Barging In!

Sitting here watching the dark clouds gather over the mountains and hoping that is might rain to ease the heat I am struck by how intrusive nature can be.

The heat and intense sun just barges in and set the tone for the day (not too much physical movement and the ceiling fans on high). 

At this time of the year, sun, heat and dusty roads are an expectation.  It is the unexpected that does shock and sometimes delight.

As for the shock:

#1 - coral snake came to visit - move slowly across the screen door at the front of the house, inspected the window, and left back into the grass - presumably it lives on the front slope under the ground cover.

#2 - Scorpion family - since the soil is not very good, much of the herb and vegetable gardening is done in containers - it let's us have them around the patio and allows us to move them as the sun and rain dictates - so the pots and soil and utensils have been relegated to a spot under the outdoor stair, and had become untidy and bothersome - so we bought two storage bins and I set to clearing all this up - come to learn that a pot with some dirt in it and something on top (like another pot) is the perfect home for scorpions - 1, 2 and then 3 - the first two were just normal things - but not #3 - a mommy with about a 100 babies on her back.

Finally got her out of the pot and into the ground cover on the slope, but she left some babies behind - wonder if the first two were relatives?

#3 - a little delight - came down this morning to a pool visitor - the little grasshopper fellow was taking a float - pulled him out and set him on a plant (more his domain!)

#4 - and finally - CICADAS! - Is there anything more ugly or annoying!?  They attach themselves to the wall or a tree and BUZZ - continuously - then they fly and bang into things, land on their back and stay there looking dead - in the morning you go to sweep them up and they fly and buzz some more!!! YUK!

Feeling Bugged!

The last while, there seems to be more 'bugs' about.

We were at a local restaurant last evening and the owner clobbered a tarantula and carried it off the the garbage in the dustpan.  We had a similar creature in our living room 3 or 4 weeks ago.  I hit it with a pillow - it went defensive and curled up - I grabbed it with tongs and threw it off into the garden (the tarantulas here bite but are not deadly).

There seems to be a proliferation of caterpillars (nasty reaction if you touch them) - dragonflies (graceful and fascinating), butterflies (one landed on my leg yesterday while I was reading and just walked about for 5 or so minutes) - and the ever present black sticky bees (they don't sting but they insist on buzzing in your face and get stuck in your arm hair).  Not to mention the scorpion that likes to hide in the loops of the garden hose.

Then this morning a miniature walking stick climbed across my keyboard and up the computer screen.  Then there was this.

I thought it was a piece of gravel until it moved. Several legs - what appears to be a snout, and a little white thing on the other end that could be a tail.  Google images has no idea what it is (it said it was a leaf - a type of vegetation found on trees).  Getting a closer look, it seems the real thing is under all that stuff - almost transparent with a little ' nose'  - the stuff is like a house - sort of like a hermit crab!

Another amazing creature.