I thought scorpions were just a astrological sign!

I had the most shocking thing happen the other day. At first it was more terrifying than funny.
This is what I want to share with you....

For those of you that know me, you should know by now that I live in a high desert area. Lots of sagebrush and tumbleweeds. So my biggest concern here is sharing the desert with rattle snakes. I not real fond of snakes, but I give them there space as long as they do the same. Same thing with spiders. I leave them alone while they are outside because that's their domain. Once they cross the threshold, the story changes and they promptly find the underside of my shoe. I think that's fair!

Well this kinda falls under the same category. Here, just let me tell the story.

The weather here lately has been very hot. Triple digit weather! HOT! When it gets hot, I cannot sleep very well at all. I am usually up until way after midnight because I know I will not be able to sleep.
It was a hot day and I wasn't the only one who could not sleep. My daughter, Elizabeth was awake also. She was in her room playing on her computer, which is in the downstairs portion of the house. I was upstairs in my room, also playing on my computer.

It was fast approaching 2AM. I figured I would shower to cool off and try to go to bed. After my shower, I thought I heard a noise. My first thought was the kids, so I checked on them . All was quiet. But I could have sworn I heard a noise. I shrugged it off,since I could not find the source of the noise.

A few minutes later I hear a tapping on my door. I knew it wasn't the kids. They just run in. It was my daughter. There she was,standing there with tears in her eyes and obviously very upset.
She was holding a small trash can from the bathroom. In it was the most horrible creature I have ever seen. Oh I have seen pictures, but that does not even compare to what I was seeing. This is the before picture....



As Elizabeth tried to tell me the story, I just couldn't take my eyes off this creature! It was not only huge, but just as ugly!
While she was on her computer, she heard a noise. Like little animal nails scratching on paper. Her first thought was a mouse. We live on a farm, so mice are pretty common. She got up from her seat and saw that thing in an attack stance, blocking the doorway. The only place of escape,and there that thing stood with its tail curled up over its back. Its little pincher hands were clicking like he was just itching for a good fight! My daughter, who has never ever seen a scorpion in real life, let alone an angry one, was terrified. Apparently, the noise I thought was nothing, was actually her. She was standing on the computer desk screaming.
Since nobody came to her aide, she decided to fight this ugly enormous creature by herself! She quickly scanned the room looking for something that was big enough to battle with. Her first thought was her gun. But thankfully she reasoned that idea away. Next object, a tennis shoe. No way! It must be able to exterminate this thing with one wack!
A tennis shoe! The thing might take it away from her. No, next thing.. a boot! Yes that will work. Oh wait! There are two boots! Better! So she took the one boot and mustered up enough courage to smash it down on top of it. But she did not stop there. She took the other boot and smashed the boot that was on top of the scorpion, just to make sure it was dead. Here is the creature after Elizabeth's attack......




Okay the picture of the scorpion is not as good as seeing it up close. You can't tell , by this picture, but it is pulverized. She smashed it good! It is flat. What the picture does show, is it was huge. I would so freak out, if that had been me. I would probably be still standing on the desk.
I am so proud of her! She did a good job. I hope we don't have any more encounters with the likes of this thing! If we do, she will have to find another boot! I will be standing atop something! Screaming. Yes, I really dislike scorpions. My daughter said she was so scared. It may as well have been a rattle snake. I think I would have been just as scared.