I took the kids over to the mangy excuse for a park our little development has set aside to taunt us with its potential yet leave abandoned to shoddy groundskeeping. We played some frisbee as well as some toss-the-ball-and-run-screaming-like-it's-a-monster. Giselle tried teaching Harrison to dribble a basketball, but when he just sat there and watched it bounce limply before him, she decided to turn it into a soccer ball and tore off across the field with him choking on her dust and losing ground with every step. Can't have the old basketball getting kicked you know, so we went and got a cheapo soccer ball at Target after our Sunday meeting. And what the heck, she wanted it, so we got a kid-sized bat, a mit*, and semi-squishy baseball for her to practice with the next time. She's got more potential and motivation than I had at her age, so I'm indulging.
*plus matching mit for Harrison of course.
I saw a couple of these creepy critters skittering around outside our door tonight:
It looked like a miniature cross between a spider and a scorpion, and sprinted like a cockroach. I was thinking vinegaroon? false scorpion? It turned out to be a Solpugid The thing gave me the creeps, thus the blurry picture--it could climb glass like it was a ladder, and I didn't want it practicing its facehugger techniques on me. After agreeing with Amanda that she could kill any of them she found in the house, I let it go out front to hunt down black widows and other nuisances. The kids wanted me to read to them about the spindley varmits I had on the screen, so I took the opportunity to show them pictures of scorpions and talked about not picking up rocks or boards from below where you can't see and tell Mom or Dad if you ever see one. I wouldn't be surprised if we had some lurking in the post-apocalyptic disaster I call a back yard. I think this is just the excuse I need to go pick up a fluorescent black light :D Yeah babe, I'm going scorpion hunting tonight muahahahah...where's the shiskabob skewers by the way?
Yes. I'm posting late/early. I just finished up some work from my regular day-job. I'm trying to head off getting chewed out for overdue projects when our group leader gets back from vacation tomorrow. So instead, I'll walk in with my deck clear, and then walk around with my nictating membranes half closed all day.
Oy.
Hey Iz...something's up with your header. The column text scrolls _under_ it.
Like the date dividers!
Jor
I have to respond to this, from the solpugid information site: "These animals cannot be controlled, nor would it be desirable to control them."
Maybe it wouldn't be desirable for you to control them, Mr. University of Arizona Smarty-Pants Entomologist R. L. Smith, but I could lead an army of solpugids to conquer the world!
"In one southwestern species, the male turns the female on her back, emits seminal fluid directly into the female gonopore, then tamps it in with his chelicerae."
Hey! I thought this was a family site! These bugs have been watching too much porn.
Talk about discrimination -- if I were to go around tamping female's gonopores with my chelicerae, I'd go to jail! But those damn solpugids, with their powerful lobby....