Well, Jen got word from Misha (Michael) last night. He's coming home for Christmas. He'll be here Thursday, but has to go back to his base Christmas Day. At least, he'll come home before he's deployed.

Jen's been telling me a lil about the kind of bug life Mike will meet up with over in the desert of Iraq. Well, at least, one kind of bug. The camel spider. She was telling me it is huge and can run 10 miles per hour! I kid you not. I hate spiders, but my natural, inherent blasted curiosity had me looking for a picture because I wanted to know the size of the thing and what it looks like. *shivers in revulsion*

Jen came by last night and I told her I'd found a picture of the sucker. Of course, she wanted to see. So I showed her this one. The site doesn't give how big they get or much more information, other than they really aren't spiders and are really one of fastest critters in the bug world. Also, thank the Lord, they aren't a threat to humans--although they can make your leg or arm go numb if bitten. (They're not venomous, but their bite does inject a local anestetic(sp?).)

Jen wanted to know more about the spider and its scale in size, so we puttered 'round the net and I found this. That is how big they are. There're two dangling end to jaw. A soldier found them like that in his sleeping bag. I don't think, Teacosy, your Spider Removal Guide will work with this type of bug life.

We both jumped a foot backwards when that picture popped up on the screen. No pun intended, but my eyes bugged out. We also learned they can jump several feet into the air and they prey upon scorpions (YAY!), birds and small lizards. So, despite their ugliness and gigantic size, I feel better about them than I do the smaller Hobos and Black Widows.

moon phase