Close Encounters of the Bug Kind OR How to Make a Football Player Scream Like a Girl

Though it's 37 degrees and spitting snow this week, last week was our Indian Summer and the nights were in the sixties. My big football player boys were playing night ball (since it's dark at 5:30!) when one of them spotted a "stick" that was moving on the kitchen window.

Boys and bugs go hand-in-hand so they all wanted a closer look at the "walking stick" insect, or Carousius Morosus (click here to learn more about these interesting insects.)

So, like a good mom, I got it down with an ABC workbook for closer inspection. It pulled it's front legs together and over it's head and stayed perfectly still while in stick mode. When one of the boys reached for it, it suddenly came alive.


This is how it went down..."Look, look! It's walking! Look, it wants to crawl on my hand! Ha, ha, look at me!! It's crawling up my arm!"



Now the walking stick is approaching the back of his neck. This is the last photo I was able to take because there was suddenly a shriek of pure terror. The mayhem this little walking stick caused, when it brushed the back of my little tough guy's neck, could only be equaled by spiders descending onto a cheerleaders' convention. There was a garbled "aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" that rose to a fevered pitch only heard by neighborhood dogs with lots of hopping and frantic swatting. I had to save the poor thing, those kids had lost it!

So, lesson learned, don't let strange bugs crawl up your arm unless you're man enough to take it.

Speaking of sticks, I ordered the most fantastic earrings from Nectar this week. Now, these sticks are perfectly harmless and lovely. When they brush your neck you will smile and love them even more.