1.07.2011

Every once in awhile I completely forget about a book I've brought home - easy to do when there are so many books in our house. But it's fun to rediscover them, like Christmas morning all over again. That happened recently with IF: Questions for the Game of Life. Now, life is not a game but the authors intended it more as a party book, a conversation-starter. I thought it might be fun to work through it a little at a time and maybe learn some things about myself.

If you could eliminate any one type of insect permanently from the earth, what would you get rid of?

D would probably say that I would pick spiders, without hesitation. Now, I'm not the type that shrieks and carries on when I see one but when I'm unconscious, it's another matter altogether. I have vivid nightmares about spiders and, according to D, I babble about them in my sleep. Which is very amusing, apparently.

Ron Weasley, you are not alone, buddy.

Cognitively, I understand that spiders have a beneficial function to the ecosphere and as long as I don't have to live in a place where they jump, or grow too large, or are extremely poisonous, I'm content to let them be.

We have a small community of wasps and bees around the house. They pollinate our garden and they've left us alone, so I'll leave them alone. I have no affection for roaches - especially the flying variety - but it's rare that I see one and out-of-sight is out-of-mind. Ants... I'll just watch where I step when out in the yard. Our ants rarely enter the house, unlike where I grew up in Florida.

No, my pick would be the mosquito or the no-see-um - that blood-sucking family of insects. I'm particularly allergic to the saliva of the mosquitoes we have here. Their bites swell up to nickel- and quarter-size welts on my legs. It's not pretty and it exasperates my self-consciousness, not to mention how badly it itches. I rarely get to fully enjoy our backyard, patio and hammock because of the mosquitoes - they're ever-present in the warm months, even during the day. On my cost-benefit analysis they have no positives and many negatives.

You're out of here!