I step over this rather large insect. "What the $#&*," were my exact words. Followed by, I didn't know we had insects that large around here.
Waiting in line, I thought about gathering the insect carcass in the ziploc I use for coupons and taking it home to show the girls. After all, in a world where the average large insect is a hornet, this was amazing. My business transacted, I walked back out to the parking lot, gingerly scooped up the unmoving insect and went about on my errands.
Once home, I retrieved my trusty Natural History book, bestowed upon me by an old flame many many years ago, and wouldn't you know it, I found the insect while enjoying a nice bowl of piping hot pea and kale soup. See, the weather here has turned cold and soup for lunch was just the ticket.
My treasure is a Giant Water Bug, and yes I remember them from my undergrad days studying water life ecology.
So I carefully dumped the body out on to the book to get a picture and wouldn't you know it, the insect is ALIVE and revived by the heat from the car ride and house. And if you read the text in the picture, they are able flyers. Which could explain what it was doing out of water and in the middle of a parking lot.
Why are there no dull moments in my life? Still, one is not chased down by a Giant Water Bug everyday.
2 comments:
Holy crap the thing came back to life!? Wait, I need to hear the rest of the story! Well at least for me this would be just half of the story, the other half would be the bug reading my mind of what I fear most and it jumping into my hair or flying circles around the house calling my name and then crawling into the pantry never to be found again. I'm guessing you didn't have a horror show though, did you end up just letting it outside?
I also wanted to share that I got hit in the head with this mofo at the Framingham yard waste drop off. http://www.geocities.com/marushkacentral/bug.jpg
The good thing is in New England we don't see bugs of this size too often but still, creepy to know they're out there.
Michelle,
Thanks for posting. I put the "little gem" back in the ziploc bag, that had a hole it, and then placed the bag out in our sugar shack. (I wanted the girls to see it.) But later when I went to show them the bag was empty... Thankfully, we won't be in the shack until sugaring season.
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