Ewww...maggots

It's July 4th and I come home to the sound of illegal fireworks all over the neighborhood. I feel like a stray firework is going to hit me and am glad to duck into the apartment. Both cats are scared by the fireworks and Abby is hiding under the bed. I pick Xena up and she licks my face a bit. She seems reassured by my presence.

They've had a tough night home alone with all the loud noices so I take out a small can of wet food to treat them. I peel back the lid and open the garbage can to toss it out. There are maggots crawling everywhere! Ewww. I feel suddenly queasy looking at all those maggots. I don't want to deal with this tonight.

I toss the top in and close the garbage can. I put the cats' food on a plate and put it on the floor. Then I get the Raid, open the can, and spray everything. The cats freak out from my spraying the Raid too close to where they're eating, so I move their plate of food into the living room. I put the Raid down, detatch the top of the garbage can, and rinse off all the dead maggots in the shower. I carefully tie the bag closed and take it downstairs, being rattled by fireworks all the way down and back. Then I rinse out the body of the garbage can in the shower, and place a clean bag inside it. I get paper towels and clean up all the dead maggots on the floor. I go back into the bathroom and find a stray maggot crawling up the outside of the tub. I get toilet paper. I can feel it "pop" as I squash it between my fingers. This is making me queasy again.

I wash two more remaining maggots in the tub down the drain, and run the water several seconds to make sure they don't crawl back UP.

The cats begin to settle down as I sit in bed, drinking my glass of wine. But I'm still rattled. I wish I had enough calories left to have another glass. My nerves are shot. This is NOT what I needed after a 12 1/2 hour shift on a holiday. :-p