Life in Bloom

Spring is in the air! Although the two dead dogs and the dead yak in river I saw on my bike ride this morning might beg to differ. Nonetheless, despite my own skills at killing green things, there is a little bit of bloom around my apartment these days.

The one and only bloom a year I get from this blasted thing. Best enjoy it while I can.

I love geraniums from this point of view. I don't love it when the cat bats off all their little petals.

What a trooper! I have a large pink geranium that I have to beg to bloom, and yet this clipping from it (stuck in a plastic cup of water on my kitchen window sill) is just blooming away!

In other news, there is currently a war taking place in my home. I alone face off against the enemy every day, although they seem to attack mostly at night. They sneak in through windows, cracks and doors. They wait until I am asleep and surprise attack my face (three times in two weeks now!). I am armed with courage, bravery, a can of Raid and some insect killing chalk. My mortal enemy? The earwig.

If you google them, you will find that earwigs are likely only second to the cockroach for being the most disgusting looking creature on the planet. They are nocturnal and seem to prefer my bedroom more than any other part of the house. They crawl along the ceiling or wall, fall on my bed and scare the pee out of me! (Not literally, but you get the point). Current fatalities put me slaying around fifteen per day - about half of those in my bedroom at night. And yet I seem to make no dent in their numbers. They just keep coming. The cat/second in command does occasionally use one as a soccer ball of sorts, but becomes disinterested and walks away after accidentally squishing it.

I take no prisoners and I give the fallen a meager send off - a one way trip to the vacuum cleaner bag. May their lives not be wasted, but serve as warning to the rest of the earwig population to go find another apartment to infest!