we have spent the first few days of spring break both prepping for guests and lazing around. saturday was yardwork all day, in the 85-degree heat. pulling weeds, raking, etc. felt good at the time, now 2 days later i'm still sore with blisters on my fingers. also, joe had an epic battle with the bush of death:



anyway, the yard looks much better, and now we have to try to nurse the grass back to life. not an easy task in the desert. the warm weather also brings a whole host of fun new insects, including this cuddly little fella:



contrary to their hideous appearance, these guys tend to keep to themselves, occasionally wanderning into the bathtub or landing on their backs in attempts to go down the steps. this is their cry for help, which calls for removal via overturned glass and piece of paper.

joe also had a black widow crawling on his arm the other day, which led to a complete freakout by both of us. somehow the spider, still alive, was lost in the shuffle. she is lurking somewhere in our living room, ready to strike us dead at anytime. well, not quite dead, just really sick. consquently, i had a dream last night that i was bit by a black widow/scorpion hybrid.

also last night, at about 1am, we heard some hooting from inside our house so we grabbed the binocs and went to investigate. we found an owl at the tippy top of this 100ft evergreen spire across the street from our house. so we spent a good 20 minutes watching wise old owly. his placement up there really got me.

more updates to come this week of ben and alex adventures.