Canyon Life

Living in the canyon has broadened my horizons in regards to creepy crawling bugs. Gone are the days of a few ants in the kitchen and daddy long-legs building webs in the corners of my ceiling. No, out here we have a new struggle between man and insect, it's a daily battle to see who will be king of the hill. So to speak. I fight ants almost every day. They come out of nowhere, they eat not only food, but clothes, trash, dirty dishes, you name it. Spiders, centipedes, flies, moths, bees, wasps, beetles, stink bugs, so many different species I get to see everyday. I have stopped killing spiders, otherwise I'd spend my whole day doing it. I've learned that the house centipedes help out with eating other bugs, so I don't kill them any more either. Not to mention, centipedes explode with goo when you squish them.

One of the first fun bugs we found, eating outside on the deck one day, a tarantula hawk. Scared Brett and I both, we jumped when we saw this one. It took Brett four good stomps to kill it! The darn thing kept bouncing back to life. Apparently, they are a wasp that lays eggs in a tarantula. Yum!

House centipede.

Giant Beetle.

Here's a tarantula I ran over. I was too scared he might still be alive to roll the window down for a better picture. I thought he might be able to jump up and eat my face. You never know.