Some sketchy characters I have met along the way...

                                                                                          Mary the moth
     Susan the snail                                          

                                                                                        Melanie the millipede

Colin the cockroach

Goderich the gecko

   

                                                             Sammy the snake

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Some horribly huge beetle/grasshopper

thing... - I didn't stop to ask its name!!                                                              

                     

  

Kevin the roommate - HA! Just kidding  :o)                            

We also have a couple of "mystery" animals in the neighborhood which have so far eluded the camera. Every night, the dogs in the neighborhood start growling and barking - right around bedtime (of course!). Then a deep, constant, growl/purr sound starts. After a while the dogs start yelping and crying until suddenly all is quiet. I believe the growling sound is a lion, lying in wait, then suddenly attacks the dogs. To me it's the only explanation! Although one rainy night, we were walking home and passed a big sewage drain filled with massive bullfrogs. They were making the same deep, constant, growl/purr sound, but I can't see them attacking dogs! Kevin feels this mystery is solved, but I am not convinced - why are the dogs so upset? I'm sure bullfrogs are not attacking them (although the were HUGE). Plus if it were bullfrogs, well that would make for a terribly boring blog!!  :o)

The second "mystery" lives down the street. Louise, Kevin and I heard it most days on our walk to work. A loud trumpeting sound which we were convinced was an elephant. We have since been told that having an elephant in your backyard is totally against the law! (Then what is the sound??). One day, I thought it sounded a bit like a very sick cow, but then it TRUMPETED!! I ran home yelling: "It IS an elephant!!". Because of the "law" issue, Kevin thinks it would be a bit far-fetched for a neighbor to be keeping an elephant...he believes it must be a dinosaur!! A pterodactyl to be exact! This would explain how a herd of grazing goats has gone missing. Hmmmmm!

We have been having a lot of fun with this story when new roommates arrive. We walk down the street and when this "creature" makes its noise, the new volunteers look wide-eyed at us and ask: "What the heck was that?!". Kevin and I give each other a little mischievous wink, and nonchalantly respond: "No worries! It's just a dinosaur!!"... leaving them standing stunned in the middle of the road!!  :o)