don't remember the gold plated cockroaches, but I do remember on near Waikiki Beach on main street they used to give coconuts away for free in big wooden carts and workers in the pineapple fields would stop and give you a taste of pineapple, not any more.
Hi Marguerite, thanks, I do detest them, but I detest the chemicals more so I try to use integrated pest management, roach motels and Gary squishing them.
Hi Amy, thanks, yes I let Gary do the smooshing, I couldn't get that close to a big one, I'll do it for the little ones, but not those gross big ones. ick, yuck; thanks about the blog layout.
Hi Peter, thanks, the only gold plated bugs I can think of are the Egyptian scarabs so I guess gold plated bugs have been around for some time. Catapillars are ok cause they make moths or butterflies, but maggots, that's truly gross too, Ugh. Hope your winter isn't too bad this year, it's always interesting to me to think of the other side of the world being a different season than we are, soon we will be in the tropical humidity of summer, extreme lethargy in the middle of the day.
Hi Anna, thanks, skateboards, oh my goodness, I believe it about New Guinea, tropical places grow the biggest bugs for sure. I just had a gross thought, their backs could be hollowed out and used as a serving dish, ugh the things I can think of.
ReplyDeleteLinda, I moved to Oahu in 1965 and in military quarters had some new friends over .. trying to be all elegant and grown up and right across my living room floor marched a parade of huge Hawaiian roaches. I screamed and nearly died. Having come from Western Massachusetts I had never seen a roach except once in Georgia. they used to spray to kill them and they would run to next unit and then a few months later all come back. Asthmatics like me are allergic to scent of dead roaches.
ReplyDeleteMore than anyone would ever want to hear about "palmetto bugs" lol jt
Hi Joan, thanks, what a hoot, I hope one never runs across our house when we have guests, Ugh. I guess they spread disease too. the photos show they have big hairy legs I guess that where they carry the germs. Oh and those long feelers, ugh.
ReplyDeletei somehow missed this post! why am i not surprised that you once lived in Hawaii? what a traveler you are!! l love lori's comment... really had me laughing too. moving to NC is my first experience with the pests too. it seems we are constantly spraying and then i hate to think about what the pesticides are doing to us and our cats.
ReplyDeleteHi Michele, thanks, we found that the roach motels work better than spraying and we can hide them in the cabinets and not look at them, for ants we use kitty flea spray and sprinkle it on their trail and they carry it back to the next other than that nothing, but we have a block house which really helps keep most pests out, plus the cats kill a few bugs too.
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