An Unwelcome Visitor

So, I was on a cleaning spree this morning after our walk on the beach. There was sand everywhere, so I had to vaccum. Well, I finally felt like rearranging the back porch to make room for a table and chairs. I put the vaccum down and picked up the broom, moved to the back porch and started sweeping. Brian has been building throwing targets and the back porch was covered in pieces of 2x4, sawdust, linseed oil, popped soccerballs, and the normal back porch furniture: double rocker, and two fold-up chairs. I moved the double rocker to the other side of the porch and kept sweeping, Brian came home from Home Teaching and I told him to either come in or out because he was letting all the cold air out. He chose in. A few minutes later, I went to rearrange the cushions on the double rocker and when I picked one up (I am always cautious because I'm not thrilled with the thought of a gecko running up my arm) there was an unwelcome visitor on the back of the rocker. Nope, not a gecko, but this:

AHHHH! I quickly dropped the broom and opened the back door, "Brian, there's a scorpion on our back porch."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

So he came out back and killed it with the broom handle, then once he finally got it swept onto the patio, made sure it was not coming back with his foot. I'm sure this may sound a little cruel, but that's the first time we have ever seen one out of a cage or glass jar. I mean this thing was living on our back porch, on our double rocker. Not cool. I did some research and learned that it is a 'lesser brown scorpion' and lives on the western side of the island of Oahu - of course. It's sting isn't deadly but is comprable to a bee sting, still not reassuring - I mean we have two dogs and a baby on the way, I thought huge wolf spiders were bad. So we've now "protected" the house with bug spray stuff, and hopefully we won't see one again. I don't think I'll be sitting on the back porch any time soon....

What a way to start a Saturday morning...