Philosophy on Bug- and/or Spider-Killing

[theoddz]

I have the job of "bug disposal specialist" in our home.

I'm not afraid of bugs. I used to play with them when I was a kid. Pop was (retired now) a Research Entomologist for the USDA for nearly 25 years and he studied insects that get into stored food products and how to biologically control them. He always encouraged my sister and I to be curious about all kinds of insects, as they all have some value to the Earth's ecosystem. I remember catching strange bugs, putting them in jars and carrying them to Pop to ask what they were. He always knew....still does!!! So, I guess you could say that my "interest" in bugs goes waaaaay back!! One of the times I was closest to my Pop was when I joined 4-H and, for my county fair project, collected and made a display case of various insects, spiders and beetles of many varieties. I won a blue ribbon for it, and probably wouldn't have, had Pop not helped me (quite a bit) with his contributions of such oddities as a Horned Beetle, showing me how to spread wings, stick display pins and even donating some other colorful insects from far off tropic zones. I think Mother still has that display somewhere. We were all immensely proud of that for many years.

Now, Tabs and I both were both born and raised in the South. Everyone knows that good ol' Dixie is the "land of snakes and spiders".....and roaches. Heh. Down South, there is a roach that goes by the names of "water bug" and "palmetto bug". It's huge....and can fly. Needless to say, that when one of those are found, I am sent to kill it. Tabs takes one look, screams and ----->> .

She swears that those palmetto/water bugs/roaches bite.......I say they do not. Fly?? Yes. Bite?? No.

~Theo~