Saturday, April 25, 2009

Spooky but Cool

All these are spooky but cool in various combinations, I suppose. The first one's not spooky; mostly cool, except for me not knowing it and it's been there since November.

101 Ways to Increase Your Longevity and Quality of Life Of the 101 cool things including eat slowly, eat garlic, have sex, learn to breathe and be confident, one is "Play Video Games," and they used my video games page as a link.
89. Video games. Playing video games isn’t just for kids. Strengthen eye-hand coordination in addition to learning new ways of problem-solving while playing video games.
Their "Mental Health and Wellness" list is my favorite part. Videogames came under creativity, rather than mental health.



I also found my deschooling page listed in two very disparate places:
Prophetic Heretic (more political and strident than I usually read, but Deschooling for Parents is linked way down the right side) and one called Unschoolers Online which seems to be a money-making site, though the links are okay.

What interests me (not in a great way) about both those sites is that the author/blogger isn't identified. I think people should put their names with their opinions. Still, if people find unschooling ideas through those places, good deal for them and their kids.



More spooky than cool—a black widow spider:


Keith came to try to pass through the hallway but I was bent down toward the spider and it wasn't so easy for him to get by. Sorry I jumped around, but y'know.... that spider could move fast.

After that part was done, I went to get the vacuum cleaner to clear up the webs and remains. I moved the three planters to vacuum and there was another dead black widow (perhaps a dead widower), AND another, bigger, live one. Too close. No good. They can live in the wall outside, eight feet from my bedroom, but not in the hallway between my bedroom and my office. Bad idea.

My bad idea to put bug-attracting plants in the house all winter, which then attract spiders. So I took those out and transplanted them into the yard, vaccumed twice, and rinsed out the planters, with that kinda creepy spider-might-be-on-me feeling surfacing once in a while.

Outside in the front yard, though, there was other bio-news. A lizard that was small and lived across from the front door last year is still there and bigger! Okay, it might not be him, but I think it is. I never saw more than one lizard there last year, and he would be in the same positions in the same places. I think he lives under that pile of bark, but he suns on one rock (by the trees). So today I got the lawn cart and brought two big rocks to create more sunning space, and a hidey hole for him too.


Now that I look at the photo, they look like loaves of bread, or turtle shells. They're a whole lot heavier than bread and turtles put together, though.



Now that I look at those rock photos, though, I'm thinking the top one might either be very heavy bread or the remains of a long-ago bag of cement that stayed outside way too long. I'll ask Keith's opinon. I'm sure the lizard will be thrilled either way to have a hiding place that's cool underneath and hot on the top. (We looked at the rock Sunday morning. The other side looks better. It's a big granite river rock with damaged and eroded edges.)

I know we took some photos of it last year but I can't find them. I'll ask Holly when she gets home, and I'll try to take a picture of this lizard this year, which may or may not be the same one.


(they were in Holly's photobucket, not mine)

7 comments:

Paige said...

At first glance I thought the top rock was a big puffball mushroom. ; )

laura said...

just finished reading that old post you linked on ren's blog about rudeness...and then i came here to check out your spider video...and it made me laugh that you said you've been bitten before and not died from it. i was thinking that maybe it was because you're too mean and rude to die from spider bites...LOL!!!

in case anyone didn't catch it, that was me being snarky! i don't think sandra is mean at all =)

Heather said...

We moved to MT 2 years ago from a place that had NO dangerous wildlife/insects/arachnids. (that I was aware of) Imagine my surprise when I discovered a black widow building a web, IN my house, while my bug killing husband was away for work! I survived it's capture, but had forgotten the incident until seeing your video. I had a good chuckle at myself this AM - thanks :)

Anna said...

ha! I thought it was a mushroom too! The black widow on video gave me the creepies...

Robin B. said...

I checked out the 101 things to do. I clicked on the link to video games and there was Michelle!

Black widow spiders in your hallway - and you invited them in :-)

Love the rocks/bread/turtle shells. Your resident lizard will appreciate them, I'll bet. Maybe you can post a photo of him in his sunny splendor.

Alex Polikowsky said...

I like spiders but I am so scared of them I cannot even touch their web! or see them walk- something about them walking that freaks me out!
I also was brobably bitten by a brown recluse once , had to take antibiotics ( not all bites will destroy tissue), while sleeping in the floor.
But I love little lizards and I am not afraid at all. What a little cute one. WIsh there were some around here.

Jason Barr said...

Hello,

I write the Absolution Revolution blog, and well I got married last month so I haven't been online a whole lot for a while, which is why I just came across this entry.

I do actually have my name posted on the web site, there's a tab at the top that says "Jason" and it has some biographical information.

Short story as to why I linked you, one of the things I've tried to do is provide a sampling of links to sites I find interesting, provocative, and useful on various topics. Yours definitely fit the bill. I've been doing a fair amount of reading on alternative education, un/de-schooling, and the like, and really thought you presented good, thoughtful information in a way that's very accessible - probably much more so than some of the rather dense writing I'm prone to if I don't watch myself.

Anyway, I just now found this linkback and wanted to say hello, and I do have my name there.