Okay, there is something you should all know about me. I am deathly afraid of bugs. Like freak out, scream, have nightmares later that night, should I encounter a bug throughout the course of my day. (Lucky Chris...)
Said nightmares usually involve me jumping out of bed in the dead of night (waking my husband in the process), before declaring that there are "bugs everywhere!" in the most terrified voice you can imagine. And all of this is sparked from simply seeing or thinking about a bug or a spider.
Case in point: Chris and I went camping for 4th of July and as we left a cute little mountain town we had stopped in to have lunch and enjoy the 4th of July parade (Chris' first!), I heard a buzz from the back seat as soon as we pulled onto the highway. I turned around, assuming a fly had gotten in when we opened the doors back in town, only to be completely freaked out by what I found.
Is this not the ugliest bug you've ever seen?! I can barely even look at the picture without cringing. I have to delete it from my phone as soon as possible. And I swear Chris reduced the scale of the bug to make me look like a sissy (there's no WAY I would ever get close enough to take a picture!), because I swear, when I turned and saw it just over my right shoulder on the back window, it was like 6" long!
Chris had no idea what it was, just that I unbuckled my seatbelt as fast as I could, slid forward in my seat (yes, at 60mph...sorry, Dad!) and screamed for him to pull over to the side of the road immediately! Along with a few choice words. Or so Chris says, I have no recollection of that. :)
As soon as we came to a stop (or close enough), I jumped out of the car and bolted to safety.
Chris came around my side of the car (he had rolled the window down, leaving the bug perched on the door), and said "huh, I wonder what kind of bug that is." Um, who cares it could be here to kill us for all we know... get rid of it! I'm not sure if I said that last bit out loud or just in my head but Chris grabbed my phone and snapped the photo above, just seconds before it flew off (yes it flies, too. even worse!).
Once we were safely back in the car, Chris pointed out that that was probably not the safest way to handle the situation and he dreaded to think what I would have done had it flown up to my seat as we were travelling at high speeds. Point taken. But it clearly would have been out of my control, whatever would have happened. :)
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{ view from Trail Ridge Road, at approximately 12,000 elevation! }
Now... what does any of this have to do with the raccoon that has taken up residence in our attic? Well, I had similar nightmares about raccoons last night. I clearly told the story way too many times yesterday as raccoons were obviously on my mind when I went to bed.
In the middle of the night, I (half) woke up, jumped out of bed, ready to karate fight the ninja raccoons that I have envisioned living in our attic. This was followed by tears (yes, I'm serious... embarassed, but serious.), and reluctance to attempt falling back to sleep.
The latest with our new house guest(s)? The people who can help us get rid of it and keep it out want $450 in order to do so. So we are considering our options and hoping we can do it ourselves. But this will require pulling down the attic ladder in an attempt to put a bright light up there that will drive them out, before we can seal off the point of entry. I know I'm not doing that job. I've had enough nightmares for one lifetime, thank you very much.
Stay tuned... I hope we can get rid of the little sucker soon! Let us know if you have any tips for us! We need all the help we can get!
On a very strange side note, our neighbor had animal control around at her house yesterday for the very same reason -- she had a raccoon in her attic. Are they attempting to take over the neighborhood? Great, I feel another nightmare coming on...
