Oh, How Fortunate!

  I always figured that the Bayou could be seen as my little piece of paradise.  The Little Bayou House is nestled back from the main road and the lane twists and turns as it meanders through the woods.  Our place is sort of isolated since the Bayou is on the east, the Back Bay is on the south, the woods is on the north and my brother's place is to our west.  People visitors are far and few between.  Critter visitors, however, abound.  Some, we like.  Others...well, we could do without.

  This morning as I was wandering about the hillside, I noticed a critter high up under the eaves of the shed.  This shed sits near the canebrake so it does not surprise me that a myriad of critters are in the area. This one was one of those "could do without" ones.  A huge cockroach was settled in for the daytime hours up near the roof edge.  Being nocturnal, the roach was ready for a day's sleep before becoming active again.  This was a Smokeybrown Cockroach so it was rather large. Not one that I want anywhere near the house!  

  I got to thinking about roaches and did a bit of research.  There are nearly 3000 species of roaches in the world!  That is enough to give just about anyone a good case of the willies!  Thankfully, we can pare that number down to 50 species living in the United States.  Still, that is far too many for me!  Then, I read how fortunate we are down here in the Deep South!  We only have 4 species of the nasties in our area!!  Somehow, that still did not make me feel joyous.  Having any roaches at all is not to my liking.

  The Smokeybrown Cockroach is one that prefers to live in wooded areas.  Key word here is "prefers".  They will move indoors given the opportunity so it is best to keep up with any roach eradication methods that are in effect.  With the size of this critter, I am thinking perhaps we should double or maybe triple our efforts!