Spiders and such

Hey everyone.  Everything is fine here in South Carolina.  It is hot, but these last few days have been California hot.  Not too bad and not very humid.  My girls are happy.  Jenna loves spiders and bugs, Riley loves to read.  She will be able to read on her own soon.

We have a pet Black Widow (typical David) that we found in our sandbox.  I just couldn’t kill it.  I have always had a strange thing for dangerous spiders.  Maybe compassion because everyone else just kills them and doesn’t see their value.  Jenna and I created a habitat for it and we have had two eggs sacks (that I exterminate).  I am holding the spider in prison as it awaits it ultimate death sentence.  Jenna asked me why God made spiders that are dangerous.  I told her that God made dangerous spiders so that we could learn wonder and curiosity.  And in some unfortunate cases, great pain and suffering.  A healthy black widow can live up to two years, and we keep “Charlotte” as Jenna named her well fed.  ~Two years on Death Row maybe?

We also have brown widows and red widows here.  They are cool and dangerous, but not as dangerous as the black widow.  We have brown recluses, but I have yet to find one (and I have a keen eye for finding spiders).

We harvested 10 lbs of carrots today.  Home grown are they best.  They taste different!

Well, take care and we’ll talk more soon.

Love, Dave

Riley on the mend

Well, we finally made it!  After 11 weeks in the cast, Riley is finally free and moving about.  This also means that she is back to using the potty all by herself.  No more diapers–hooray!  The pictures below detail the break and our trials with the cast in place.  Now Riley hobbles around cheerfully all by herself and has resumed activities such as playing in the park with her older sister, Jenna, and riding her tricycle up and down the block.  Riley still enjoys playing computer games, which became her favorite pastime while she was immobile.