Wherein you meet Fluffy and Mittens

First, let me be perfectly clear. I am not a creepy, crawly kind of girl. When I was little, I didn't mind bugs. I can remember gathering potato bugs at my grandma's in a plastic sandwich bag so I could take them home. (For some reason, I never caught on to why they didn't make it too long.) Lady bugs were always fascinating. And I'd even pick up a Daddy Long Legs on occasion. Since then, I've come to the realization that I don't like bugs. As a general rule, I just leave them alone and go on my way. Except for spiders, which I detest. With a passion. I will go out of my way to squish one. (Or have Erik do it depending on the size. It just creeps me out the way their legs shrivel up when they get stomped. *shiver*) With that preface...

About a week ago, I came home from work one day and noticed a HUGE spider web in our patio. It was the epitome of a spider web. I honestly expected it to say Some Pig... I took a look around, trying to find the huge spider that must go with it, but I couldn't see anything. Against my usual instinct, I left it alone so I could show Lily, who thought it was amazing. Then I forgot all about it until I headed out for my nightly stroll with the dog. A car was parked across the park, and its headlights hit the web just right, and I saw the spider that made it. And I was right...it was big! Meet Fluffy:

 

I showed Erik, who was altogether unimpressed although he did admit it was pretty big. I'd never seen a spider like this, and he wasn't in my house, so I left him alone - totally against my character - and took Laddie on his walk. When I got home, I decided I needed to know what kid of spider it was. After looking at pictures of a dozen or so spiders native to Utah, we decided our eight-legged friend is a Cat-faced Spider (hence the name Fluffy :-D). Completely harmless, so I decided he could stay.

I wanted to show Lily, but he kept disappearing during the day, and I was determined to find his hiding spot. Finally, I saw a leg poking out one day. So we got a good daytime view and Lily was sufficiently impressed.

 

A couple days later, I noticed the web was torn up and I figured he must have moved on. After a quick glance around the yard, I saw a web on the other side and figured he'd just changed location. That was until Laddie and I headed for our walk that night and there was Fluffy on his usual side of the fence. Apparently, our yard is very hospitable, because Mittens had also moved in:

So there you have my new pet spiders. Erik thinks I'm a loon. And I probably am. I even chased some kids with a jar out of my yard a few days ago. They can find their own spiders, dang it!! Well...I didn't really chase them. I just opened the door and asked what they were doing in my yard with a jar. They said "nothing" and skedaddled. What I'm really hoping to see is something land in their webs. I might need Lily to catch me a grasshopper (which she does on a regular basis).

For now, they're safe. But hopefully they realize as soon as one hairy foot steps in my house, they're goners...like their cousin here. He ceased to be soon after this picture was taken...

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New Trick

Timothy's been pulling himself up on stuff for a while now...the couch, chairs, the baby gate, my hair. You know...the normal things. But about a week ago, he decided to try standing without any help. This was his attempt:

I'm sure he'll be walking any day now...which blows my mind! Didn't we bring him home yesterday?

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Busy July, part 3 (the end)

And now...for the conclusion of our July festivities. I know what you're thinking: Finally!!! Can we move on already? Almost...this won't be long. :)

This year, Walmart made the mistake of putting Erik in charge of the associate summer party. He decided they needed a bounce house. He ordered the bounce castle for the kids and then went ahead and ordered two more. The blow-up jousting/boxing ring and the huge slide. Because the adults would want to participate in the fun, too. Lily thought the castle was great and spent a little time there. And then she spent most of the night at the playground on the swings and monkey bars. Go figure. She did give the slide a try, and looked terrified on the way down the first time. I could just see her little mind thinking, Was that fun? Or just crazy? She must have thought it was ok because she spent probably the last hour of the night going up and down. Erik took a few runs, too, including this one, which resulted in a nice vinyl burn on his elbow.

Lily must have enjoyed the bouncing in general because she was very dramatic when they started deflating. I wish I would have filmed that. The castle was last, and the moan when the turrets fell was fantastic.

A few days later, we hit the Mendon Pioneer Day fireworks and then did some driveway fireworks with the Mullahkhels and their cul-de-sac. Timothy, I think, is rather indifferent to fireworks of any sort. Even in Mendon when you're close enough for fall out, he just sort of glanced to see where the noise came from and then went on with his business. Lily thought the sparklers were pretty fantastic, but her favorite thing of the day was probably the pop-its. She would have been happy as a clam if we'd just given her an entire case of those and let her go to town.

So that wraps up our July. It was super fun, but I'm sort of relieved we're heading into a more low-key August. This summer has definitely flown by, but I think I'm ready for fall...

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