Critters

Yesterday as I was putting away the clean wash, I heard Shrimp calling urgently to me. I came into the kitchen and heard her say excitedly that there was a reindeer--sure enough, there was a big buck and his doe in the backyard, right next to the sunroom window--we could see them all the way through from the kitchen. Shrimp got down and walked slowly towards them and they didn't run until she was like 8 feet away. It was really cool to see them so close. They are certainly not the first critters we've seen out our windows either! We see rabbits, raccoons, LOTS of birds, a corn snake sunning on our front stairs, and zillions of squirrels and chipmunks. Right now is an especial good time to see the last two as they are gathering nuts for the winter. Seems like there are hundreds of them scampering through the roads and trees. There's this really cool black kind of squirrel that I've never seen before. I do miss the pretty red-tailed squirrels indigenous to Michigan. They had the pretties auburn fur.

Outside is not the only place to see critters--we've had our fair share of creepies inside, especially crickets. EW! I even found a tiny baby one no bigger than a dime the other day. Of course we've also seen centipedes, spiders, and other bugs, but the grossest and scariest of all (to me) is the wolf spiders. These things are huge, the size of small dogs, and they can run faster than Adia (and that's saying something!). BLEEEEEHHHH! They seem to live out in our garden, and especially under one of the decks, so when you open the sliding doors, they come racing in. We've even sacrificed diapers to kill them--50cent kills Derek calls it! I don't care what Derek's etymologist friend says, wolf spiders are from the devil and in the same category as Tiger mosquitoes. Trisha, I think of you when I start screaming and dedicate them to you! You wouldn't believe how much money I've poured in to those ultra-sonic pest repellers for EVERY ROOM!!
Okay, enough for now. I'll try and remember some things about the kids to write about tomorrow.
maren