Friendly Neighbor

As you can see I have added two new pics to my blog. The most interesting of course is the praying mantis. He or she as the case my be...I don't know how to tell the difference...has been my new neighbor for most of the week. I don't remember when I first noticed it...I think it was Monday afternoon. Ever since I have seen it in various places. I have never actually seen a real praying mantis before...and as I am a science teacher it is pretty neat. I say good morning every day as I walk down the stairs. Yesterday morning is when I finally decided it would be a good idea to take a picture...I mean...I don't know how long I will have this green little neighbor. I also had two green little frogs as neighbors yesterday. They moved to quick to get pictures however. While these neighbors are relatively unobtrusive...I have other less desirable neighbors I must deal with...mainly the hords of spiders that live in the complex. They are everywhere! I don't really care for spiders...but as they have stayed outside my apartment I suppose they are okay. They do eat all the pesky flying insects. We also seem to have tons of yellow jackets that live here. It seems as though almost everyone has had to kill them lately. They live on our porches. When I first moved in Bob sprayed to huge nests for me. And they were incredibly large nests. I am used to seeing wasp nests...maybe 15 little holes for baby wasps to live in...but these yellow jacket nests are massive. I saw a nest on the ground the other day that someone had knocked down...it must have had 75 to 100 little holes in it. I bet the ones on my porch have at least 50 holes. But...at least mine are dead...I just need to knock down the empty houses now.

The other pic is for people to see part of my drive each day. This area...the road is basically a tunnel of trees...is right outside of Charlottesville. Maybe one morning I will have time to stop and take pictures at various places along my drive...some of the vies are spectacular.

In other news...school was much better yesterday...at least I didn't feel like quitting at the end of the day. Less than a week to go for the first day of school. I am excited! I have had a bunch of kids and parents stop by my room in the last week to say hi. They are showing their Freshmen around...so they won't get completely lost on the first day. The all seem very nice...of course...the bad kids and unsupportive parents don't usually show up to school on a voluntary basis. LOL

Well...I suppose that is all of my earth shattering news for today. It is getting late and I have to stop for gas (again) this morning. I am glad that it is almost the weekend...I feel tired this morning...

Enjoy the pics!