Icky Bugs

This is a Dobson Fly.

Pretty gross, huh?

And it's not a small critter. They're huge - like 5 inches long huge. This one's a female. See those pinchers? The males have really, really long ones. They're mean. They both bite. And they stink. And fly. The larvae is called a hellgrammite. They're just as disgusting as the adults, except they don't have wings.

This particular one is in a bag. B wanted to show K3's friend who was camping with us Saturday night. K2 and I gave him a CT scan with a flashlight (they look hollow), and inspected his body with the relative safety of the heavy plastic. Then we let him go. Yeah, they're disgusting and scary, but killing it seemed wrong.

Thursday morning, I woke to hear B say, "Don't freak and cover your head." Yeah. One was in the camper and probably had been all night. I'd seen two on the screen door earlier, and when we went to bed there was only one. The seal between the canvas and door wasn't completely closed. I didn't freak since it was over and B got it out. If I was alone it would probably have been a completely different story. Ha!

So, there you have it. Something disgusting for the weekend!

Lots of camp preparations going on here. My living room looks like a laundromat explosion.

Behave!