Creatures - Hawaii Style

I was working in the garden the other day and I was thanking God that I could work out there and not worry about insects that look like they came from a Godzilla movie!! In Hawaii all the bugs seem to look more like monsters than insects!!

I thought I'd share pictures of the creatures we found there:

Starting off easy - an Egret - about as tall as your average four year old - very pretty and stately:
Zebra dove - very friendly and cute with it's blue blush:

A little creepier now - a gecko - they are everywhere - especially inside - they make a weird barking chirp at night - friendly and cute if you like amphibians:

Another amphibian - I wouldn't ordinarily classify a toad as creepy but this is a cane toad and they surely do belong in the weird category - first they smell like something your cat left in the littler box - (don't ask me why he picked it up!!!!) second, if they are squeezed they put out a deadly poison - believe me - I was very sure Dan did NOT squeeze that toad and I made him wash his hands very well!!!

A giant stick bug - I thought it would be fun to hold it but when Dan put it on my arm it started to RUN - very fast - toward the inside of my shirt - I tried very hard not to scream - but didn't do too well. That bug instantly fell into the creepy category when it started to run!!

This is VERY creepy: It's a cane spider - a very large arachnid about as big as an adult hand - or bigger!! Dan thought it would be fun to touch one and low and behold they have a hidden talent - they JUMP!!! - HIGH!!! Oh my - these are the things out of bad movies - this one jumped right on Dan and started running up his leg!!! He is much braver than me - he didn't fall down in a faint!!!
So those are a few of the creatures that I managed to get pictures of - there were two more that at their sightings getting the camera was the last thing on my mind.

One was the giant cockroach that ran over me in the middle of the night - at that moment all I could think about was protecting Essie from the monster - I definitely don't miss that!!

The second was really the most creepy thing of all - it was a GIANT centipede - it really looked like a creature from a Godzilla movie. It had taken up habitation in our room and the girls saw it first. Oh the screaming!!! I thought - Oh, silly girls - it's just a bug (that was when I was still innocent to the nature of Hawaiian insects). Well, when I approached the location of the creature and laid eyes on it - I doubt anyone could have run faster - I discovered that at 42 years of age I can still move very, very fast when I need too!! A very brave person got rid of it with a very heavy shoe - and it needed to be beat to death twice!!! We found out later that to really kill them you must use a knife and sever it's head from it's body - GROSS!!! I would think after that one should be knighted!!!

So now I am very happy with the slugs and small little insects here in Washington State (well, maybe not those nasty green worms that eat my lettuce - they can go to Hawaii!!)

Have a wonderful weekend!!!