Caribbean Could Benefit from Qualified Exterminator
I know that us beggars are of the sort that we shouldn't also beg to be "choosers," but sometimes the shoe fits, the meme matches and (in this case) the bugs just bite too hard. Pardon my begging booty a minute but, is it just me or could the whole island or Puerto Rico benefit significantly from the work of a qualified, competent exterminator?
I know there's a lot of support from the pro-infestation lobbyists but this gets ridiculous sometimes. The teeny-tiny ants were cute until they bit us inside-out, which is about the time we found out they're fire ants (to the dismay of my unpredictably delicious dad who easily had 200 bites visible before we pieced the jigsaw together), but I got to tell you, the mosquitoes are no better.
Patrick, the most bug-intolerant of our lot, was the most gracious of all, though even he wouldn't partake of my runaway squishing spree nor Dominic's unexpected eating spree. He tried to coddle the fire ants, thus giving aid and comfort to the enemy and that's no good.
Am I mad with madness here, or could this island not benefit from a sound dousing along the perimeter of do-not-pass chemicals?
Left - You can sing "La Cucaracha" all you like, but these roaches don't mind it a bit. I only saw this one downstairs (which is technically outside), but I come from a place where you have either spiders or tiny cockroaches. Here you have both and in bad ways with a vengeance. Here you get jumping spiders (too smart to be stomped out by the boot of an adult) and cockroaches too.... that isn't cool.
We knew we'd have to keep especially tidy here, but these varmints can hone in on a drop of inhumanly invisible fruit juice* splashed upon the floor and follow it up with a sound gross of bites on the daddy-man legs, which he isn't too pleased about. Is a lack of infestation too much for him to expect when he's otherwise clean and tidy?
Apparently, it's exactly too much to expect.
I haven't suffered the worst of it myself, being somehow embarrassingly less delicious, but our publication schedule and quality have at least been the victim of it. With literally hundreds of red, swollen (some infected) nibbles about him, Daddy-O's been distracted from our duties to say the least.
If you plan to travel to tropical climates, or are living in such places, there are a handful of suggestions I'd like to put forward:
First, keep as clean as possible. Don't drip, spill, or leave anything out that the micro-critters may wish to devour. Scour your counters, put your open chips or cookies in the fridge and always wipe up after yourself.
Next, spray yourself down with a good, name brand insect repellent, preferably including the main, active ingredient "Deet," because that's your best chemical defense.
Then, if you know you have an insect propensity but you don't want your kids to inhale the killer-chemo (not to mention yourself), instead just as you go out each day spray yourself down. You know when you'll be gone for hours, so spray all the trouble spots with a vengeance and be gone for a while. You'll kill plenty, deeter some more, and never have to hassle with the insufflation of the fumes.
And when all else fails, regardless of the cost, call in a professional exterminator. Odds are all but certain that they understand the local vermin better than you ever could, and they have access to the real poisons the likes of which you and me can just imagine and keep avoiding.
There are a ton of really great things about Puerto Rico, but the presence of bugs just doesn't make the list. At least we have these imported "tropical house lizards" to keep them a bit in check. Not just that, but for reasons even I can't understand, us junior folk take them as cute, while we insist the bugs they eat are disgusting.
It all works out for the parents so, there you go. Viva los lizards, y muerte unto the G-darn mosquitoes, no?
*What's that you're saying? Kool-Aid isn't fruit juice?
Above - This is the light downstairs, by our washing machine and suspiciously boundless play area. We accidentally left the light on and these are the countless bugs we found clammoring about the incandescense upon our return.
Above - As if the natural infestation isn't enough, Puerto Rico has more than its fair share of ants, often of the "fire" variety.... Sure, the locals may instead call them "ants de la fuego" (as I've just decided) but they're every bit as ferocious in the nibbling.
I know that us beggars are of the sort that we shouldn't also beg to be "choosers," but sometimes the shoe fits, the meme matches and (in this case) the bugs just bite too hard. Pardon my begging booty a minute but, is it just me or could the whole island or Puerto Rico benefit significantly from the work of a qualified, competent exterminator?
Left - You can sing "La Cucaracha" all you like, but these roaches don't mind it a bit. I only saw this one downstairs (which is technically outside), but I come from a place where you have either spiders or tiny cockroaches. Here you have both and in bad ways with a vengeance. Here you get jumping spiders (too smart to be stomped out by the boot of an adult) and cockroaches too.... that isn't cool.
