Here’s a creepy story that’s a tad early for Halloween.

Deb and I were hunkered down to watch last Monday’s episode of Chuck on the DVR.

We heard a noise from the kitchen.

A clicking. A clacking. As of someone gently tapping…

Cheyenne wasn’t curious enough to crawl from her doggie bed to investigate, so that left it to us.

The sound came from near the fridge.

So I banged on it with my fist, then we slid it forward slightly from the wall.

The clicking stopped!

And from the shadows beneath our refrigerator emerged…

The biggest friggin’ potato bug I’ve ever seen.

Now, if you don’t live here in California, you may not know what I’m talking about. But trust me, potato bugs are beyond gross.

And this sucker was at least three inches long.

They’ve got shells like lobsters. You can drop a concrete slab on one and it’ll survive.

They’re not venomous, but they can give you a nasty bite.

You know how Indiana Jones felt about snakes? That’s me and potato bugs.

Anyway, we vanquished the critter. (Actually, Deb swept him out the back door with a broom, freeing him to terrorize other families in our neighborhood.)

But I started thinking…

Our lives are chock-full with repulsive “bugs” — challenges, problems, obstacles, hurdles — that can give us a fright and might even keep us from getting what we want.

But fact is, those bugs ain’t gonna kill us.

So don’t let ’em get you down, or stand in the way of your goals.

I won’t.

But I’m going to keep the Raid handy anyway.