Me Vs. Nature: Part III - The Bugman Cometh.

Remember a while back when I mentioned a little bug problem we've been having from time to time? Well, since then we haven't really been having as much of a problem. Only some minor incursions. I take full credit for this since I've been making healthy use of our bug spray and doing some preemptive spraying every other night.

However, the next door neighbors have apparently not been so lucky, and voiced their concerns to the landlady. Plus, they have two small children so they understandably don't want cockroaches running around. The landlady, in turn, called in a pest control guy, who came over to do an inspection last week. Is it just me, or do people in general feel the overwhelming urge to make sure their homes are spotless when they know someone's coming by to do any kind of inspection? Especially if that inspection is to determine how welcome they're making the household pests feel.

Anyway, I digress. The exterminator visited and did his walkthrough. He asked how bad our roach problem was and a series of other routine questions. I answered and things went mostly uneventful. The only surprise was the one I sprung on them.

Me: Oh yeah. And that's where I saw the mouse.

Bug Guy: Mouse?
Landlady: Mouse?

Did I mention the mice? Yeah. Coincidentally, we started seeing them just a few days before Bug Guy's visit. It seems that not only did the construction going on next door bring us roaches, now mice are coming across looking for greener pastures. Outstanding! Bug Guy agreed that was the most likely scenario. He added that to his notes and left soon after that.

Two weeks later (today in fact) he was back. He sprayed what I could only assume some kind invisible roach repellent while I took the opportunity to showcase my social ineptitude by making awkward attempts at small-talk. Is it still considered proper exterminator/repair guy etiquette to follow them around as they do whatever it is they came to do and pretend you find it interesting, while making sure they don't steal anything? We don't get visitors often.

Anyhoo, after that he brought in a box of these little 'mouse motels' (that's what I'm calling them because I don't know what they're really called) and set them up in the different rooms where the vermin were sighted.

With that he said was done with the inside of the house and, as he was leaving, he told me we were not to move the mouse motels UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. He made a point of saying it twice.

Then, about two seconds after he left, I accidentally kicked one. Only a little. It barely even moved. Honest!

The final phase of the process involved him going under the house (the cockroach base of operations) to deliver a massive payload of insecticide. What he didn't mention is that when he did this, hordes of panicked cockroaches would be fleeing for safety. In fact, they'd be so freaked out, they'd most likely totally ignore the repellent he just put down and come scampering inside. I guess I probably could have figured out that last part myself.

In the end I had to spend the next hour and a half dealing with them (about eight of the little buggers in total). I was practically typing this post with my left hand while holding a can of bug spray with my right.

At least I finally learned I could multitask.