The Critter situation - Other people have kitchens like this right?

Okay, I've come to realize, we may not be the most normal people around. The husband referred to me as "Dr. FrankenKelly" the other day. Looking at what going on in my kitchen today, I guess I can sort of see his point.

We've had an exciting day here at the Klingman Zoo and and wild experimentation center. Our caterpillar changed into a very beautiful moth and we released him, and our spider caught her dinner and we got to watch it not only paralyze the bug, but shoot out webbing and wrap the little suckers up for a little late night dining. But while realizing how exciting things are, I've realized NOT everyone has all this sitting around on the breakfast bar of their kitchen.

So let's review the current contents of our kitchen. We have a pass through that opens up and is a little counter/shelf area between the actual kitchen and the breakfast bar. On that sits:

*1 dead cockroach type bug in a bug jar
*2 exoskeletons of cicadas
*2 2"-3" turtles named Tom and Jerry (we inherited them from friends and they are actually leaving as soon as we finish the current reptile unit we are on.
*1 empty peanut butter jar that held the caterpillar which we watched change into a pupa and then into a butterfly. We actually released the moth this afternoon.
*1 critter keeper that is the home to Gary, the 3 1/2" Large African Snail. While we were on vacation in Singapore, Gary laid about 100 eggs. We got to watch them hatch and now have all these little mini Gary's in the bottom of the cage.

In the living room is the ant farm. It needs more ants, which I found and had in a peanut butter jar in the fridge, but I didn't get a chance to put those in the ant farm, and then we found something else so we dumped those ants and used the jar for something else.

In the fridge are the worms I collected the other night. We were supposed to do a worm experiment a number of weeks ago, but it was so dry I couldn't find any worms, and they don't sell night crawlers as bait here in Okinawa! So we collected these up after a heavy rain. We are going to layer different dirt and sand in a jar and see how stirred up it gets.

On the counter is our other exciting bit for tonight. The other day we started a spider unit. While at the park the other day I found a beautiful Golden Orb garden spider. So I dumped out my BK drink and scooped it up! At home I had a cereal box all ready and waiting! I had cut out the front cover of the box. I put two twigs off the bushes along the sides. I laid some saran wrap on the bottom (so the water wouldn't make the box mushy) and put in wet cotton balls for drinking. Then I covered the whole front with more saran wrap and taped it down with clear packing tape. We pulled back a corner and added our spider. She immediately set out to making a decent web, which she sits on directly in the center of the box. And she is SO cool looking! We know it's a she, especially since right away she spun a dense package of webbing. I'm guessing that's an egg sack. Currently it's in not one, but two ziplock bags (double bagged to help save the dear husband's sanity. The man does put up with a lot I guess!) and sitting in the freezer. I'm hoping we can cut it open and actually see something.

So anyway, I managed to catch a couple of small moths to feed her (not the one we grew in the other jar!) Well somehow they weren't exactly getting themselves caught in the web. I figured the poor girl was hungry, so I'm outside this after noon lifting up rocks and sandbags and scooping up little rolly polly pill bugs. I opened up the little slotted area I cut out and dumped them in. And BAM! She went right to work! They got caught up in the webbing right away. She rushes over and starts spinning them around and around, and the whole time you can actually see the web silk just shooting out of her spinners! It was so cool! After, we got to watch her go back over and inject them with the spider venom that dissolves their insides and then watch her suck it out.

And then to top it all off, on the other counter are 5 boxes of salt, 4 boxes of baking soda, 3 cans of baking powder and in the fridge is a partridge from a pear tree. No, just kidding, in the fridge is the smallest chicken I could find. I'm about to go clean him out with rubbing alcohol and start the mummification process on him. Yes, we are attempting to make a Chicken Mummy! I'll keep everyone updated on our progress! It was actually the realization that the chicken in the fridge was NOT for dinner and what it's actual purpose was that caused David to coin the
Dr. FrankenKelly phrase the other day. (As I said, the man does put up with a lot I guess! Good think he still thinks I'm cute!)

So looking at all that, I have to wonder. Are we that odd? Other people have stuff like this right? Granted not everybody has stuff like this, but I know there are SOME other people out there that have things like this. My friend is picking me up tomorrow night for something. Once she found out about the spider, she announced she wasn't coming in the house. EVER. She'll pull up and honk, but she's not coming in.

I think we're fairly normal. So I've got critters and mummies in my kitchen. If I got rid of all that, I'd have more counter space. But then, I might have to cook!

Hmmmm, if that's my option, I'll stick with the critters!

Talk to you later!

Kelly