. . . has just happened!
Long-time readers and friends will be aware of my fear, nay, my total terror of cockroaches. It is as irrational as it is absolute. Luckily (so to speak) there are usually only a couple of sightings a year at casa az, the last one being just over a month ago, before Nog went to work in Alicante. In fact, just last night I was thinking that I hoped one wouldn’t show up before he gets home next Sunday because I didn’t know how I’d deal with it. Well, now I know . . .
It had already been a very strange night. As usual I’d gone to bed around midnight and expected I would read myself to sleep before long. But around 2.30 I was still awake so I decided to go and bring the laptop to bed and hang around on the internet for awhile. About an hour and a half later, still wide awake, I decided – WTF – and took a mild tranquilizer. Then I turned off the light, cuddled up with Azar and tried falling asleep. I lay there for another hour or so, tossing and turning, and was just about to drift off to sleep when suddenly – are you ready? – I felt something scuttle over my hair!!!!!
In a split second I was sitting bolt upright in bed and had hit the overhead light switch. And there it was! Just kinda hanging out on my pillow!!! I grabbed the nearest weapon in sight – my book – and then paused because I didn’t want cockroach guts splattered all over the bed. But then the fucker started to make a run for it so I swiped at it with my book – missed – and then the damned thing disappeared.
I sat there on the bed frozen with fear. I knew I couldn’t stay (let alone sleep) in an apartment with a two-inch mother of a roach on the loose. But then Azar got all perky and scampered into the bathroom and I knew it had to be in there. Fighting back my panic I put on some old sandals and inched my way into the bathroom. It was there alright and my buddy Azar had flipped it on its back (yay!), so I went aaarrgh! and stamped it to smithereens. Then I got a wad of papertowels to pick up the corpse and flushed it down the toilet. After that I disinfected both the floor and the sole of my sandal and tried lying down in my bed again (after switching pillows, natch).
No. Way. I mean okay, I do realise that my worst nightmare is not likely to happen again on the same night (or even ever again) but it’s like I’m suffering from post-gaaaaa heebie-jeebies. And so here it is, 7 o’clock in the morning, and I still haven’t slept a wink. Every nerve ending is tingling, my skin is all creepy-crawly and I’m jumping at every sound or movement (again irrational since cockroaches don’t make any sound).
But I really do need some sleep, especially with chemo again tomorrow. I’ve made up the sofa bed and will try lying down there in a few minutes. Something tells me that I’m going to end up sleeping in the livingroom until Nog comes home and can make sure there are no more monsters under the bed. 😦
[photo by Catherine Chalmers ]
casa azahar 
YIKES! I had that happen once (with a baby cockroach) and I was able to get back to sleep – after getting up, having a hot chocolate and spending an hour on the internet! Buff read this and said “I know how she feels! I feel exactly the same with spiders.”
Good luck with the chemo, hope the aftereffects are a little easier this time.
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Not much luck sleeping, I’m afraid. Just over an hour. I reckon I’ll be taking a long siesta later on … on the sofa bed!
I’ve been thinking. I mean, what are the odds? It’s not like the place is crawling with the things. As I said, I maybe see one or two a year. And yet, on my pillow?? My head??? I have never even seen one on the furniture before and this fucker not only ended up in my bed but in my hair! *shudder*
Of course, now I’m worried that there might be a nest under the bed. The one I squished last night seemed extra juicy and might have been full of eggs. (gaaaaa!)
A huge spider would have probably had a similar effect (I don’t mind small ones), but I wouldn’t be worrying later on that there might be more about.
I’m still totally freaked out about this!
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Ouch!
I’m not sure if I’ve encountered a live cockroach in the wild, but big bugs are annoying. Spiders – no no!
When I was a kid and we spent the weekends at Auntie’s summer house it did occur there were spiders in the sofa beds we slept in. They were not poisonous or that big – but anyhow…
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I’d say “don’t worry, he was more frightened of you than you were of him” but I don’t think that’s true of roaches. 😦
Have you seen Wall-E yet? There’s an adorable cockroach ‘character’ in it…And no, in this case, those two words are NOT mutually exclusive. (He’s animated, it’s okay!)
I visited Hong Kong a few years back. I found myself a guesthouse, and was shown my room. All was well until the ginormous WINGED cockroach soared around the room! I went to the front desk, panicked. The guy followed me back to the room, saw what I was pointing at, and just walked away, laughing! Damn. I did manage to corner it and kill in in the bathroom, but OMG!! Next time I go to HK, I’ll bring a little saddle, save on transit fares by riding one of those things around!
You shall have calmer nerves soon… 🙂
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Oh yeah? Calmer nerves, eh? Don’t think so. Awhile ago I stripped the bed (am boiling the sheets as we speak) and saw a bit of baseboard that has come away from the wall – a perfect roachy nesting place! Or else they might have got into one of the plastic storage boxes under the bed.
I mean, could it really be that random? That some rogue cucaracha somehow made its way into MY bed of all places and got caught in my hair? I guess it’s possible, but it just seems so weird that I’m looking for an explanation.
Seriously, I cannot go there. I can barely stand going into the bedroom to get my clothes out of the closet.
It’s so sad – I love my bedroom! 😦
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To Lori: those winged cockroaches are hideous, eh? We used to get them in the bathroom and the kitchen all the time, no matter how clean you kept it. Fact of life in Hong Kong, also known as World’s Biggest Roach Buffet.
Az: you weren’t nibbling cookies in bed now, were you? Or using a fruit-scented shampoo? Just wondering what a roach is doing where food usually isn’t…
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Well yeah! That’s why I’m looking for another explanation. It just doesn’t make sense that it showed up THERE of all places.
These ones fly too, ian. *shudder*
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Well, sleep tight, az.
Don’t let the….ummm… well, you know. 🙂
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I’m sorry, az. That’s just not right. I’m glad you had valiant Azar there with you to chase the nasty bugger down.
Are there “roach motel” type things you can buy?
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AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
I have no further comment.
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Roach Motels? NO no no no no. They treat them with attractants to entice in the “guests”…but they can bring them in where they might not have come in the first place.
If you can get some boric acid (it’s a powder, sold in nurserys) and sprinkle it carefully at that baseboard, that should work on them. It dehydrates them, and they also will carry it back “home”. Use it *very sparingly* if the cats can easily get at the spot.
Flying … oh my!!!! I avoid the state of Texas, just due to the Sherman Tank sized 6-legged wildlife, that are *everywhere* in Houston. Gaaaaaahhhhhh, indeed!
Odd that the bugger showed up just after you were happy you hadn’t seen any. maybe you should just tell yourself that if they show up, you know you can handle them — because you already did! Good luck with the coming week, az. {{{{hugs}}}}
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Arrrgghhh, that’s my worst nightmare, too… and the worst of it is that people ALWAYS want to tell you even more horrifying stories of cockroaches as soon as you mention them, but I won’t!
Good for Azar and his Mistress of Mayhem 😉
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Poor az! What a horrid experience.
I consider myself to be well adjusted and able to cohabit well with many creatures, but I draw the line at cockroaches! I hate them. I’m not sure what it is about that particular insect that engenders such a universal Gaaaah! response in everybody, but it does seem to.
However, in defense of spiders, I have to say that the more spiders you allow to live in inconspicuous corners of your abode the less cockroaches you will have. Spiders are predators, after all, and they DO eat cockroaches. And crickets and ants and mosquitoes.
We were managing an apartment complex for my sister lo these many years ago and in the course of it we needed to replace all the outside doors in the complex. Interestingly enough, when we pulled the doors off the units, we would find one of two things living behind the trim in the interstices of the wall. There would be either a colony of cockroaches, or a very healthy and fat brown recluse spider. We deduced from this situation that the brown recluse eats cockroaches.
Even with that knowledge, I still don’t allow brown recluses to live in my home. However, last night when we got home there was a male wolf spider hunting in the kitchen, and I left him alone to do his work, bless him.
Hope the chemo goes well.
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Azar thinks they’re toys, alejna. He’d play with them for hours if I let him. When Lua was still with us she would kill them in a flash – quite the huntress she was.
Yeah, that about sums it up, Rain.
“you know you can handle them — because you already did!”
Yes, and looking back, I’m really quite proud of myself, SC. Though I don’t know what I would have done if Azar hadn’t found it and left it ‘patas arriba’ for easy killing. I’d probably still be sitting on the bed.
Thanks truce. I’ve finally stopped twitching and shuddering so I can do without any more gross cockroach stories. 🙂
I’ve never seen these spiders you mentioned, hmh. They sound, um, big.
It felt weird sleeping in the living room last night. To be on the extra safe side I pulled the sofa bed out about a metre away from the wall and kept the lamp on all night. The cats were a bit confused at first but soon came to sleep with me. It was extra sweet because when I was in hospital Nog said the cats still slept in my bed and wouldn’t sleep with him, but they switched beds for me no problem. My little darlings.
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Actually, the brown recluse is an exclusively North American treat. They are not particularly big, they have a very effective bite, effective enough that they can cause terrible ulcers on people who are so unfortunate to upset them. Usually this happens when the person gets into bed and lies on them, or puts on a shirt that the spider has decided to sleep in. This is why they are unwelcome in my home, unlike most arachnids. You rarely see them, they like to live in dark quiet places, which is where they got the “recluse” part of their name.
I’m glad the cats could figure out the new sleeping arrangment! Aren’t they wonderful creatures?
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Well I hope it’s not too cold a post because I’ve been perusing Hong Kong blogs with a friend from China over for dinner this evening and we found this roachy reference for you:
http://www.bigwhiteguy.com/archive/2008/07/cockroach_ear/
Enjoy… if you can
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Update: not sure if it’s good news or bad news.
Nog just finished doing a thorough roach check in the bedroom, including inspecting the underside of the bed and the storage boxes underneath it. And there was one disturbing aspect …
The underside of the bed platform is covered with fabric, much like sofas and upholstered chairs are. And a part of this fabric – near the head of the bed – has a huge slash in it, thanks to Azar, who loves lying on his back and sharpening his claws there. Grrrr. The thing is, the inside of this platform could easily resemble a dark wall or ceiling space, making it an ideal nesting place for you-know-whats. Yikes!
Anyhow, Nog has been very patient with me. He thinks it was a random occurrence and it’s unlikely anything is breeding inside the bed platform. But of course my imagination has run a bit wild with all of this … and it is possible that there’s a nest in there (since what are the chances that a roach would end up on my head??? ). For the moment we’ve taped over the slash in the material and have switched the platform around so the slash is now at the foot of the bed.
But I’m not sure how easily I’ll sleep tonight …
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