Proof that Utah is becoming the Pacific Northwest

Once upon a time we lived in Oregon.

A place of green year round.

With slugs the length of your hand

and

A bounty of large snails under every leaf.

One day MDH ran something out to the trash can in his socks in the dark.

A generous size snail lost his life that evening under the clean white sock clad heal of my husband.

It was a shock to MDH to hear the crunch and feel the squish but I'm sure it was an even bigger shock to the snail..

..or maybe he didn't feel a thing.....Do snails have feelings?

Anyway

We know snails and they're gross.

and we know they aren't supposed to abound in Utah.

However

This year they did.

Want proof.

Check out this butternut squash we found in our garden this autumn.

So what happened to the snails?  

They all got chucked as hard and as far as they would go over the fence.
(Not into the neighbor's yard...into the part where we have no neighbors. Just so you know.)

What happened to the squash?

MDH can't remember if it was salvageable or not.

Maybe I don't want to know.

This will make you squirm...

It would seem that Shelob or Aragog or one of their progeny has taken up residence in the frame of my back door.

Yes it has!

Shudder!

See that black thing at the front of it? That's a fly.....being eaten......my boys think it's so cool.

Me? Not so much.

Here's the thing, I made a deal with all spiders on this planet years ago. I call it "The Great Spider Treaty".  Basically what it boils down to is that if a spider wishes to live it will stay outside of my house and outside of my personal-space whilst I am outside. 

I appreciate that spiders serve a good purpose and do a fantastic job of keeping the fly population to a manageable level, and that is why if a spider is outside and doesn't encroach on my personal space (ie. on my body) I leave them alone.

However, it would seem that this spider is starting to trespass into my despiderized zone.

Luckily I have a very loving and helpful husband who relocated this spider for me.

Thank you!

Sigh of relief.

Why Hello!

Why Hello Little Miss Sunshine!

It's so nice to see you. The time has dragged on too slowly since I last saw your smiling face.

Please stay for a while and invite your friends, butter daffodil and purple tulip. Oh and don't forget cotton candy hyacinth and sweet little petite candy-tuft. We'll all have a great time together.