Forest Living

Three nights ago, I was doing something kitcheney in the kitchen (washing dishes, or making tea, or some other putter-type activity) while listening to my ipod. Terrence sat in the dining room, reading a book. I stepped backward and thankfully, my parasympathetic reflexes were on point because I was able to raise my foot back off the floor before I put my full weight on something wet and squishy.

It was a slug. Again.

This has been a thing lately. I guess it's slug season or something, because this must be the third or fourth slug, at least, that's randomly been found crawling across our floor in the past week or two. Sometimes when I go outside and take a tour of the yard I find tiny sluggy stowaways on my shoes.

It isn't that slugs bother me - I consider them sweet, harmless creatures (especially since I don't have a garden,) but snuggling with them is not something I'm particularly keen on.

And as the one I halfway stepped on in the kitchen was pretty big (a couple of inches long,) I had significant heebie jeebies and asked Terry to get it. So he did. Blech.

A day or two later (after Terry was gone on the High School yearly camping trip with his students,) I came foot-to-face with a gigantic spider in the shower, just as I was about to step in.

I'd checked the shower before getting in, but I suspect that he was hiding down the drain. Once a very warm rain starting falling from the faucet, he retreated to the edge of the downpour. I cursed a little, ran to the kitchen to get a container, and gathered him up.

As weird as spiders can make you feel (especially when they're gigantic,) I find that if you mentally tell them (especially those massive ones) that you're going to peacefully move them, they just hang out and let you do it. If you're all vibratey with anxiety though, they freak out too. I think that I was pretty calm, because he peacefully went into the leftover hummus-or-whatever container.

He was pretty big. And actually striped quite beautifully. (It was much easier to check him out with the white plastic between us...)

I planned on setting him free in my little driveway and across a creek separating the driveway from my house, but as I walked that way I heard and saw some big animals frolicking in the woods nearby. Deer? Maybe. Bear? Maybe. I reassured my new little friend that he'd go outside later and ran back into the house.
I think I may be cut out for city life after all...

The next day, as I sat down in my bedroom to put on makeup, I heard a buzzing above my head.

Yep, this time the visitor was of the winged variety.

Spring has come. It brings flowers. And bugs. And I'm glad I'm going to a gnat-free, giant-spiders-free city next month to visit my sister in California for the summer. Southern Cali may have smog, but at least I don't have to check for ticks every day.