Last Sunday was lovely
Last Sunday was lovely. We spent it at my in-laws' house, where the food is good, the neighbors are quiet, and the weather is just right.
Eventually the time came to leave--Theric had work the next day and it was long past the Big O's bed time. We loaded up and drove the hour back to the AV.
I entered the apartment first. Theric was back at the car unloading the Big O and his car seat.
All was quiet inside. How nice.
I walked to the kitchen and flipped the light on. Before entering the kitchen I scanned the floor and counters for large bugs that would requiring killing. I saw none. Good.
I entered the kitchen the find a little snack. After taking the first step towards the fridge I noticed something on the ground. Something moving. Eww! A pale, nearly transparent, little worm-type thing wriggling across the linoleum, its black head bobbing about. Yuck. I quickly grabbed some paper towel and took care of it.
As I arose and turned to drop the towel in the trash can I noticed another little worm.
Two! eww.
Then I noticed another.
and another.
and another.
I screamed.
Everywhere I turned there were these pale little wormy creatures crawling on my kitchen floor.
I screamed again.
It was very much like one of those campy 1950's horror movies where the female lead realizes she is surrounded on all sides by zombies and she can't get away. She screams and panics.
I did the same thing.
Fortunately Theric came in with the Big O.
"Theric!Theric!Theric! There's GROSS little worms all over the kitchen floor! Save me!"
By this point I was a little unhinged, nearly crying.
Theric surveyed the floor and was also grossed out but managed to keep calm.
There were at least thirty or forty all over the floor, all crawling in different directions. Theric set to work killing them.
Theric, being the excellent bug destroyer that he is, took care of all the worms and also figured out where they were coming from--our trash can.
"They're maggots, Lady Steed."
"Maggots! Why are there maggots in my kitchen?!" I wanted to throw up.
"I think a fly got in the apartment, got trapped in the trash can, then laid it's eggs in the watermelon rind."
This made sense. There was a lot of watermelon rind in the trash, and a day or two before I had managed to trap a fly in the trash can.
And now Theric had killed all visible maggots and figured out where they were coming from. I was impressed and relieved.
My hero!
He took out the trash and sprayed the trash can with Raid, creating a second great maggot exodus, and second great maggot slaughter by Theric.
We killed the last of the maggots Monday morning.
Since then watermelon rind has traveled directly to the dumpster.
And all maggots tremble whenever they hear the name Theric, Maggotslayer.
Another Sunday saved.
Eventually the time came to leave--Theric had work the next day and it was long past the Big O's bed time. We loaded up and drove the hour back to the AV.
I entered the apartment first. Theric was back at the car unloading the Big O and his car seat.
All was quiet inside. How nice.
I walked to the kitchen and flipped the light on. Before entering the kitchen I scanned the floor and counters for large bugs that would requiring killing. I saw none. Good.
I entered the kitchen the find a little snack. After taking the first step towards the fridge I noticed something on the ground. Something moving. Eww! A pale, nearly transparent, little worm-type thing wriggling across the linoleum, its black head bobbing about. Yuck. I quickly grabbed some paper towel and took care of it.
As I arose and turned to drop the towel in the trash can I noticed another little worm.
Two! eww.
Then I noticed another.
and another.
and another.
I screamed.
Everywhere I turned there were these pale little wormy creatures crawling on my kitchen floor.
I screamed again.
It was very much like one of those campy 1950's horror movies where the female lead realizes she is surrounded on all sides by zombies and she can't get away. She screams and panics.
I did the same thing.
Fortunately Theric came in with the Big O.
"Theric!Theric!Theric! There's GROSS little worms all over the kitchen floor! Save me!"
By this point I was a little unhinged, nearly crying.
Theric surveyed the floor and was also grossed out but managed to keep calm.
There were at least thirty or forty all over the floor, all crawling in different directions. Theric set to work killing them.
Theric, being the excellent bug destroyer that he is, took care of all the worms and also figured out where they were coming from--our trash can.
"They're maggots, Lady Steed."
"Maggots! Why are there maggots in my kitchen?!" I wanted to throw up.
"I think a fly got in the apartment, got trapped in the trash can, then laid it's eggs in the watermelon rind."
This made sense. There was a lot of watermelon rind in the trash, and a day or two before I had managed to trap a fly in the trash can.
And now Theric had killed all visible maggots and figured out where they were coming from. I was impressed and relieved.
My hero!
He took out the trash and sprayed the trash can with Raid, creating a second great maggot exodus, and second great maggot slaughter by Theric.
We killed the last of the maggots Monday morning.
Since then watermelon rind has traveled directly to the dumpster.
And all maggots tremble whenever they hear the name Theric, Maggotslayer.
Another Sunday saved.
posted by Lady Steed at 1:29 PM
10 Comments:
Eeeeewwww. My skin crawls just thinking of the prospect of coming home to a floor full of maggots. I'm sure glad Theric was able to destroy them all in a calm manner. Now I know to never trap a fly in a trash can without killing it first...
*shrudder*
Yuck, yuck, yuck!! I'm glad the worst thing we've had in our apartment is ants...
Did I ever tell you about the time that a rat died in the ceiling above my bathroom? No? Well, uh, my story also involves maggots, and all I can say is, you should be glad that the maggots where not falling out of light fixtures.
And sadly, there was no one to help me. No one! Gah!
Leata-
EWWWWWW!!!! That's horrible. I'm so sorry no one was there to save you!
Hi Lady Steed:
I mounted a duck when I was 10 & did a so-so job cleaning it. (Northwestern School of Taxidermy drop out # 83806AW) I proudly hung it over my bed & a few nights later, felt the wriggly mavens of corruption gnawing on my skin (they were starving, ok?). My cousin had a banty chick that we turned loose under the bed, to clean them out of the rug, she loved them.
Bill
.
Bill--
You were lucky to have banties--I imagine they were able to fit in all the nooks and crannies.
One of my formative memories is a maggot-filled hawk behind a building at the Bear Lake County Fair. In and out of the eye sockets....
Nothing like maggots to teach one about mortality.
Bill--
That is GROSS. GROSS GROSS GROSS.
I will remember this story, especially when I am considering having something taxidermied.
Well, I don't remember the particulars except my mom saying I'd better get it & the maggots out of the house immediately, Lydia saved the day with her Banty pullet. (about the size of a tennis ball). hey by the way, maggots control some kinds of septic infections by scarfing up dead tissue. I knew an old man in Bolivia who was a vetran of the Chaco war, he said they used them there. They used leaf-cutting ants for sutures. Pull the cut together & hold an ant head against it, when he bites, they pinch his big head off (poor ant) & it stays stuck, the formic acid swells the wound shut & kills bacteria. It probably requires some special species of fly to be safe. so don't put just any maggot on your open wound. (ok) the Tachnid maggot in that photo only eats butterfly larvae, but they're not considerate enough to wait for them to die first, most carnivorous maggots are more polite.
I was brushing my beloved Corgi and noticed a white creepy crawly on the brush. She had a very dense coat, so I switched to a comb and found an open sore and the maggots were busy cleaning out the wound. I took her to the Vet who said they were doing a great job, so we left them alone to finish the job. We returned two days later and the wound was on it's way to healing. At this point the maggots were removed and we finished with a triple antibiotic cream. I am a Registered Nurse and have seen maggots, raised in a sterile environment, to treat gangrene in limbs and other difficult infections. Works wonders, once you get past the ick factor.
I was brushing my beloved Corgi and noticed a white creepy crawly on the brush. She had a very dense coat, so I switched to a comb and found an open sore and the maggots were busy cleaning out the wound. I took her to the Vet who said they were doing a great job, so we left them alone to finish the job. We returned two days later and the wound was on it's way to healing. At this point the maggots were removed and we finished with a triple antibiotic cream. I am a Registered Nurse and have seen maggots, raised in a sterile environment, to treat gangrene in limbs and other difficult infections. Works wonders, once you get past the ick factor.
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