I must admit we have been pretty fortunate in the creepy crawly department – we have not had a lot of bugs or spiders bugging us. We spray around the garden and doorways from time to time and have cockroach traps in places where these little guys might try to sneak by us. But the other day, I was sitting outside reading when I spotted movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and sure enough, there was a giant cockroach looking me over. So I did what every girl would do – I screeched and put my feet on top of the table and demanded Grant deal with the intruder. Grant doesn’t love them either, so he went inside and grabbed the broom and proceeded to wage war with the tiny dinosaur. Now there’s no way an old gringo is going to be faster than a cockroach, so the creature ran under a plant pot to live another day. I’m okay with the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ theory of pest control and I went back to reading. Grant closed the door to ensure the scavenger did not make his way into our kitchen – and just like that we were locked out in the garden. Our house has a lot of weird locks – and when the doors close, they cannot be opened without the keys. Which were sitting on the dining room table – INSIDE THE HOUSE!

Locked OUT!

Our back yard is surrounded by a cement wall – too high to climb and topped with barbed wire. Okay, how about climbing the ladder that leads to the roof where the propane tank is stored? We (okay Grant) could climb the ladder, shimmy down the roof to our bedroom balcony and …. nope the balcony door is also locked and we always ensure the key is out of reach to prevent intruders from getting in. Not considering of course that we might be the only intruders that actually want to try. The windows? All covered with bars. Call someone? No one else has keys but us. And did I mention they are INSIDE THE HOUSE?

Ladder to the roof didn’t help, no way to get my arm in that window and around the corner …..

I admit I started to laugh – or was that hysteria? – cause what else are you going to do when you are locked in the garden with a ravenous cockroach? Our last resort was to try the window close to the door. Yes, it is covered by bars, but maybe if I breath in and twist my arm into a pretzel shape I will be able to reach the door handle. Not. But in the process Grant noticed that the broom he had used to shoo the menacing bug was standing inside next to the door…. If he could just grab it through the window and use it to push open the handle…… Bingo! We’re in. And we now have a set of keys hidden in a place you will NEVER guess but that will prevent us from perishing in the garden we love. Another potential disaster in paradise averted!