Insects and Rodents

This morning, at about 6:55 AM I awoke to a scream and a door slam. Looking for my wife in bed I realized two things... one; if I have to look around in the bed to see if someone is there I'm still not awake, and two; DD wasn't there. I run my butt downstairs half dressed to see if she was ok. I see canning supplies out on the counters and citrus debris

Ok, time out. My daughter just ran up when I was typing this and was jumping up and down yelling " I gotta go poopie!!". So, as parents we tell her to go poopie, since if we don't she just keeps standing there telling us she has to go. The bathroom is about 5 feet from me and she's in there doing her thing and singing to herself when all of a sudden she yell's "I'm done poopie!!" (Another tradition) then passes gas... Which causes the most evil chuckle to come from her and she says "I just farted!".... That's my daughter.

Ok, so the kitchen is in full canning mode, my wife is boiling citrus acting like nothing happened. Turns out that she went into the garage to find a pot and saw THEM running around.

This past fall we made the mistake of leaving a bag of bird seed laying out, our house is in a subdivision surrounded by farmfields... therefore "Those things" got in our garage. DD is petrified of THEM and can't even watch Flushed Away without shuddering a couple times. I think Ratatouie will take an act of Congress.

I, on the other hand have a irrational fear of something much more reasonable. Bugs. Just the icky ones, I don't exactly run screaming from gnats or anything. But if something with too many legs and too many antennae gets in the wrong place I freak.

The interesting part, and I'm sure you were all wondering if there was an interesting part, is the difference between DD's and my irrational fears. Not the subject matter, but the way that fear is expressed. I don't mind a bug on TV, or crawling somewhere, in fact; if I can be sure it won't jump up and eat my face off I'll get up close and personal. But on my terms. With DD, going out to the garage now is an act of extreme courage, the thought of one of THEM peeking at her spooks her. She hates them in cages at the store, she hates them on TV. She hates gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, and really small children (ok not children).

Is the difference in our reactions due to how common bugs are compared to Those Things? If I had the same reaction to bugs that she has could I even operate? If we lived on a farm would her reaction tone down after exposure? I know nothing of how or why these things are.

Now, my wife is tough as nails (She's a brown belt in Judo, I don't think they give those away at Chuckie Cheese) and if she had to deal with Them I'm sure she could. The initial reaction is usually as much surprise as anything else, it's kind of like being scared by Jason in a Friday the 13th movie; you know he's there it's just a matter of him jumping out. I don't think I could operate in bug filled conditions as well as she could in the garage. When I was in the military they didn't bug (See what I did there?) me as much since I was usually in their house, not them in mine.

I hear there will be a pre can jam citrus post today.