Nature! It's Everywhere!!!

So we took an extended weekend to go visit family in Texas. Ah, Texas. Land of cowboys and wide open spaces. Or, in the case of the nomads, Land of the Wii. Yes, I let them play. And I have sworn off ever bringing one of those contraptions into my home (although I might concede if it were just the activity games...that cute jogging-after-a-puppy game is adorable and makes my nomads move). However, one can only take so much Indiana Jones and ensuing temper tantrums when a certain nomad's turn is over. *sigh* I digress.

There was actually a lot of time spent outdoors! Of course, I'm chalking this part up to Physical Education:

No sunburns! Woohoo! Pumpkin was quite diligent in reminding me several days in advance to add sunblock a lot so that she wouldn't get burned. Of course, that day, I had to remind her, but she was more than compliant to get slathered up (ah, if only the other nomads felt the same way).

We did get a bit of a surprise over the weekend...our very first sighting of wild Texas Brown Tarantulas! Unfortunately, my camera was not in my pocket (I usually try to keep it in my pocket for those I-only-have-30-seconds-for-this-shot moments). The fabulous contributors at bugguide.net, however, have LOADS of Texas Brown Tarantula pictures! Here's one:

The first one was small, a few inches in diameter. Sadly, a slightly-older boy knocked two of its legs off with a stick before the adults and the nomads arrived. Pumpkin was rather upset by this (as were most of the rest of us). She wanted to keep it and help it, but with the amount that we travel (and the part where we frequently stay with family and friends), I told her it wouldn't be a good idea. Uncle D explained that it was young and it was a TEXAS tarantula, and needed to stay in Texas. She actually accepted his explanation better than mine. However, when our travels are over, she has been promised the opportunity to have her very own tarantula (a Rose-Haired).

The second Texas Brown we found was just a couple feet off of the back porch, heading toward the porch furniture. It was somewhat larger...perhaps 8 inches in diameter? I did discover that if you push it backward with a cell phone, it will go back for about two seconds and then charge. I'm not sure that Pumpkin and I have ever levitated before, so that was a first! We tried to be very quiet about it, so that the older boys wouldn't see it, and Capt'n Crash actually managed to quietly ask Uncle D for a bucket so we could move it. Uncle D was impressed by it, and then decided to torment his sister by chasing her around with the spider bucket. Pumpkin was concerned by this until I explained that they were siblings. It was then deemed as okay (oh dear, what this might mean for future sibling interactions!).

Capt'n Crash was not to be outdone, however, and came tearing into the house proclaiming that he's found a "widdew spider":

He was quite thrilled that he had discovered a spider all by himself! It was too dark for me to get a positive identification on it, but still...the thrill of discovery!

On the way back from Texas, I found this interesting (although the Nomads and Duke were rather "eh" about it):

Can you name that cloud formation? Heck, can you pronounce that cloud formation's name? Lemme tell you, it's fun to get the nomads to try! "Cue-u-low-nim-bus"

I have more pictures from last week, but haven't the time to post yet. So while this post really should go after my next entry, I just had to get that spider sighting up!