After school today I was working on putting together plans for an outdoor exploration field trip thing I'm taking my class on next week. The field trip will involve the students collecting and observing insects and then releasing them again. The whole time I was looking at some pictures of different types of insects and started to feel a little crawly (you know, when you feel like bugs are crawling on you). I finished up, gathered my things and headed out to my car to enjoy the weekend. As I approached my car, I reached into my purse to pull out my keys. When I looked up, my outstretched hand was about 2 feet away from THIS...
I jumped back and totally did one of those scream-laughs (sounds like AHHHHHAHAHA). This praying mantis was right on the crack of my driver door and the rear passanger door at face level and had to have been about 2.5 inches long! My fear with any type of insect is that it will jump ON me when it leaves, so I generally try to stay as far away as possible. I searched my briefcase and purse for anything long enough to shoo it away with, but had no luck. I thought for a moment, and decided to put my briefcase in the trunk of my car hoping that the slamming of the trunk would scare it away! That also did not work. So, after laughing again at myself, I pulled out my cell phone and did what any info sharing, status updating person would do. I took this picture and texted it to my shortlist of favorites. Growing impatient, I walked around to the passenger side of the car, got in and crawled over the gear shift thing and into the driver seat. Oh, did I mention I wore a long skirt today? Yeah, that was fun. I adjusted my side mirror so I could see the insect and tried tapping the window a few times. I thought to myself in my bully voice, "Ok buddy, now you're gonna get it. Prepare to be gone with the wind!" I turned on my car, set it in reverse and watched as it didn't even flinch! So then, watching my mirror more closely than I was watching the road, I tried a few gas, break, gas, break rotations to see if I could jerk it off. Nope. But I did see it hang on a little tighter. At that point I mostly gave up but still watched it in the mirror to see how long it would hold on. After approximately a mile of too-fast-for-a-residential-area driving, it finally sprang off my car into who knows where.
Lessons learned:
- Praying mantises are huge.
- Praying mantises can hang on pretty well.
- I should carry something at least 3 feet long with me at all times in case this ever happens again.
- Using a camera phone when I'm freaked out helps me not be as freaked out.
I jumped back and totally did one of those scream-laughs (sounds like AHHHHHAHAHA). This praying mantis was right on the crack of my driver door and the rear passanger door at face level and had to have been about 2.5 inches long! My fear with any type of insect is that it will jump ON me when it leaves, so I generally try to stay as far away as possible. I searched my briefcase and purse for anything long enough to shoo it away with, but had no luck. I thought for a moment, and decided to put my briefcase in the trunk of my car hoping that the slamming of the trunk would scare it away! That also did not work. So, after laughing again at myself, I pulled out my cell phone and did what any info sharing, status updating person would do. I took this picture and texted it to my shortlist of favorites. Growing impatient, I walked around to the passenger side of the car, got in and crawled over the gear shift thing and into the driver seat. Oh, did I mention I wore a long skirt today? Yeah, that was fun. I adjusted my side mirror so I could see the insect and tried tapping the window a few times. I thought to myself in my bully voice, "Ok buddy, now you're gonna get it. Prepare to be gone with the wind!" I turned on my car, set it in reverse and watched as it didn't even flinch! So then, watching my mirror more closely than I was watching the road, I tried a few gas, break, gas, break rotations to see if I could jerk it off. Nope. But I did see it hang on a little tighter. At that point I mostly gave up but still watched it in the mirror to see how long it would hold on. After approximately a mile of too-fast-for-a-residential-area driving, it finally sprang off my car into who knows where.
Lessons learned:
4 comments:
I HATE those things!!! I would have reacted the exact same way. Good thing I'm not the only wuss out there.
okay, that was hilarious! I laughed so hard tears were coming down...I could totally picture you and myself, in fact, doing the same thing! Loved the long skirt, too.
Bugs are disgusting! And that one was horrible! I would have done exactly what you did and I'm glad you survived :)
Oh my gosh- sooooo funny!!! Great post! Those praying mantis bugs are ALL over my house. They freak me out too because they are so big and always show up where I least expect them to. However, I learned in elementary that they eat spiders, and do not bite humans- so at least that is a good thing! :-) Hopefully they will not surprise you at/in your home next time.
However, I think I am going to be chuckling over this post seriously all night long...
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