Leaf-footed Memories

Today was extremely hard with all of the good-byes. We're going to go ahead and ignore that topic for now and focus on more positive things. I would bet that some of you are wondering about the logistics of our trip. We already introduced you to the Relocubes (that are now out of our possession). We own two cars (Kirby and Kit, both of whom could be considered compact cars..absolutely fantastic places to call home for 30 days), but we will be driving together on the trip. Robbie's friend and coworker Ashley will be taking her own road trip out west this summer in Kirby, and she will be bringing some of our weirdly-shaped items and anything that is alive (this includes our friend Mr. Plant). We will give you Ashley/Kirby/Mr. Plant updates along the way to let you know where they are and what types of things they are seeing. We will part ways with Kirby either tomorrow or Thursday, to be reunited on the west coast at a later time.

Mr. Plant

Cube #1..delicately packed with care


Cube #2..we are sick of packing, just throw the rest of the crap in

Goodbye worldly possessions..see you in a month or two!

We have been reminiscing about some of our more memorable Florida moments, and many that come to mind include large, prehistoric-looking bugs. I remember coming down to look at apartments before moving here in '07, and 99.9% of the apartments/townhouses we looked at contained either live or dead specimens of the largest bugs we had ever seen. I remember calling my cousin Katie (who lives in Gainesville), asking if this is a normal Florida thing and if we should go ahead and try to accept the bug issue and move on. You see...Florida is hot. Nothing ever dies. Bugs keep growing and growing for 8,000 years until they are approximately the size of small dogs. We finally found a place that was bug-free (and luckily it continues that way, with a few minor exceptions).

During our first year, we had an outdoor encounter with a particularly memorable bug. Robbie went out to grill something (we can't recall what..we have repressed the majority of this memory), and when he lifted the grill lid we came face to face with this lovely creature called a "leaf footed bug." It was large, greenish, fleshy, and evil looking. After a few of Robbie's patented "little girl screams", we tried several methods to remove this bug from our vicinity. We tried the humane method of spraying it with water with a garden sprayer, which promptly led the bug to laugh at us. We tried Raid, and I think it just flexed its muscles a little harder. Finally, we got a broom and tried the "sweep away" method, which knocked him to the ground. Robbie was on one side of the porch, and Jen was on the other..the leaf footed bug was in the middle, darting around and generally creeping us out. Robbie (little girl scream included) decided it would be a good idea to OPEN the screen door to our home as the creepy thing was running toward our house. Somehow, miraculously, his timing was perfect so as to not let the thing in, but to accidentally squish it under the little wheels of the screen door. We gingerly examined the carcass (perhaps rolling the door back and forth a few times..just to make sure), and after confirming that it was dead, we again used the "sweep away" method to push it into the grass. RIP you little misunderstood bug. We then ran immediately to the dumpster to throw away our broom, and Robbie is now a bit more cautious every time he opens the grill.

Creepy internet stock picture of the specimen:

Anyway, tomorrow is the day that we lose our home internet. We will be setting up our mobile broadband after that, and we will hopefully be updating every couple of days from here on out.