Everthing's big in Texas

Well we had another spider attack. Now these spiders are not normal spiders, these suckers are huge. I think they almost classify as tarantula size, if only small tarantulas. So last night Andi decides to turn the light on outside and low and behold a massive wolf spider, Lycosa Furcillata, is laying in wait beyond the back door. Andi gasps and starts to go hysterical I immediately go and try and find something to contain it in. I grab the nearest tupperware container run outside and slap it over the spiders body.

You can hear its legs, or maybe fangs, tapping the the plastic container in a tempest rhythm. I go back inside and ask Andi to get a glass container, I aquire an old pickle jar and head back outside. With some careful maneuvering and a piece of paper, which felt awfully thin between my hand and the spider, I slip the spider into the glass container. I poke some holes in the lid and presto; pet spider. I let it sit outside overnight and go in to calm the shrieking cries from inside the house.

So the next day I decide I need to feed it. I wrustle up some breakfast, a smaller spider I find in the garage, and throw it into the container. The girls and I then head off to the gym. When I get back I go check out what happened to the small spider and find just some spider dust left over. No small spider to be found anywhere. I decide that the beast needs a bigger meal. So I go wrangle some inch long bettle, not sure what kind... someone told me once they are tree roaches but I think they are wrong.

I throw the beetle into the jar and the spider starts to freak. I am thinking "You are 3 times the size what is your problem". The beetle or spider, I can't tell which, sprays out some white poo looking stuff. I figure the spider was scared and crapped his pants, since he was running around frantically. I put the jar down and wait for things to calm down.

Meanwhile Catilin has been watching from the window and when I come back inside she says "they are fighting." I look out and sure enough the spider is running around the jar and the roach seems to be climbing up the glass. I go out and see venom sprayed on the inside of the glass, all over, and the spider is starting to go belly up. I let the roach out and he flys off. Meanwhile I am thinking how do I save my spider and by this time his legs are curling up. I look closely and see venom on his fangs and I think that maybe he has bit himself.

I open the jar again and an acrid smell greets me. I am thinking "what is this?", smells like some sort of brake cleaner, very toxic smell. My eyes start burning so I put the lid back on and go inside and wash my hands. A minute later the spider is dead and I know Andi couldn't be happier. I didn't even get to name him.

Enjoy the pics! Click to enlarge.

The Spider, lets call him Wolfy, next to my thumb. Now hold your thumb up and then imagine the size.
Here he is partially curled on my hand. Fully extended his legs reached out to almost the size of my palm.
Took a while to get the legs to stay out but finally did and here he is next to my hand.
Thought about eating him but then thought about the toxic junk that killed him and decided to snap a pic. Damn.. now that I think of it I should have put him on my cheek.. Wait let me go get a pic...

Ok now that was bad.. I never had spider legs on my face before... had to wash it a couple times. Ok well enjoy the pics and just be thankful that Wofly is not in your backyard.

Fall with the Fam

Well we just had a great visit from Bob and Carol Warren. The weather was wonderful, aside from a brief Texas sized thunderstorm just when we wanted to start trick or treating. The girls had a great time running up to doors and ringing the bell and having people hand them candy. We now have a large bowl full of candy that sits on top of the fridge so the girls cannot get to it.

I had my camera on manual focus for some of the pictures I took so since I already posted halloween pics I will just go ahead and post the pics that we took at our outing to the zoo. The weather was perfect and I didn't drip an ounce of sweat the whole day, a miracle in Houston.

Here is Grandma and Mikayla outside the elephant barn at the Houston Zoo. If you can't tell Mikayla is looking older and I still can't believe she is only two. It seems she is a lot more mature, if a little more headstrong, than Caitlin was at this age. She can be so sweet one second and the next she gives me the death glare; I think "What did I do?". She is a great girl and her personality will serve her well when she grows up.

Grandpa and Grandma with Caitlin and Mikayla at a new section of the Zoo. People who meet us on the street keep asking if Mikayla and Caitlin are twins. They look like sisters, but twins? Twin cuties maybe!
Here the girls are playing with a 'spitting' frog. They thought that if they hit the frogs head he would spit water, so they were slapping away on the frog until it would spit. There were some other water features in this new section of the zoo and I kept shooing the girls away from the bigger ones so they wouldn't get wet. Then I started thinking it would be great to snap a pic of them getting soaked, but it never came to fruition. That would have been great.

Here we have both Grandma and Grandpa 'mooing' with the girls, who are sitting on top of a cow. We had a great time at the zoo and both Caitlin and Mikayla have since expressed how much they miss Grandma and Grandpa.

We had a great time and can't wait to see more family around Christmas time.