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My Journal- October 1998

Monday October 19th, 1998

Hi! Guess what? This past weekend we saw another one of those large, ugly, hairy, scary spiders in our kitchen. This time I was of sound enough mind to get my camera, like I mentioned a couple weeks ago I would if we saw one again. Problem was, my digital camera makes everything look twice as far as it really is, so we had to get VERY close to the spider in order to take a good picture, and of course, we were scared. We didn't know what it would do. Would it jump? Pounce? Run? FLY?? Who knew? Turns out the darn thing didn't move a muscle (or should I say stringy leg?) Nick got within one foot of the mystery arachnid and it didn't budge. Which leads me to belive that my suspicions of it being a Wolf Spider are incorrect. After all, Wolf Spiders supposedly have great eyesite (they have EIGHT eyes!) and they're supposed to be able to run pretty quickly. Wolf Spiders are the ones that don't weave webs, they just jump on their pray and suck their guts out (seriously!)

Want to learn more about Wolf Spiders? I found these great web sites....

Anyway, are you dying to see the photo we took??? Well, here it is... you be the judge.

WOLF SPIDER OR NOT:

Sorry, it's not great lighting, my camera was running out of batteries as we took this and the flash stopped working. I tried to compensate by lightening it up in Photoshop. Someone please let us know if you have any clue what kind of spider this is. Enquiring minds want to know! Our best guess is it's about 1½ inches long. Seems like the best way to indentify one is by taking a picture of it's eyes. Lord knows how we could do that unless we actually caught it and put it in a jar (ugh! shiver!). They *do* bite though, and aren't considered poisionous, but their venom hurts and it could lead to a nasty sore. One site even shows necrosis (when the skin starts rotting) from a Wolf Spider bite (ick.)

Well, if I ever find out for sure what he (or she) is, I'll let you know. In the meantime, be sure to go to my PHOTOS homepage and click on OCCASSIONS -- it's my LABOR DAY TRIP TO MILWAUKEE.

Friday October 16th, 1998

Halloween is coming up pretty quick here, and to no surprise, I am not prepared. Last year it wasn't until the night before Halloween that I figured out what I wanted to dress as. I was up until 4 in the morning creating my costume! I can't do that to myself again this year. I must think! I must decide what I want to be.

Every year I feel like I must outdo myself.... but it's getting harder and harder. It's got to be an original costume. Something no one has ever done before. I'm pretty sure my past two years' costumes were original. I've set such high expectations for myself! Every Halloween I have placed in the top 3 best costumes for CompuCom. What will people think if I slough off and buy a Party City costume? Oh horror!

Does anyone out there have an original idea for a costume for me? Something that wouldn't be too hard to put together? Do note I enjoy doing something related to current events, if possible. It must be unique! Please email me at Katie@Planet-K.com if you have any ideas.

Let me quickly touch on a new subject. My Fantasy Football Team this year. If you have been a steady reader of my journal you know that I enjoy playing Fantasy Football. In the past, I have written much about it. Well, I haven't said much this year, and that's very ironic, you know why??? Because I am in FIRST PLACE. Yes, that's right... that's what I said... FIRST PLACE. No foolin'. I am in first place in our league as of this week! And I have been first place in my division all season. This weekend will be tough cuz I'm playing the number two person in the league. It's a battle of the titans! I WILL PREVAIL!!! I had two players in last night's Green Bay/Detroit game. Antonio Freeman and Ryan Longwell. I did pretty good with them, I hope all my other players perform as well. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm really hoping to keep my reign. Lord knows I deserve it after all of these years! ;-D

Tuesday October 6, 1998

Let me tell you how much I hate Crickets. I never really hated crickets before this summer. As a matter of fact, I never even thought about them... and now they're constantly on my mind! They're everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Dallas has become infested with Crickets! Black ugly, flying, scary, hateful, smelly crickets. And they really STINK! Literally! Whew! Have you ever smelled what 1,000 rotting cricket corpses smell like? It's NASTY!

Anyway, for some reason, the parking lot of CompuCom has become quite a breeding ground for these ugly insects. I've heard nightmare stories from several of my friends that if you get here before dawn or leave after dark, the loudest sound you hear as you run for your car is the cruching of crickets beneath your feet. And I believe it, too! When I get here in the morning, I see hundreds of dead and smooshed cricket carcases everywhere. And even worse, there's twenty times that still alive!

When I get to work in the morning and leave at night, I pretty much close my eyes and run like wild, with my hand covering my mouth so none of them happen to fly in. Ugh. Makes me almost anxious for winter. DIE CRICKETS DIE!

Anyway, bugs seem to be coming quite a large part of my life lately. The other day I was unpacking and decided to put down some rugs and came across the largest spider I've ever seen indoors. I freaked. You wouldn't believe how BIG this spider was. He was brown, and nearly an inch tall with jointed legs and a round brown body. I would say he was a good two inches in diameter including his legs. I screamed bloody murder and let Nick kill it (aren't I nice?). The thing was a MONSTER! AHHH! I've looked around on the Internet trying to find a photo of him so I could show you (so, of course, you could be equally afraid and ask me how I could live through such a narrowing experience), but couldn't find one that looked like him. That alone scares me. We figured he came in the house for one or both of these reasons... it's been pouring outside the past week, and he was drowning! He needed dry land! Also, on Sat. we had Pest Control come out and spray our baseboards and outdoor foundation. Perhaps the fumes forced him out of his space? Well, anyway, I didn't like him one bit, and I hope to never see another cuz it scared the CRAP out of me. If I was brave enough, I'd start taking pictures of the large bugs we come across, but I'm too scared to get close enough to take a photo. Besides that, when I see a large spider, I'm so scared out of my mind ... I don't even know what a CAMERA is.

Anyway, being in a house, I know I should expect to see more critters, but I just don't like that one bit. I'm thinking of moving back to a second floor apartment. Much safer, I think. Well, at least I can say one thing. I have yet to see a Tarantula in my garage like my friend Janice had last week. UGH! She went to step out of her car and there it was! A HUGE BLACK FUZZY tarantula! I'm sure I'd pass out if I saw that. I'm about to pass out on my keyboard just thinking about it.

Well, have a yhu bnj;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
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See what happened to me in April thru September 1998!!!