It's so fun to live close to mountains again. There is a beautiful, green canyon 30 minutes from our house. We all love being out there hiking, throwing rocks and exploring.
Joey loved collecting all the seed pods from the tall grasses as we walked
picnic dinner
cute little sillies
We found a little stream near the top. Pretty good for the middle of the desert!
The most exciting discovery was the tarantula hawk. As the sun was setting, Kimball and Dad were getting tired, but Joey and I wanted to explore some more so we started off down a little trail. After a few minutes I saw something moving and it looked like a tarantula I steeped in to get a closer look and saw a huge bug dragging the tarantula I sent Joey to run back and get Dad, Kimball and the camera while I kept an eye on the show so it wouldn't disappear We watched until they disappeared into the bushes. When we got home we discovered (after a scientific Google search) that it was a tarantula hawk.-A tarantula hawk is a spider wasp which hunts tarantulas as food for its larvae. The stinger of a female tarantula hawk can be up to 7 mm (1/3 in) long, and the sting is considered among the most painful insect stings in the world.
The female tarantula hawk captures, stings, and paralyzes the spider, then either drags her prey back into her own burrow or transports it to a specially prepared nest, where a single egg is laid on the spider’s abdomen, and the entrance is covered. When the wasp larva hatches, it creates a small hole in the spider's abdomen, then enters and feeds voraciously, avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep the spider alive. After several weeks, the larva pupates. Finally, the wasp becomes an adult, and emerges from the spider's abdomen to continue the life cycle.
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