Tuesday, June 13, 2006

How to save a life

Sitting here, quietly working, I felt a tickle on my upper arm, right below the sleeve of my shirt. I looked down and 3 inches from my face is an insect that LOOKED LIKE THIS! (Upon further research, these "Mud-Dauber wasps" build nests with mud usually in or around homes, barns, or sheds. We have no mud here. Why are there mud wasps in my cube? WHY! WHY?) It was HUGE! At least two inches long. Okay, maybe closer to one inch long, BUT STILL! I immediately jumped and swatted it away. Of course, my cubicle mate is not here today to keep me from hyperventilating. When I jumped, I lost track of it. I was swatting at my hair and fanning my shirt in case it got underneath. I grabbed my phone and called a girl down the hall to "COME! HELP!" She darted to my rescue, but we could not find the thing anywhere. After several minutes of searching (and her thinking that I must have been seeing things), she left and I sat down to tell the internet about my near death experience. I clicked on my Blogger: Dashboard tab and immediately heard it buzzing back into my cube. I spotted it and quietly walked across to another cubicle to ask someone to kill it. The two guys across from me immediately came over to check things out and the wasp started flying all over the office! Finally it landed on the floor and one of the guys used my AED Lifesaver folder to pick it up. Screens in the office windows are not useful when attempting to rid the place of rogue insects without killing them. He made it all the way outside with the wasp on my folder. When he came back he said, "It was actually quite docile." Docile my butt! That thing tried to kill me! And now it has subsequently killed others because I can never touch that AED folder again and as they told us in Lifesaver training, "If you don't refresh, you will forget."

Do they have Mud-Dauber Wasps in Uganda?

I am so screwed.

2 Comments:

At 11:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hate to tell you, but there are LOTS of unfortunately HUGE insects all over the dear continent of Africa. Some so amazing that Jason and I felt compelled to take pictures while we were there. Just take your anti-malarials and a paper bag to hyperventilate into...

And no petting the hippos.

 
At 6:56 AM, Blogger Karyn said...

Deet will be my new best friend.

 

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