Crick! Crick! Croak!

The cricket is dead! The cricket is dead! Hallelujah, the cricket is dead!

Tonight while packing my lunch for work tomorrow, I reached into one of the many cupboards where the cricket has taken up residency for the last couple of weeks. I needed a bowl to put my dinner leftovers in to take to school tomorrow. The bowl I needed was sitting inside a larger bowl. When I lifted it out, I screamed. I saw a bug laying inside the larger bowl. I got a grip on myself and realized it was a cricket. It took me a moment and then I yelled, "It's the cricket!" I closed the cupboard door and grabbed a papertowel. I reached in to pick up the cricket and it moved a little. After some girly touching a bug screeching, I picked it up. It seemed not to be moving so I thought that maybe the moving in the bowl was just my hand or the air from the waving of the towel. When I looked at it inside the towel, it moved again. I screamed and folded it up in the paper towel and stuck inside a bag. As I took the bag out to the trashcan a giddy and sinister laugh escaped from my lips. Tonight, it is quiet in the Delight household. What a relief.

Crick! Crick! Cricket!

A few weeks ago I wrote of a cricket who had taken up residency in my garage. Grandma J told me it was good luck and at least it was in the garage. Well, so much for the good luck because his girlfriend (or boyfriend) has moved into my house. I've only included this picture as a reference because in all reality it is impossible to see a cricket when it is in your house. IMPOSSIBLE. I hear it, but I can't find it for the life of me. It all started with the "crick! crick! crick!" coming from, what sounded like, behind or under my fridge. That first night I moved the fridge, looked behind it, and made lots of noise hoping it would scurry out into the open. No such luck, but I thought, "I can't hear it upstairs," so I went to bed and hoped it would be gone in the morning. It was gone, the chirping sound that is. It was as quiet as can be the next day when I went downstairs to make some breakfast. Phew!

Well that next evening, and every evening since, it has continued its song to its boyfriend who is still in my garage. It moves on a daily basis though. Sometimes it sounds like its coming from under my sink, sometimes it sounds like its coming from my dishwasher, sometimes it sounds like it coming from the pots and pans cupboard. I say "it sounds like" because I have no idea where it's coming from...once I crawl into one cupboard the sound bounces somewhere else. I have found myself standing in the middle of my kitchen, with my feet planted and my arms stretched out, just listening, hoping to locate where the sound is coming from.

To make matters worse, this seems to be a two-timing cricket. It not only has the garage boyfriend cricket to talk to, it is also talking to another cricket on my back patio. The triangular pattern of "crick! crick! crick!" is driving me mad. More than once I have whined, "Stoooooppppp iiiittttt, please just stoooooopppppp iiiiittttt."

I don't know what to do and I don't know how much longer I can stand it. "How to" articles on line say that your best way to catch a cricket is to know where it is. No, duh! I need a "how to" article on how to know where it is at this point. Do exterminators deal with this kind of thing? Do they have special cricket seeing powers that I don't have? I'm going to have to research that and get this problem solved. Any ideas?

About Wild Animals, Sensitive Republicans, American Idol, and Computers

So, a little bit of this and a little bit of that...

Spring is a time of nature around my house. Every year wild animals encroach on my space and it always creeps me out a little bit. This year is no exception. A cricket has moved into my garage and is driving me crazy. "Chirp, chirp, chirp..." Ugh! I don't know if you have ever tried to locate a cricket before, but let me tell you, It. Is. Hard. I also have a dove who has nested in the beams of my front porch. Yah, I don't like the birds very much. The birds that come to live at my house tend to come to an early demise. I don't know if my roof or beams are too steep or slippery, but for some reason they fall out of their nests and die at my house. Ick, I get the willies just thinking about it. So, having this bird raising a family on my front porch makes me very nervous. I am frightened that I will walk outside to get my mail and find a bird family who has fallen to their death. Keep your fingers crossed that my new birds survive the spring.

A week or so ago, I posted about trying to refinance my house in this economy. My friend "Republican Mortgage Guy" called me up after reading my post. You see, he's a sensitive guy and felt that his name, "Republican Mortgage Guy" had a negative tone. He also wanted everyone to know that he was doing everything he could, but it was all Barack O'Boyfriend's fault. I apologized and told him that I would be sure to post that he is a nice guy and of course, much more sensitive than how I portrayed him in my post. He liked that idea and then proceeded to tell me a couple sexist jokes about ovens and refrigerators.

I just finished watching American Idol tonight. I don't know if it is just me, but I'm unimpressed with all of them. Chris is kind of blah, Danny is a good singer, but I'm not a big fan of his genre, and I really don't care for Adam (sorry Cheri) because to me everything he does sounds like he's in a musical. I don't really care who wins. Do you?

I'm in the market for a new computer. But shhhh, don't tell my current computer. It has been a wonderful computer, but it's getting older and starting to show its age. I want to get a new one so I have time to get transfered over to a new one before the old one dies. If you know me, you know this has been a process because I plan and research and plan a little more before I make a purchase like this because I'm afraid I will get it home and be unhappy with it. I know the computer I want, but I'm debating the whole Vista issue. I haven't heard many good things about Vista and what has been good has really been, "Oh, it's fine." or "My computer has some issues, but I'm not really sure if it's Vista or the computer." Vista is really the only option on most computers right now, but the computer I want does come with the option to get XP installed (which I currently use and have no problems with) on the computer and also get the Vista disks to install at a later time if I'd like. It's a more expensive option...of course it is. So I'm debating if I should get the option or not. Does anyone have an opinion on this choice? (G-ma J, I hear you on the laptop thing...have one now, the new one will be too.)