After Bath Scorpion Surprise

Corey took a long bath last night - he was reading 1776. I'm glad he's reading that book. I've read it, but that was in 2006, long enough ago that I can't remember much and should read it again myself. Anyway, after he came out and was dressed, he went in to put his towel away and asked me "Can you come in here?" I got out of bed and went into the bathroom... "My eyesight isn't that good... is that a scorpion?" My tired eyes weren't great either, and our bathroom has very dim lighting, but I looked at what he was pointing at, and there in a shadowed corner of the stairs next to our tub, blending in with the dark grout there did appear the black shape of a scorpion. "Yup." It was in the corner pretty tight and was perfectly still, so he poured water on it to see if it was real/alive and it scurried away over to another corner. I got my curling iron and tried to poke it out of the corner so I could catch it under a cup, no luck, the critter tried to sting the iron, I poured more water on it and it lost it's traction a bit, Corey returned with a water pitcher and we got it inside, then slid a thin book under the pitcher, flipped it over, and we had him trapped.

Ugh! Yick! I don't know what's the proper typed expression of me shuddering and wanting to get away from this thing... Corey's "provide and protect" manly instincts kicked in, he booted up the computer to google some information, then started to hunt, moving couches, chairs, and beds throughout the house searching for more scorpions... one site said they are always in pairs, I griped at him to be quiet and can't we do this in the morning, and shh!! don't wake up the kids! Then we found another site saying they do NOT travel in pairs. I thought that was a funny rumor for someone to start, keeping people up all night searching for #2. Corey was very excited to give the kids a lesson on evolution vs. intelligent design by citing scorpions neurotoxic poison that paralyzes it's victims. "Neurotoxins! - that seems pretty specific, doesn't happen by chance that something just happens to attack your nervous system!" (That link is a video that is really good, but long, but if evolution is something that interests you like it does Corey and I, then you'll want to watch it. I think Stephen Meyer was excellent)

He jumped out of bed pretty quickly this morning, which I thought was funny. "You have show and tell today!" I teased. Corey found the kids. "I have 5 words for you: Look at what I found..." and showed them his scorpion. Sadly, Corey had the lid shut tight so he wouldn't get out, not leaving any breathing holes for the little poisonous guy to breath, and he had enough energy for one last punch, then he curled up dead. They debated whether he was dead for over an hour, keeping thinking that they saw his tail twitch, he's probably alive, he's just tired... but he was dead.

We showed him to Shirley and asked for her local expertise on scorpions. She said they are dangerous, if one of their piglets on the farm gets stung, they fall over paralyzed and die. The big pigs don't die. The lesson continued with the kids, as we all wondered why did God made scorpions? What do you think?

This last shadowy photo shows how we both feel about these creepy crawly things... ugly with pointy stingers and claws, igh, seem like evil incarnate. Yuck! The kids have been playing practial jokes on us this evening, making small paper scorpions and putting them on the table and blowing it under my arm while I was studying - Point Kids. They put another one in the bathroom where Corey saw the scorpion, he saw it tonight and they fooled him - 2 Points Kids. We told them to watch their backs, cause we're gonna get them. This is war!!!!

UPDATE - The plot thickens... So, around 2:00 when I took Shirley home, I saw a dead scorpion out on our patio... I thought Shirley had found our dead scorpion in the water pitcher and threw it out. I washed it over onto the rocks and grass. Only I knew where it's final resting spot was. Later, talking with the kids, after they were gloating about scaring Corey and I, we said we were going to get them back with using a real dead scorpion. "I know where it is!" I boasted. Corey replied "so do I..." I was confused, how did he find it on the grass? Tonight at 10 pm, I asked him about it, he said "It's still here in the pitcher..." and it was... so where did that dead scorpion on the patio come from? I got a flashlight and showed him the OTHER scorpion on the grass... Hmm... so maybe they do travel in pairs? Right? There couldn't be even more... Oh dear... maybe we need to prepare for a scorpion invasion? Ahhhh!!!

Yick - I don't like scorpions. Even the word "scorpions" ... doesn't that just sound like something horrible? We're all keeping our shoes on in the house now. After we shake them out in the morning of course, making sure there aren't any inside.

Update 2 - Aaahhh!!!