BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE?

As I stepped on to the wooden floorboards in the kitchen I was immediately conscious of grains of rice which had fallen on the floor. As I went to get the dustpan and broom to sweep them up I realised with a shock that we hadn't eaten rice in our house for a good 4 months (diet blamed here!). A closer look at the floor revealed - MAGGOTS! I nearly heaved - then quickly went for the can of insect spray. Spraying them like crazy didn't really help. There must have been a couple of dozen of the critters and each second they were creating a wider circle in all directions - mostly towards my feet - and all the spray was doing was creating a slick on the floor which wasn't stopping them.

In panic mode now I dove into the laundry to grab the dustpan and broom and started furiously sweeping them up, racking my brain the whole time wondering where they had come from and was there any more lurking where I couldn't see!

They just kept wriggling along and as I inspected the rest of the kitchen floor found a few where they had managed to crawl/wriggle along the edge of the wall. Even now a couple of hours later I am absolutely puzzled to know where they came from.

After the cleanup I inspected all cupboards and drawers within the vicinity and could find nothing resembling the afore-mentioned critters. Can 'things' like this hatch in such a short time? My husband had been pottering in the kitchen only minutes before this as he made preparations for breakfast then left for work.

On checking the internet it seems they can hatch almost within minutes of the eggs being laid. Had the grandsons here yesterday afternoon and they have a habit of leaving the scrren door open. Last night I had spotted a fly in the kitchen area which must have sneaked in and had sprayed it with insecticide but didn't find the 'evidence' of its death. This morning it was on the benchtop - dead. I'm now wondering whether in it's last moments it had laid eggs on the floor and this morning's little 'troop' was the result - eek - it still sends shivers up my spine even thinking about it!

As I sit here typing close to the back door there is a dreadful racket going on outside - from birds! I've mentioned before that we have a large number of native bird who come regularly to the yard here to get fed with bread. In the past months we have also had some 'imports' of the brown Indian Mynah birds who have taken up resident in our neighbours garage roof and bred now two lots of babies. They are extremely territorial and quite vicious in attacking the natives in what they have seemed to claim as 'their' backyard. A couple of them had come down looking for bits left by the natives and had been immediately 'shoo-ed' off by both them and a couple of magpies who got in on the act for good measure. Now that they've been banished back to the neighbours yard, it is quietly peaceful except for the occasional bird calls of the maggies or beautiful butcher bird.

A good start to the day? Perhaps blessings in disguise - depends on which way you look at it I guess!

Blessings to you dear friends!