Creepy Crawlies

Ok, here is the obligatory posts about bugs and stuff.  I'm sure I'll have other pictures to post in future weeks, but for now, here is the spider Mike saw on one of our walls.  I haven't had the time/internet access to figure out what type of spider it is, so if you can find out, let me know :).



Lizards OUTSIDE the house are our friends, catching bugs.  The kids like to try to tickle their stomachs through the screen :).  We don't mind the smaller variety, geckos, inside the house, but they can still startle us if we're not expecting them.






We've learned to put bug spray on whenever we go outside, not only in the early morning and at dusk.  If not, evidence of "moot-moots" will soon appear.  And these bites can also itch....


And then there are the times when the line between the "creepy-crawlies" and food becomes blurred.  This fine specimen of a snail was one of a bagful (still alive) that my name-sake brought as a gift.  Someone else kindly prepared them for us, and even our kids ate a couple (without complaining, but it's not something they want to repeat very often!).
















But there are also foods the kids REALLY enjoy, like freshly-baked bread,






 "bush apples" picked from the two trees in our yard (notice the large pit instead of small seeds),









and oranges - not eaten the traditional way, but with the top sliced off so the juice could be sucked out.  They soon learned to cut off more of the outer rind  (leaving the white skin on) so the skin didn't "burn" their lips.