Taming of the Shrew (and friends)...

Not only did Susan and Andrew come help our kids secure everything during the typhoon warning...they came back and helped put everything back together before Cliff and I came home. Aren't they awesome?

It took us a week to make the connection between our missing garbage can (we have the heavy, metal old-school cans) and the securing of outdoor objects that took place in our absence. I just thought someone forgot to bring it back from the curb or maybe was using it in the backyard or something. Upon doing a more purposeful search, I found it stowed behind the A/C unit and put two and two together.

Not even giving it a second thought, I grabbed the can's metal handle and gave it a good tug, uncovering the following:






FIVE of these things! Shrews are everywhere here, by the way. It's not uncommon to see several cross through your headlights, while driving through the neighborhood on any given night.

Here's a little shrew story (you know, so that you don't feel TOO jealous that we live in paradise). Remember the night that Cliff and I came home and the A/C was out and we took the kids to get something to eat? When we we pulled the borrowed van up to our house to load it up with kids, we saw a sight that still makes me throw up a little in my mouth when I think of it...a swarm (I mean thousands) of little black beetles devouring an adult shrew. So violent was their feasting, that they were moving this entire carcass INCHES per minute across the ground...TINY beetles were doing this. I could not even bring myself to take pictures it was so horrid. In the few minutes it took us to gather the kids and bring them out, the horde had moved the shrew from the hill in front of our house and onto the pavement by the passenger side of the van. By the time we got home, the horde of beetles had disappeared, and only a stripped, white, perfect shrew skeleton remained...several yards from where we last witnessed the carnage.

Anyway, we wondered if it was possible that the above shrew belonged to these babies. We didn't think so, but just in case, we gathered them up in a critter keeper, Jake dug them a little shelter near where we found them (since I was taking my trashcan) and we put them back and covered them up, to give them the best possible chance. We left them alone, but several days later, we saw one of them wandering around the bushes where we left them, so at least one of them was still living, and it was developing more mature fur. It seemed to be hunting for insects, so while we don't know if mom was still in the picture, they may have made out OK.


It was a banner day, because then look what Jake spotted in our front tree:


Luckily (or not) Jake has no less than 5 critter keepers at his disposal for opportunities such as this. He kept this guy for a couple of days, fed and observed him, and then returned him to his tree.


And these guys are SO yesterday, I don't even get excited about them anymore. It is evidently their birthing season, though...because babies abound in our abode. The above illustrates why we wash our pans before AND after we use them.

Hey, if I have to choose between geckos or spiders...I'm sure you can guess which I'd choose!