The Critters You DON'T See!!

And you thought I lived alone!!   Today I present to you the OTHER members of my family, since you've already met the skunks, fire ants and gophers.  Meet Mrs. Black Widow.  She's a nighttime visitor who you will rarely see in the light of day.

Sometimes it's scary to think about all the critters you DON'T see!!  I spray a couple times a year for these guys, which seems to keep them at bay.  One evening I went outside with a flashlight and counted 14 having set up camp on my patio alone.  Like the in-laws you really wish would just leave, I was really wishing these guys didn't exist.  

I have to say I've never been bitten by one and they do eat a lot of nasty things like flies and mosquitos, so this one who set up housekeeping out front, was allowed to stay, only because she wasn't between me and the sprinkler control I was heading for.

Also known to haunt my garage and occasionally my patio is the potato bug.  These guys eat the roots of potato plants.  Trust me, there are NO potatoes growing in my garage, nor within 500 miles of my house.  These guys are HUGE, like two inches long, so stepping on them is out of the question.  

They might also be known as Jerusalem crickets.  I'll be honest, this scares me to death!!   I've never gotten close enough to see if this is what they look like, nor is it my intention to EVER do so!!  Now you know where all those creepy alien movies came from.  THIS is why I wish I did NOT live alone!!  Will you get rid of all these visitors would be the first line on the job application.  

It was a quick trip to the store yesterday.  Everything has become very expensive, definitely shortening my grocery list.  Again, all the meat is sky high, but I found some off brand chicken breasts for $2.99 a pound.  

One thing I was looking for was something to clean my stainless steel fridge, which was so dirty you could hardly tell it was stainless.  I've tried lots of things, but nothing has ever worked on the fingerprints.  Since this was the only thing in the store, I figured I would give it a shot.

It took me ten minutes to get the first wipe out of the can, but you know what?  It worked like a charm.  A little messy at first ... it looked kind of like soap when I rubbed it on ... but I kept rubbing a little more and just like that ..... it's a clean shiny fingerprint-free piece of stainless.  Wow ... that was easy!!  Maybe next week I'll do the stove!!

Okay, I'll admit the REAL reason I went to the grocery store is because I decided to try and get off sugar again.  It calls my name incessantly.  I had the ingredients to make the raspberry jello surprise, but forgot one very important factor.  You have to beat the cream cheese FIRST, along with the cream, BEFORE mixing in the jello.

As you may be able to see, when you do NOT do that, you get huge chunks of cream cheese.  I'm not a fan.  I ate ONE and by the time I was done, I had cream cheese stuck to every surface in my mouth.  OMG!!!  I CANNOT EAT THIS!!!  

Every time I opened the fridge door, I stared at the remaining FIVE cups.  I just couldn't!!  A trip to the store included more jello for a second batch.  

I'm happy to say it came out perfect, as I creamed the cream cheese, cream and wannabe-sugar BEFORE mixing with the jello.  Quite tasty!!

In the meantime, my search for the perfect generator continues.  I rather have my heart set on a Honda 2200i, but alas, they are few and far between.  I haven't been able to locate ANY!!  The alternative would be possibly the Firman brand that Costco sells.  It's all about the quiet when it comes to generators, and of course needs to be something I can lift into my truck.  As much as I would love solar, it's on hold for the moment.  

In the meantime, I'm off to check my game camera to see if anyone ELSE came to set up housekeeping in the middle of the night.