I don’t mean the remnant of a weed joint – I had many of those decades ago before coming to Medicine. I mean the water bug, palmetto bug, the cockroach or cucaracha – a beetle from the order Blattaria.
I mark the beginning of summer here in Austin as the earliest date that a roach enters our home. Kedi and Maia are both excellent roach huntresses – each a Diana or Artemis in her own right. Maia, of late, has been less able to hunt, but she is getting back to her stealthy and deadly self.
A couple of weeks ago, during my dishwasher emptying chores, I noticed a roach. Susan usually loads the dishwasher, and I typically empty it. It isn’t always so, but it is so more often than not. Sometimes the dishwasher, partially loaded, is left with its door ajar if not completely open. We both have our routines, but neither of us is a slave to them anymore.
I emptied the top tray – wine glasses, beverage glasses, coffee (covfefe) mugs, salad bowls, and so on. Then I began on the lower tray – pots, pans, flatware, cat dishes, and on until that tray too was empty. That’s when I saw it.
Our dishwasher has a center drain that has a trap for particulates. That’s where I saw the roach. It was a respectable specimen some 2+ inches in length – suitable for mounting in the manner that hunters and fishermen mount the remnants (horns, pelts, heads, etc.) of their quarry.
I picked it up in a paper towel. It was very clean – we always set the dishwasher to its hottest setting – SANITIZED. The roach was shiny and very dead. I don’t find these beetles worrisome from a health and safety perspective. I worry far more about ticks, lice, mosquitoes, and other critters than I do roaches. Roaches are mostly icky – a social term of art rather than a medical term.
Summer, at my house, has definitely begun. Kedi hunted down another big water bug just a couple of days ago. She truly is the goddess of the hunt.