Murder Cat

Wow.  I recently posted on facebook about cat's and their hunting prowess. I thought this was just humorous, but the last few nights, Muji has let the inner serial killer in her out for full display.

Over the last three nights she brought back two grasshoppers (mostly alive) and two lizards!

The grasshopper she played with until I grabbed her and brought her inside, but apparently it didn't have the good sense to leave the scene.  When I let her back out an hour or so later, it was still sitting there and Muji was more than happy to munch it up (I could hear the crunching from inside!). The lizard I wasn't taking any chances with so when she brought that home, that was her last outing for the night.  Most of the time the lizards are unharmed, just terrified and curled in a ball.  They at least usually have the good sense to skidaddle when she's gone!

So what does Muji think of this? Well, she's currently sitting about four feet behind me, meowing angrily because she's grounded for the night.

Eight-(and six) legged annoyances

I know what you're going to say already, mom.  But spiders are good! They eat all the other bugs!  Well that's what I've kept telling myself over the past month and a half, as I spent more and more time cleaning out cobwebs from our patio and eaves.  However, last night we were coming in from having dinner outside and right next to the sliding glass door I see some movement out of the corner of my eye.  I put everything down and came back to take a look and found a huge black-widow spider.  I think the ones I've always seen at Grandma's were much smaller, maybe an inch at best, but this female (given its markings) was nearly two inches long and quite beautiful. 

Too bad I had to get rid of it.  Normally I wouldn't but because it was within reach of our way too curious cat, it got the flip-flop treatment. Sigh.

I think the number of spiders we have is partly related to the number of crickets in our backyard.  Muji is making a dent in that population (although she doesn't eat them, just catches them) but they are everywhere.  If we spend any amount of time on the back patio in the evening with the lights on, soon enough they'll be hopping all over us. I never realized what a nuisance they could be too!  They were never really much of an annoyance in Pittsburgh, maybe these west coast crickets are more invasive.

I'm going to try some of the advice for the crickets from HowToGetRidOfStuff.com but if you guys have any tips, I'm happy to listen.