Boyd Bear Tracks

I thought I would include a picture of one of the caterpillars we found in our backyard. It's pretty dangerous looking! It kind of looks like a slug on the bottom, a spider on the top, and then it has a head like a caterpillar. When I watch it move it almost looks as if the caterpillar found a soft "shell" and climbed in. It's pretty interesting and no one I've asked so far has been able to identify it. Hopefully we can keep it alive until it turns into a butterfly (if it ever does) and we can see what it turns out to be :-). As I mentioned before it is only one of our caterpillars. We found another black one that likes to eat the ivy. Hopefully, out of the two, we'll end up with at least one chrysalis.

In addition to our two caterpillars (and Stockings), Jon caught a tiny lizard in the kids' room. It's really cute, and we even had a chance to watch it eat a mosquito! I'm about ready to put it back in their room because both of them have been covered with mosquito bites lately! Actually, I bought a little plug-in "mosquito repeller". So far, it's worked pretty well.

As I was walking Stockings (on her leash :-))in the backyard, I saw a little cat (bigger than a kitten) up on the wall. I started talking to it, and it talked back :-). I thought it was stuck and went to the trouble of getting the big ladder down to help it, but the ladder scared it away. Apparently it wasn't stuck!

The ladies at the park have started teasing me about my house and asking where I live (the jungle!?) because of all the snakes, lizards, spiders, caterpillars, dogs, cats, and rabbit I've told them about. As I think about it, I guess it is almost like a zoo! :-) I told Lucas all we need now is a crocodile :-).

Then, just so you can all laugh with me, I'll tell you our water story. One day our water pressure was low and I thought it might be because of a broken pipe somewhere. Since the water is usually off for a long time when they fix pipes I thought I would fill up the bucket (more like a barrel) from the patio. So, I turned on the hose and walked away. Now I'm sure you're all thinking that I forgot the hose and it overflowed, but have no fear. I had a little paranoid boy to remind me that I had left the water on :-)! I went to sit on the couch and Lucas kept running to the door and crying. He kept saying, "Mommy, it's going to get ALL WET!!" So I continually reassured him that the water pressure was low and the bucket was very big. But, to reassure him I went out to the patio and checked the water level. It was only about half full. Then, I noticed the rug was wet and thought, "Oh, no! It has a hole in the bottom!" However, it was not to be. As I looked around a little more I noticed the bucket had two holes drilled into the side and water was shooting out all over the place. Needless to say, Jon got his laugh when I had to drag the bucket (shooting water all the way) outside and mop up the whole patio! And, I'm glad I have a little paranoid boy named Lucas :-). The story would not be complete however, without including the fact that they never turned off the water so it was unecessary anyway! :-) So for all of you that subscribe to "The joke of the day," the joke was on me :-)

This weekend we're taking a trip (sponsored by the school) to Punta Uva. It's a trip that's been highly recommended to us. But, it's a long one (about 5 hours) so you can pray for travel mercies (dealing with two active, and potentially carsick, kids). They say the snorkling is really neat there. Hopefully we can find someone to watch the kids so we can go. Actually, the Carters are going too, and they said they'd be willing.