The first event came the second night of my stay - ROACHES. Okay, so I saw a few earlier during the day, but Henry and I took care of them. No worries. I put roach motels on my "to buy" list and that evening settled into bed without a care in the world. I might remind you that since I'm still waiting on my furniture, I am sleeping on an air mattress on the floor. This is an important detail, I think.
So it must be about 2AM and I feel this tickle on my arm that is clearly not a cat. It is nearly pitch black in the house, but I throw my covers off and, though I am not certain, believe a roach was just thrown onto the floor. EUW. I tentatively search for my slippers and then more boldly search for the clicker light I found in the closet earlier that day (cause I have no lamps either). I find it, and sure enough, gross roach desperately seeking cover under the air mattress. EUW EUW EUW!
Well, Henry's got it covered but I still need to get rid of it so I seek out some paper towels using the clicker light as a flashlight. I find some and we get rid of the foul thing and I debate getting back into bed. I mean, GROSS. And where there is one roach, there are probably hundreds.
Still, it's 2AM and I'm tired so I carefully go through my covers and sheets and as all is clear I crawl back into bed.
Around 5AM something else is crawling in the bed, too. And then on my HAIR! GROSS GROSS GROSS!!!! Another roach! I get rid of this one, too, and naturally avoid returning to bed.
The next day, yesterday, I call my new property management and say I need an exterminator pronto. Well, pronto isn't a word they apparently know but at least one will get here at some point. So I run out and buy a load of roach motels, place them around the house, and last night I carefully go to bed.
At midnight I am awakened again. Only this time not by a creepy crawly but by a siren.
HUH? OH YEAH . . . I remember these. It's a tornado siren. SHIT, it's a tornado siren!!! I leap out of bed and realize I have no basement. Now what? In my stupor, I recall something about bathrooms so, again using that clicker light as a flashlight, I miraculously manage to gather the animals, Zoe's bed, and my phone and run into the bathroom. It is HOT and STILL and I begin to worry that I can't open the window (it has been sealed shut along with many other windows - go figure. Also on the property management's "to do" list). And then I remember something about windows exploding and I access the weather channel on my phone. Lo and behold I am to stay away from windows and this bathroom has a HUGE one. So, my clicker light and I run out to my room to gather the cat crates, wrestle the cats in, and then get the gang and Zoe's bed into my laundry room/pantry. It is in the middle of the house with no windows and a sliding door so at least I can crack the door to get some air in there. The sirens are wailing and the critters are complaining but I steadfastly stay put. I am reading the warnings and seeing the map images figuring it would be just my luck to have the house spin away a la Dorothy Gale style upon my arrival. I have never been more happy to have my cell phone with Internet. Seriously. It was a great source of information.
An hour later the crying of the sirens stopped and the weather channel canceled the warning. Whew. We could go back to sleep.
And so we did. And this morning, I woke up to another roach.
Welcome to tornado alley!
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