D-Day for scorpions.

First thing this morning, I called a local pest-control company and told them we had a scorpion problem out here. The guy on the phone wasn't impressed-- he said "Well, there, ma'am, do you know anyone out here who doesn't?!" -- and then he laughed at his own joke.

When he didn't hear me laughing, he asked me when I would like them to "git out there to yore propt-ty." I told them "About twelve hours ago," then I was the one laughing at my joke. I didn't hear him laughing, but I know what he was thinking: "I've got me a city-girl on the line here, without a doubt."

So out they came.... two men, two trucks. And they sprayed everything to within an inch of its creeping, crawling critter-lives. Only place they didn't spray was anywhere near the chicken coop. I even brought Gatsby into the house, in a closed cat crate, and let him stay in the kitchen till they were done. The bug-guy looked at me as if I were crazy when I told him that I would "call the outside cat" so I could get him out of harm's way. All it took was for me to stand on the porch and call Gatsby and out he came from one of his hiding spots. I picked him up, put him into the crate, and carried him into the house. I could hear the bug-guy saying "Well now, look at that there." Gatsby just sat in the crate and looked around the kitchen till they were finished spraying outside.

The bug guys will be back tomorrow, with more high-powered hoses that will spray some scorpion dust-stuff underneath the house and up in the attic. With today's spraying, the bug-guy told me that when the scorpions come out tonight, they're going to be "fighting mad and nasty as all get-out." He said they'll be "stinging everything in sight, including themselves" because the spray attacks their nervous system as it kills them. He suggested we didn't walk barefoot inside or outside for the next 24 hours. (Barefoot? Outside? Did he think we moved to Texas just yesterday?)

The pest control company will be here on a regular basis from now on. Either every month, every two, or every three months. No more than three months inbetween each spraying, if we want to keep "the country critters" under control. He told me that if my scorpion-tolerance was low, then every month (to spray around the house and cottage) would be the best way to go.

The way I'm feeling today, with last night being fairly sleepless, I wouldn't have cared if he had told me he needed to be out here spraying every blessed day.

The chickens, unlike me, slept very well, and gifted us with another egg this morning. Today's egg was from Jaye (black/white hen). I know their about-to-lay-an-egg signs now: the hens get into one of the nesting boxes or one of the baskets and start to rearrange the grass and the hay. They just settle into the nest and won't come out. Half an hour later, voila! You have an egg.

The chickens are getting to know us now. They have such soft clucking noises when we're in the coop, feeding them leftovers and scraps of bread and vegetables. We had fresh corn for lunch and I gave the chickens the cobs, and they had a blast pecking at the kernels.

As my husband says.... "another day on the ranch." Cluck, cluck.