The Cactus...and Hannah

The Cactus Won :(

There is not much more else to say other than Hannah met a cactus for the first time and decided to see what it would feel like, on BOTH hands.  Poor thing was miserable. We tried to do the tape trick at my friend's house- by the way, DON'T do this!! So when I googled some ways to get the thorns out, it specifically said...DO NOT use tape!  The following is however one of the ideas they came up with.  Honestly, didn't really seem like it would be that better better of an idea. I was trying to get the glue to dry so I could then slowly peel it off (where it would supposedly take the thorns out), but the poor thing fell asleep while we waited.  I ended up taking the glue off with a wash cloth while she slept and surprisingly it only had a few thorns attached. Go figure. So, when she woke in the morning, I carefully pulled out each of the thorns with a magnifying glass and tweezers and finally, the problem was solved.  She probably had well over 50 teeny tiny thorns. :(

Poor Hannah ...

Gaudy Insects!

The African Bush Grasshopper was found in my yard the other day and I could not have been more amazed. We saw it flying across our heads with rainbow colored wings and I thought...what in the world? A flying grasshopper?  Anyway, it turned it to be this, a Green Milkweed Locust (Phymateus viridipes).  They belong to this family; Pyrgomorphidae, which means...Gaudy Grasshoppers.

Kind of funny. Ha

I thought this was the only one until I found about 60 of them congregating on this one bush.  Crazy! So, it has now been my daily ritual to go and check out these amazingly, awkward, kind of creepy...but seriously cool Locusts. 

 

Since coming to Africa over four years ago, I started to become somewhat of a Birdie, as embarrassing as at is. I just can't help but be amazed by all the different birds you see here! But now I must say...I might now be into insects? What??? Honestly, that is really kind of Gross!!!

 

Praying Mantis
In South Africa, they are seen as Gods.  I mean, you never know, right? The people here also think that mermaids and goblins are real, so you never really know what they are thinking when they
see these things. Ha Honestly, I'm afraid to ask!!!

Do you see how big this worm is??

Hope you enjoyed some of my GAUDY pictures. :)