The Walking Stick

Those of you who've followed this blog for awhile will remember our fondness for (non-pest) insects. In the last year we've had a walking stick and a praying mantis, crickets, lightning bugs, and a mantis egg sack that regrettably never hatched.

Still, when the business manager motioned for me to come with her down the hall, her cell attached to her ear in a serious conversation, I was thinking it was a solemn work issue. Instead, God bless her, she pointed to a large walking stick on the ceiling and continued her conversation.

There are perks to working on a property adjacent to eight acres of woodland.

I captured it in a vase, put plastic wrap over the top and took it home with me.

The kids were thrilled, especially YaYa.

Look carefully at the next photo and you'll see the walking stick in her hair, having just crawled off her cheek.

She took it with her to visit her Grandma, promising to look up its diet online overnight.

* * * *
The morning after that 3.2 mile ride I spent the day at work  sore and achey-breaky up and down my legs. Even so when I went home I loaded up Smiley and LuLu and biked to and from the library (1.4 miles roundtrip). I'd wanted to take Lu alone, believing she was due some 'alone time', but Smiley really wanted to go.

It was no easier than the day before, although the kids were great this time out, but I had to do it: I was afraid if I didn't I'd retire the bike rather than face another work-out.

LuLu's Insect Picnic

On the 25th my mother-in-law took LuLu over to the Insect Picnic, a function of the Milwaukee Rec Department.

I can't speak to what all thes pics feature, other than a beautiful girl is in the shots.

Basically, the kids went to the nature center and looked at bugs in their natural habitat. Sounds right up her alley :)

A true B movie horror moment

Last Friday I noticed a whopping big spider on my kitchen window. I'm not talking tarantula here, but quarter-sized. I got out the Raid and let loose. It fell, then scampered out a crack where I'd failed to close the storm window.

In it's wake it left the perfect Spider-Man logo in the Raid foam.

Being a dork, I Nextelled my Dad to come look. [the wife and kids were out].

In anticipation of his visit l I went out and caught the thing for show-and-tell.

When my Dad arrived I took him outside to show him the beast. At that moment I looked up for whatever reason . .

cue music . . .

and in horror, noticed that the entire side of the house was covered with equally large spiders, each with a sturdy web of it's own.

Ugh!

I have nothing against spiders, nor a fear of them, but c'mon!

My theory is the spiders eggs had hatched in the bright eastern sun of the previous few days. Thankfully they haven't got into the house (I must have killed the scout).

Knock on wood, that is.

 

Update on the Crickets

The dang things are still alive.

After that first night I made a quick attempt to drown them by dumping over the plant they hid atop. It didn't work, as they just jumped on the turtles shell.

Smart buggers.

Plus I felt kind of creepy trying to kill them. Nevermind that I've killed a million bugs in my day or that I had bought them as feed for the turtle, it felt wrong.

So I was hoping nature would take its course, but at least one of the monsters is still alive.

Lisa is NOT happy.

If they're still at it tomorrow night, I might just have to go euthanize them after all.

Aggravation

Not truly worth a post, but . . .

Today I bought some crickets as a snack for Franklin the Turtle.

This time half of them got wise to the game and managed to secure a temporary refuge atop a plant in the aquarium.

So now, at midnight, I am serenaded indoors by the sound of some very scared and energetic crickets.

Part of me thinks it's neat, very Country . . a larger part of me thinks Lis is going to kick my a** when these things keep her or the kids up all night lol