I am discovering that Japan has some interesting (read creepy) creatures living here. I suppose if I hadn't grown up in such a dry, land-locked state, I would probably not be so disgusted by the enormous bugs that take up residence near my home. However, we cannot change the past, so...ewwww, gross! As you can see from the picture I have met the largest beetle I have ever seen outside of captivity (okay, so it was dead when I found it but it was obviously alive at one time!). Also, we have a wooly, well-fed, genius of a spider, who has spun a web about 7 feet in diameter (no joke) anchored on ether side by our house and a dead tree behind our house. Sigh. I guess I won't be going back there until it starts snowing.
Since I didn't want to just gross you out, I also posted a picture of the new orchid that was a house-warming gift from some of our awesome new friends in Brian's squadron. I thought I should show it off before it dies at my inept brown-thumbs. I have the internet now though, so I am armed with the collective "knowledge" of any gardener who cares to post about the proper care of plants.
On that note, fiber optic internet rocks! 1 Gbps for less than what I was paying for 12 Mbps in the States?! I will brave the spiders. It is worth it. Now if I just had a US IP address, I could stream HD video from Hulu, Netflix, etc. I guess nothing is ever perfect.
