Or both?

I almost called this post “Cute or Gross,” in the style of Cute Overload‘s Cute or Sad feature.  But then I thought, there’s virtually no context within which I’d call a spider cute.

Yep, I said spider.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a fan of spiders.  In fact, I’ve been terrified of them for most of my life.  RD Husband has accused me of passing on my fear to our boys, so I try to go out of my way to be super nonchalant and chill when both kids and spiders are involved.

The three-year-old and I were out on the playset yesterday, and it was pretty much riddled with spiders and webs.  There was a massive one literally covering the entire opening from the playhouse to the slide.  I did my best casual, “hey, look at these cool webs!”  And then, we really found a cool one.  Not only was it still inhabited, I’m pretty sure the owner was in the middle of breakfast.

We actually saw it spinning some web around the prey; it used its back legs and spun the bug it had captured around and, I think, covered it with more web.

When I showed this spider to the three-year-old, I told him to come closer to look.  He wisely replied, “Not TOO close.”  But he was interested.  So depending on your perspective, this was either a parenting fail since I’ve passed on some of my fear of spiders, or a parenting win since I’m trying to help them appreciate these buggers.  From a distance.  I’ll let you decide.

Please also decide whether this post is cool or gross.

I thought I’d share a few photos I’ve taken lately of some of my garden inhabitants.  None of these are mammals, although I’m pretty sure that the suspects eating my garden are rats.  Never been seen in person, but I just have a sinking feeling that the kind of destruction my plants are enduring comes from something voracious.  I’ve heard that desert rats in our area can strip your greenery in no time.

But I digress.  I found these guys in my garden recently, and while I’m not usually a fan of the creepy crawlies, I was fascinated enough to grab some shots.

see this cute little spider guy?

I’m actually kind of terrified by spiders, particularly when they invade my space in the house.  In the garden, I’m willing to cut them a little slack, since I know they eat a lot of the nasty bugs that might be chomping on my plants’ leaves.  This guy was hanging out on a zucchini blossom.

Then, I saw what I think is a lady spider.  A mama spider, to be precise.  She was diligently doing something to what I assume is a sac of babies.  On one level, kinda gross.  On another, I’m in solidarity with any mom trying to protect her offspring.

you go, spider girl

Maybe later this spider and I will burn our bras together.  Or at least throw them in the trash can.

On this same plant, I saw some grasshoppers, and I was about to go medieval on their asses, but my tree trimming guy pointed out that apparently, they weren’t eating the actual tree.  Although he referred to them as leaf cutters, and that sounds ominous to me.

you better not eat that tree, sucka

But I let this dude hang out, since he appeared to be leaving my tree alone, and he was neighbors with this cute little bugger who was doing some kind of grasshopper yoga or Pilates.

Ohmmmmm

I’m sure there’s some entomological reason for this floating leg pose, but I found it kind of hilarious.  He did this with both legs; just sitting on the branch with leg extended, then putting said leg down and lifting the other one.  Wha?  I’m currently entertaining joke suggestions on what this grasshopper is up to.

So, these are the people in my garden neighborhood.

I’m gonna need your help on this one.

There’s been a garden tragedy taking place right under my nose.  While I’ve been crafting my tush off, something has been devouring my plants.  And when I say devouring, I’m not kidding.  And these aren’t bugs, either, unless we have some pretty enormously frightening bugs around here.

Something is chewing several of my plants off right at the base.  Literally eating the plants down to nubs.  For example, I had a lovely eggplant that looked like this when I planted it:

Lovely, right?  And over the past month or two, it had grown into a nice sized plant.  Then, the other day, I found this:

Where did my plant go? The saddest thing to me is the way the plant has sent out new leaves on the sides of its stems, in a last ditch effort to survive.  It’s all, “And so you’re back / From outer space…” and it’s thinking, “I should’ve changed that stupid lock.”  I don’t know if it will survive or, if it does, if it’ll produce eggplants, but I’ll tell ya, it’s not alone.

No, in fact, a cucumber that already had fruit on it– those super super cute little cukes!– was also severed, and the long vine with baby cucumbers attached was left there to taunt me.

My strong, sturdy jalapeno also got decimated.

So, here’s where I appeal to you for help.  What on earth is eating my plants?  I know we have skunks and raccoons.  Could a skunk do this?  I’d say rabbits, but I have never seen rabbits around here.  What do you all think?

As for solutions, I’m thinking of putting chicken wire around individual plants to save them.  Any other ideas?