Baby Mantids!

Two of our egg cases have started hatching, yay!

In the back yard...

And in the front!

You can see the egg case in the middle right...

I got these off ebay, six total from the eastern US. They are supposed to be BIG mantids, so far I'd agree, these babys are huge. Two of them were boxing each other last night, thankfully they haven't started to eat each other yet. One egg case in the front yard and one in the back each hatched, the other four nothing yet--but I'm optimistic they'll produce. I was pruning the white rose bush when I noticed the babies, so all pruning work is suspended for now.

Praying Mantises...mantids? What the Hell IS the plural, anyway...? Whatever, they rock, and BABY mantids doubly so. They are like my personal little assassin ninja squad, being sent out into the garden to do my bidding. Bad bugs, look out!

Fly, my pretties! FLY!

I Usually LIKE Spiders...

...they're cool dudes who chill in beautiful webs and keep my garden healthy and pest-free.

I'm currently making one exception--the one who bit me on the end of my left hand index finger yesterday. I never saw him, but I know he resided in my curly willow plant, which I had to duck under a bit to get to the chicken coop (it went nuts while I was away on vacation and needs a trim). As I did, I felt some leaves brush across the top of my head, leaving behind some dead leaves. I pulled them out of my hair--I think that's when he got me.

I now have a painful, swollen, red, ANGRY-looking fingertip, which requires draining every 30 minutes. While I don't THINK it'll get worse, it's gross enough as-is. I'm on a self-imposed regimen of Prednisone, ibuprofen and antibiotics, along with alternating hot-cold soaks. N. was at first intrigued, then disgusted as she was reminded how a spider bite works on flesh--basically dissolving it into liquid so the spider can easily suck it out for it's meal.

I'm...I'm not going to think about that aspect anymore tonight, myself.

Cool Bug Site And No More DIRT!

Just for fun, we found this cool bug identification site; loads of pics and stories, but NOT for those that don't like up-close pics of creepy crawlies. We were admiring the Toe Biters and sat around being glad we did not live in Florida:

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/

The way has been cleared for the new sod for the back yard, yee-ha! The soil amendment is being delivered today, with the rototiller and sod scheduled for Saturday. N. will be whisked away to the grandparents for the weekend so we won't have to worry about her becoming entralled with the rototiller--like all young kids, she loves heavy machinery and points out her favorite, backhoes, everywhere we go. J. is NOT looking forward to wrestling the rototiller all weekend, but at the end of it we should have a new back lawn! I'm so freakin' thrilled I can't stand it--it's like Christmas. The local cats have discovered the plain dirt back yard and are using it as a giant catbox, so N. hasn't been allowed to play out there for a couple of weeks now. Not to mention the constant dust-bowl-like status of our yard and home--that stuff gets everywhere and I'm sick of it. I've been clearing away the stuff in the yard to make room for the bags of amendment and sod, so my knees and ankle are giving my royal Hell. Oh well, tough luck for them!

After the sod gets laid will come Adventures With Carpet Cleaning, which will be the next fun thing. I'll post pics of the yard renovation, the chickens are going to be SO thrilled to have grass underfoot again to eat!