The Five of Us, Spring 2014

The Five of Us, Spring 2014

For the Arachnophobe in Each of Us

After dropping off the kids at preschool this morning, I came home to find this menacing my garage. At first I thought someone had graffittied an X on my garage door or marked it for demolition or something. I could see it from the street and our driveway is, I dunno, 50 feet long? As I continued driving up the driveway (and almost smacked into the garage door), I realized what it really was...
I just hope it's not poisonous. And, I'm SOOOOOOOOOO glad it wasn't in the house.


Let me tell you why... The other night we sat down for dinner and smack in front of the napkin holder was a dead-looking cricket. "Is that thing alive or dead?" I asked. Then, as Aaron stood up to look at it, it jumped STRAIGHT AT ME!!!! Being the reasonable adult that I am, I screamed louder than I have in ages and ran away. Then, of course, we all laughed at me. I think it must have come in with the outdoor toys when we were preparing for the hurricane that hardly happened. So, if that was only for a lousy cricket, can you imagine if I'd found this guy in my house!!?!!!

Editor's Note: It appears that we have here a Argiope aurantia, aka Black and Yellow Garden Spider or Writing Spider. It's hard to see her web against the white door, but if you look closely at the second photo you can see a heavy zig-zag pattern. That's why she's nicknamed the Writing Spider ('cause that sort looks like writing and/or it was thought to be used in communication with other spiders). Evidently she's physically harmless (though she's sure doing wonders on me psychologically). You can read more about her here and here.

2 comments:

Blu and Darbi said...

Ok I definitely should NOT have done my blog surfing before going to bed tonight..I'm going to dream of your friend I'm sure...

Love,
Darbi

andreawilliams said...

Not cool! I normally am not bothered by spiders but this on eos a real freak show! Come back to Idaho and we will save you from those spiders!!!!

My Man and Me

My Man and Me
married 7/7/2001

Punk

Punk
ours through biology, born 7/25/2004, home 8/1/2004

Pea

Pea
ours through adoption from Liberia, West Africa, born 7/15/2005, home 10/25/2007

Pup

Pup
ours through domestic adoption, born 1/15/2011, home 2/10/2011, final 8/3/2011

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Round Two Timeline

  • 9/24/08 Home study update home visit for Ghana adoption
  • 10/15/08 Dossier sent to AOHG
  • 10/15/08 I600A application sent to USCIS
  • 10/30/08 First heard about possible domestic private adoption
  • 11/18/08 Last spoke with contact about possible domestic adoption; expected to hear back about meeting with birthmother
  • 12/3/08 Withdrew application from AOHG
  • 1/6/09 Found out another family had been chosen for possible domestic adoption
  • 1/21/09 USCIS fingerprinting appointment
  • 1/8/09 Received USCIS fingerprinting appointment notice
  • 4/11/09 Sent Pre-Application to Covenant Care Adoptions for Domestic Infant Adoption program
  • 6/8/09 Social worker visit to update home study from International to Domestic
  • 7/24/09 Received completed home study update
  • 8/25/09 Went "on the list" for birthfamilies to choose from
  • 4/28/10 Found out a birth mom had chosen us
  • 5/8/10 Met the birth mom
  • 5/11/10 Got the call that birth mom changed her mind
  • 5/19/10 Birth mom's scheduled c-section
  • 11/30/10 Visit from DSS sw about foster parenting
  • 11/30/10 Got the call that another birth mom had chosen us
  • 12/21/10 Met with the birth mom
  • 1/15/11 @1:42 PM BB was born!
  • 1/19/11 ICPC (interstate) paperwork sent to GA for approval
  • 1/31/11 ICPC Clearance Approved
  • 2/10/11 Placement Ceremony and Pup comes home!!!!
  • 8/3/11 It's Official! Pup's Adoption Decree was issued