the great scorpion hunt of 2007

everyone knows we bought a house. i haven't blogged in forever because we've had so many issues with the whole house thing that i never wanted to jinx this one. but we are moving in tomorrow so now i think i can talk about it.

so we bought the cute little red brick house in the neighborhood we love, a little bit 80s and a lot bit 50s (with one pepto bismol pink bathroom). we closed without a hitch, got a new roof and money towards closing costs out of it, and were rearing to go. the only weird thing was that we found a dead scorpion on the floor in the living room on the closing date. it wasn't too alarming, as the house had been vacant for some time, and it has been really really hot. and we live in the desert, for god's sake.

but then we went back to the house the next day and found another one. then the following day, another. which leads me to the great scorpion hunt of 2007. every time we went over to the place we found another one of those f'ers. the last straw was when we found a live one in soren's pack 'n' play that we had left on the floor of the arizona room. we had found 8 in the 8 days we owned the house. i decided i was not moving in. and there was no way soren was going near that place. it was clear we needed someone with skills that neither jim nor i possessed. we needed the scorpion hunter.

the scorpion hunter came out last friday night and spent two house spraying and dusting our house, and then went on his hunt. he collected 7 scorpions - adults and babies - with his blacklight. did you know that scorpions glow under a blacklight? they are so sick.

apparently we do NOT have an infestation, which is wonderful. but with all the mature trees and vines, plus the wooden benches with potted plants, there are lots of places for them to hide. adding the new roof and activity in the house when it has basically had nothing done for a long time, and you have a scorpion problem. so on tuesday we had the place landscaped as well, tearing out anything dead or dry, hacking down trees, and just cleaning everything up. i went back today during lunch and what did i find? no scorpions. yay!

jim bought himself a blacklight flashlight and will start going on his own hunts, with the first being tonight. we will move in tomorrow, soren's crib legs will be placed in glass jars (since scorpions cannot climb glass) and i will sleep with the covers over my head. but at least we are getting them under control. and the best part of it? the seller paid for the hunt. just wrote a check, even after we had already closed. now that is the way to buy a house.