# Why did I put my hand under that tarp? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2020, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-put-my-hand-under-that-tarp/916151 "2020-07-23T19:19:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-put-my-hand-under-that-tarp/916151/41 "2020-07-25T14:38:08Z")
[I am so bad!](https://images.app.goo.gl/CvKXDTwcZ1onbpDk8) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-put-my-hand-under-that-tarp/916151/42 "2020-07-25T15:45:47Z")
Reminds me of the time when I was a kid and raising praying mantises. I had an egg case in my room, which hatched overnight. The entire house was filled with a gazillion tiny praying mantises, looking for breakfast. All I remember is my mom vacuuming the drapes and warning me to NEVER AGAIN raise bugs in the house. I don’t think she ever told my father; he would’ve killed me. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-put-my-hand-under-that-tarp/916151/43 "2020-07-25T16:03:13Z")
@panache, your Mother must have been a saint. I hate praying mantises, not as much as spiders, but still…a gazillion. Oh my freakin’ god!! ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-put-my-hand-under-that-tarp/916151/44 "2020-07-25T16:31:31Z")
I don’t do bugs. It’s in my contract. I am supposed to run to another room, screaming my head off. That’s Mr VOW’s cue to kill the bug and rescue me. When I was a kid, I was spending my usual Saturday sloth in my jammies, reading a book, and ignoring the world. I always become fully engrossed in a book, and the house could burn down around me. I happened to look away from the book, and a huge praying mantis was sauntering up my leg. I screamed, leaped up, and threw the book into orbit. My mother came running over to see what the commotion was. I was incoherent, pointing at the mantis which had climbed up the back of the chair, in a “king of the world” pose. I think we tried to get the cat interested in the “biiiiig bug” but he had other catly things to do. I don’t remember the fate of the mantis. I doubt it was killed, we all knew it was one of the good guys. But coming practically eye-to-eye with a 3-inch long bug is…unsettling. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-put-my-hand-under-that-tarp/916151/45 "2020-07-25T16:33:14Z")
@Beckdawrek Bekkers, with alllll of those spiders, now you can have your own web site! 🤣 ~VOW [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-put-my-hand-under-that-tarp/916151.md?page=2)