Spiders in hiding (for now, that is...)

OK... I've noticed that only 5 readers have participated in the poll so far. Again, possible confirmation that I really only have about 5 faithful readers. Well, that's better than zero, so I'll count my blessings ;-) Due to the low turnout, I'll keep the poll up a bit longer, and refrain from giving the answer until the official deadline, which is 5 p.m. tonight. It's already after 5 p.m. Malawi time, so I'm guessing that's U.S. time, though I have no idea which time zone on which "Blogger" operates. So, according to my computer clock which is still set on U.S. Eastern Standard Time (11:50 a.m.), the masses of faithful 'Malawi 'n me' readers out there who'd still like to make a guess should have a little more than 5 hours to do so. Act now, or forever lose your right to vote in the fabulous exciting mutant ninja spider poll!!!

***(BTW, I just looked again after posting and the poll tells exactly how much time is left when you log in... DUH!! Sorry for that rambling, but I'm too lazy to go back and edit my previous comments...)

So, what are you waiting for? Make a guess! How many did I see? Don't you wanna know? Aren't you curious? What I can say for now is that as of last night, the spiders seem to have gone into hiding (except for that one fat black one I saw last night, but he was a mere speck compared to our other furry friends).

According to my sources here (o.k., Deliwe, since she's my source for just about everything these days), they'll all come back after it rains again. It's been quite dry so far since Sunday, so the numbers and sizes have clearly dwindled since my last post. In fact, tonight I was able to keep my office door open after dark for the first time in a long while. As I've mentioned earlier, it appears that after a big rainstorm, all kinds of creatures surface from some underground bog where they hibernate until the moisture above sets them free.

I made this glorious dicovery late last week even before the spider incidents, when I was caught in my office after dark with the door open (I'd already closed the windows), and little by little, these small insects flew in. Somehow, I didn't realize it until the office was swarming with them, so of course I had to close the door to avoid letting more in. This, of course, resulted in a catch-22 situation, as now I was trapped inside the office with all the flying insects swarming around me. Not only that, but the power cut out at around the same time. So, at that point I couldn't see anything except my computer screen, and meanwhile things were flying around my head, and into my hair, and of course this was a bit traumatic, as I tried to shut everything down, while trying to see what was going on, simultaneously flailing my arms around as I tried to fend the little buggers off. Little did I know that my experiences with insects would get much worse the following day (as we all now know from this week's posts).

On that same note, I'd also like to point out that these flying insects don't seem to live long, which of course could be a major reason for their recent absence. When I returned to my office later, all of them were lying dead on the floor. There's also a large, gold-colored flying beetle-like insect which I call the 'suicide bug,' because every time I see it, it seems to literally fly headlong into walls, and even into the floor, and then it eventually dies. I watched one of these things literally work its way under my bedroom door last night (yes, it crawled under the door), and proceed to fly around the room, smashing itself into the walls and furniture, then apparently having something that looked like an 'insect seizure' belly-up on the floor. This ritual happened a few times, until finally, silence. In the morning, I found his carcass waiting for me to collect and give back to the earth (specifically, he became fertilizer for one of my small papaya trees.)

So, this is the cycle of these bugs, apparently. It rains, they're born, they throw themselves against the walls for a day and then die. Hmmm... sounds a bit like human life at times (well, at least mine... I can't speak for all humans, though sometimes I'm inclined to do so...). Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to live for just one day, eh? Though I know I wouldn't be spending it smashing into things incessently until I finally die in a seizure-like state belly-up on the floor-- at least I hope not...Hopefully I could get some travel, romance, enlightenment, good food and wine, music, and a few other pleasures in first. Food for thought.

So, with that strangely philosophical take on the life of the 'suicide bug', I'll sign off for today. Tomorrow, a new topic. I get the feeling my loyal readership isn't as "into" the bug thing as I am... Ya, last week in Lilongwe! I need to tell those stories mawa! See you then!