Tarantula Visitor!

A couple of days ago, at I was taking out my trash, I spotted this big, fuzzy, spider in my driveway.   Here is a photo of him (or her?) and also a short video I made.  What an interesting creature.  And while I very much enjoyed watching this spider, I'm glad he (or she) was outside, though, and not inside my house!

 

Creepy Bug

This creature was crawling around at work this morning. I don't know what he is, but I'm hoping he stays away from my feet!

UPDATE: It appears, after doing some research online, that this is a 'camel spider'. They have a very bad reputation for being really dangerous, but much of what is said about them is not correct. They can give a painful bite, but they are not venomous. This particular one was aggressive when I tried to shoo it away. Instead of retreating, as most bugs would, it turned towards me and raised its large front legs (or whatever those are) in a threatening manner. I got the message and backed away. After that, though, it seemed content enough to be photographed.

Independence Day Grasshoppers

Here in northern New Mexico, we're in the midst of our annual grasshopper time... tons of grasshoppers, but smaller ones than we've had in other years, it seems to me. Here are a few that I noticed this afternoon, just beore sunset.

What's This Bug??

The other night this wee beastie was crawling around on me and on the desk in front of me. I got some photos of it making its way across a piece of mail, but they're not good ones... I couldn't get it in focus, and it tended to disappear in the flash, as if it were transluscent. But you can see it's shape, and pretty colors. I don't recall ever having seen one of these before. Have you? Can you tell me what it is?

Black Widow, Red Rose

These two photos taken at work Saturday morning... first, this lovely but dangerous black widow, who I found hanging, belly up, in her web in the hallway just outside the therapist's office at the Zombie Free Youth Shelter. Although I was a bit nervous taking this close up, she was very cooperative in posing while I photographed her.


And then, as I was leaving work, about 9 hours later, I paused to photograph this last late summer rose, still blooming by the front door. It smells as beautiful as it looks!

click on either image to view larger

The Grasshoppers Are Here!

It's grasshopper season again.
Here's one that visited me, after
escaping from one of my cats.
I think the poor fellow was in
a bit of shock as I took photos.

At the end of our photo shoot, I put him down in a little tree. You can see he has what appears to be bug blood on his (or her?) face and belly. I hope he was OK.

Click on photos to view larger images.