9.14.2009

TARANTULA!

Here is the latest critter delivered by the cats, and which I found no less gruesome for being both alive and un-disemboweled unlike their usual rat/lizard/bird/bunny offerings.

I didn't realize we had tarantulas in Northern California, until Pat the Cat announced this one's appearance on the back porch just as our two babysitters arrived to spring me and Seymour for date night, and while I was finishing making the kids' dinners.

Amidst that melee, and spurred by the girls' squeals of delight and disgust (Mali: "I don't like arachDids!") I left off assembling Leo's PB+J sandwich, but that turned out to be no problem -- our boy demonstrated mastery of recently practiced skills, by finishing making his own damn sandwich, thank you very much Mommy who would rather take pictures of giant spiders than put the final touches on her son's dinner. The peanut butter was rather globby and the jam spotty, but it was a passable, edible effort. Go Leo!

If Seymour ever doubted my love for him, he can stop now. Because when I called to let him know about our eight-legged guest, his first reaction was to ask me to capture it so he could see it himself. Which I did. Which he appreciated.

6 comments:

  1. Wow! That is something else. Let me ask, after you all finished ogling the tarantula, where did you let it go? Or have you added him to the family menagerie....

    And also--since you mentioned Pat the Cat, I must tell you that I met a gentleman this weekend from, er, Pat, North Carolina, and he was really surprised we had heard of Pat. Heard of it, heck! I even know a cat named after your town! Such a handsome fellow...

    We just acquired a kitten on a weekend trip and thought about following your example and naming him after the local towns, but Osgood, Vevay (VEE-vee), and Versailles (ver-SALES) weren't doing it for us, so Pip it is....

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  2. Go Leelo! way to go with the sandwich!

    Also your cats do the darndest things! Glad that your kids were amazed (and a tad bit scared/grossed out) with the spider that was brought home by Pat the Cat.

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  3. Yay for Leo! And also, what a beautiful cat!

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  4. Jeanette1ca10:40 AM

    We do, indeed, have tarantulas, and also black widow spiders of which I have killed 31 so far in our back yard this summer (having lived in the Bay Area 25 years and never even seen one before). I know the tarantulas are less dangerous, but large and hairy is just not my preference in arachDids - love Mali's word!

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  5. Kudos to you, cat and kids.

    Despite my claims to rationality, spiders of all sizes and levels of fuzziness send me screaming for the exit.

    I live in the SF Bay Area--have never seen a tarantula in my yard, but plenty of black widows. (Check your shoes, peeps!)

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  6. Ay caramba! Are those things crawling around in my backyard in Oakland, too, or are they just a peninsula thing?

    You get a merit badge now, right?

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Respectful disagreement encouraged.