We are feeling a bit rattled at the office lately.

Part of living in the Sonoran Desert – as with any part of the country – is dealing with the local critters that inhabit this part of Arizona.

Since we moved into this office location several years ago, the critters have been active mostly in the outdoors only.

But lately the critters have wanted to take back ALL of their territory, including the space now occupied by our innocent office building.

And so they have been marching in on their own, apparently following their own little drummers and drum beats.

A few tiny spiders is one thing, but finding larger creepy crawlies in your desk drawer is another…

And when circulation/classified manager Tammie Ott discovers any type of critter, the entire world hears about it, or at least those folks within earshot.

Yikes.

Then we started finding tell-tale evidence of a mouse in the house, or perhaps mice rolling some dice.

Certain measures have been instituted to take care of these mice. In fact, two were captured by advertising rep Duke Kirkendoll and relocated elsewhere into the open desert.

But still sightings and “evidence” persist.

Then yours truly strolled in the back door early on Saturday morning, July 4, to catch up on some work. A certain loud buzzing immediately started up in a nearby corner. This editor, sporting flip flops and cargo shorts, jumped about three feet and quickly spotted the source – a rattlesnake.

Firefighters were dispatched to corral that guy, and handyman Mike Archambault was promptly dispatched to improve the bottom seal around our back door.

Advertising rep John Gibson within days then captured a giant scorpion just sitting in the middle of the office floor. A second one was killed within a day or two…

After that, Publisher Alan Cruikshank saw a “cute” little mouse scurrying across his desk one morning.

Graphic artist Tangie Prieskorn found a dead centipede in the ladies’ bathroom.

What the heck?

Part of the price of living in the desert, I guess, and that’s why so many pest control companies flourish in the Valley of the Sun.

Of course now that several traps have been laid out inside our offices, nothing has been captured. Just our luck. We have no idea what’s lurking around the corner.

Guess it will keep us on our toes as we work on stories and ads for next week’s paper…