The Great Cricket Escape

S1 is blessed to have a truly awesome teacher this year. She had the brilliant idea to get the class frogs and crabs. The boys in the class looooooooooooooove her for this.

She asked S1 if he had any connections to keep the frogs fed with crickets. And, because it is us, we DID have connections to supply the frogs with crickets and we have been bringing them into school when they run out.

The first time we went to get crickets we bought 100. I could hear them scratching at the bag all evening and it gave me the eeby jeebies.

I like the sounds crickets make. I wait all winter to hear the peepers and the crickets come spring.

But that many crickets in a little brown bag? Creepy.

Since then we have been just getting 25 crickets at a time (the frogs couldn't eat 100 crickets fast enough). And all has gone well with them.

Until this last purchase.

Apparently, the crickets have caught wind they were going to be a frog's dinner and made a daring escape.

My husband woke me up with a kiss and then whispered in my ear "Honey, there is a cricket crawling across the dining room table. I think some escaped."

I just didn't think those were the words he would whisper in my ear at five in the morning.

When I got out of the shower, a cricket was crawling up the wall to say hello to me. When I went to pour my coffee, one skidded under the fridge. S4 tried to corral one he found in the living room and it died of fright, I believe. When I was watching a movie that night with my husband, I seen two scuttle across the carpet.

And, amazingly, the bag still had enough crickets in it to not be noticeable that an escape had occurred. Or so S1 informs me, he is probably pretty sure I'll make him sleep outside with the crickets after this incident.

The thing is, if I hadn't heard them scratching at the bag, a few crickets in the house wouldn't bother me - I think. But knowing they scratched at the bag and chewed at it to make it out, well, that freaks me out.

Especially when I am lying in bed at night.

And my husband says "Look, I caught a frog in our bed....."

The frog in our bed did not even faze me. I have bag chewing crickets lurking in the house waiting for me to sleep. I don't have time for frogs! I asked him to toss it out the window. He was rather surprised at my blase answer so he tossed the frog on me.

It was plastic.

I will get him back.