I don’t like killing things. I’m more apt to capture a spider and release it outdoors than I am to kill it and I’ve been known to let ladybugs stay in the house all winter rather than putting them outside to freeze. Naturally, then, when I saw the first teeny, tiny critter flitting about the bathroom a few weeks ago, I was content to leave it be. Little did I realize that it would soon be joined by millions more! They’re very tiny so we haven’t been able to examine them closely but by the way they move, I suspect that they’re some kind of moth. We’re not sure if they’re hatching out someplace or finding their way in from outdoors. Either way, I’m not willing to share my space with them and have taken to squashing them with a vengeance! At first I did it daintily with a tissue making sure they didn’t leave their mini guts streaked across my bathroom wall but I’m past that now too. I squish them with bare hands if need be! Fortunately, they seem to like the dampness of the bathroom and most don’t venture out into the rest of the apartment. A few have been getting braver lately though and it will be much harder to control their population if they continue to spread. There seem to be more of them when it’s rainy which doesn’t bode well for the future as the real rainy season and the hot, humid summer are still out in front of us.

As if an infestation of critters hopping about the bathroom walls wasn’t enough, I discovered ants in the kitchen this morning! Not just one or two; about a bazillion! They’re little tiny ones, just like the ones that reside in my flower beds back home. Again, I don’t know where they came from but when I discovered them, they were busy exploring one corner of the room and hadn’t ventured further yet. I didn’t know what to do so I grabbed the can of roach spray that hadn’t been put to use yet and decided to see what it would do to ants. If it’s as effective on cockroaches as it is on ants, we have nothing to worry about! They shriveled and died almost instantly and I simply vacuumed up the carcasses! Amazingly, I also discovered that the roach spray has no smell. I was expecting something really nasty. It did leave a shiny residue on the nice clean floor that Richard just washed yesterday but I’ve decided to leave that for the moment in hopes that it will discourage any stragglers from trying to claim our territory. I also checked the cupboards and was happy to discover that they hadn’t found their way in there yet.