1) I have to ask -what did you do in your previous life?

2) Can't you tell, Dannie, he was a teacher before he retired and opened class in Humzoo to teach us all about nature! :) Only Steve can show us the beauty (and detail!) in a fly!!

3) Flies look more beautiful in a spider's web if you ask me.

4) You should submit your work to National Geographic.

5) George, now that you mentioned spiders, I see another album in the making!!!!

6) I love spiders they're awesome but my wife makes me kill them with her reasoning that if venomous spiders exist, then all spiders are venomous.

7) I used to squash them on site - but in recent years I try to somehow get them outside without harming them. Sometimes they don't give me much choice, though!!

8) Steve, if you do a spider album, label it very clearly: "Do not open, Mrs. Shoo!!"

9) The word "spider" in the title will probably suffice set to set your alarm bells ringing.

10) Yeah, I'll come up with an alternative name that sounds attrtactive, lure them into my web, and then I'll have them!!! Won't be until next week though, want to just do some daily pics I have been accumulating from my yard.

11) Can't wait to see the spiders...but if you have a snake album, I might pass. :) Then again, I don't mind looking at them--it's the movement that gets to me. :)

12) It's strange - snakes are one thing I do not have photographs of, not one. OK, I'll file that away for the next time I'm in the woods!!!!

13) I thought so-you remind me alot of my Dad, Steve. (That's meant as a great compliment.) He was an ag teacher and then got his Master's in Special Ed. When we were kids one of my best memories was going on hikes with Dad on Sunday afternoon. He would teach us how to look for dear tracks and show us how pine cones grow. I really enjoy your generosity in sharing your knowledge BUT please skip the snake pictures-I get nighmares everytime I look at even a picture.

14) My mom was the same way, Dannie. She liked the out-of-doors but freaked out at the sight of a snake. I can still see her watching TV and covering her eyes with her hands when a snake was shown on the tube!!

How do you feel about spiders? I didn't like them before I started taking pictures, but once I saw what they looked like up-close I saw a lot of beauty in them. The reason I ask how you feel is because I want to post an album next week of spider pics - but I don't want to gross out people. I have plenty other insects I can use if spiders are a bad topic.

15) An enormous daddy long legs came running (at lightening speed) across my bed last night. I catapulted out and then began the search. There was no way I was shutting my eyes with that thing in the room. I finally located him after about 15 minutes. Pssssst...I grabbed the Raid and let him have it. I felt bad because I know he meant me no harm and it wasn't his fault he was so big and ugly. Sorry spidey.

16) http://www.cracked.com/article_15816_5-most-horrifying-...
Steve, I figured you'd get a kick out of this...although it freaked me out. (And it's from Cracked.com, so excuse the crude humor.)

17) Steve, maybe folks will feel different when you show them the beauty of spiders. As long as you clearly name the blog--the spider folks can avoid the area. :)

18) Thanks Mrs. Shoo. That makes me think twice about getting down to within 10 inches of some of those creatures!!!! Not your everyday videos you'd want to watch!!!

19) Oh Mrs. Shoo...How could you? I now feel like my skin is crawling with bugs. If I ever have a bot in me... just leave it there and leave me in the desert to die. Loved the manhood ritual. Only guys could be that cruel.
Squeemish ones...DO NOT go to Mrs. Shoo's link!!!!!

20) Is Daddy-long-legs not a Crane Fly? It is in the UK at least but I think you guys might use that nick name for a different bug.

21) Spiders don't bother me and I am usually the one to pick them up and escort them outside. I have seen some that I rather keep my distance from but I don't automatically squish them. I have had a severe snake phobia every since I can remember-I think it has to growing up in Catholic school and seeing the virgin Mary stepping on a snake on a globe. In that one Raider's movie where he gets dumped in the snake pit I almost got sick. I do have nightmares and jus writing this creeps me out.I tried to make mykids afraid of snakes because I was terriefied they would bring one in the house. Of course it didn't work with my youngest. She had a black snake that slept in a aquarium at the foot of her bed at the Y camp. When I lived in the mountains the old folks said to carry a large stick and thump it on the ground and the vibrations would keep them away. I always had one of the dogs with me.

22) George - Daddy-Long-Legs refers to spiders here.

Dannie - I know phobias can be terrifying. I do not have any snake pictures and if I should acquire one or more I will try to remember not to post them.

23) I wonder why the difference

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5386164.stm

24) Dannie, I'm just the opposite. And it's so embarrassing when my students find out. They'll put play spiders in my desk, or there have even been the brave ones who've brought in real spiders. They spent several days in detention. It's really funny that we know these fears are irrational but just can't seem to shake them. I always feel so silly when I'm hyperventilating over a tiny daddy long-legs crawling towards me. (Okay. I might not be THAT bad...)

25) One of my happiest feelings about Portland is no poisonous snakes. If you go on the east side of the Cascades, that isn't true of Oregon but I happily give the eastern side to the snakes if they just stay on their side and let me enjoy mine. It doesn't mean we don't have snakes here but they are harmless. Much as my brain jumps when I see one, I can feel a little less jumpy because I know they are harmless to me. My biggest irrational fear is a rattlesnake. Something about them just gives me the willies. I know they have their purpose in life and I don't begrudge them that life--I just try really hard to make sure we are in different parts of the world. :)

26) LG, I can honestly say, I'd quake if I heard a rattler...but the worst I'll find in my back yard is a garden snake. Harmless and cool to watch.

27) I feel the same, Mrs. Shoo. When I did my cross-country trip with my dog back in prehistoric times, I slept out on the ground in a sleeping bag without a tent. If it looked "snaky", I opted to sleep in the car (had a wagon) instead. One place in Colorado had "the vibes". The next morning I met a couple and had breakfast with them. They told me they had hiked one of the trails the night before and came up on a rattler sleeping on the trail. They walked around him or turned--can't remember now but if it had been me...I would still be moving. I was happy to feel my snake-radar was in good shape and trusted it the rest of the trip. LOL

28) LimeyGeorge - this doesn't really explain why there are differences in the creatures referred to as daddy longlegs in the U.S and England, but simply substantiates that in different parts of the world different creatures are called by the same name.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/longlegs.asp

29) I have noticed that what i call a wasp and a bee seem to be different over here...

30) Definitely. To me a bee is fuzzy fluffy looking and a wasp is shiny and sleek. Bee good, wasp bad. When a bee stings, it leaves its heart behind so it doesn't want to sting you. Wasps, on the other hand can sting with reckless abandon because they have infinite ammo and it costs them very little.

31) Jim- I have never really thought about differences between bees and wasps, so you raise an interesting point. I found a site that gives some general differentiations between the two: http://insects.about.com/od/identifyaninsect/a/beeorwas...
LG was right on target about bees being "hairy" while wasps are shiny and also bees tend to have a more rounded body while wasps are sleeker.