Spiders, Ticks and Bears- OH MY!

We live in the country. So do bugs. I really don't mind bugs for the most part. I am used to looking up and seeing a lady bug crawling around on the ceiling or a stink bug flying to the nearest light. In fact one of Trey's favorite games is pretending to vacuum up bugs off the floor. Wow, that really puts it into perspective for you how much time I spend fighting this bug epidemic we have.

This spring we have spent more time outside than ever before. Trey is at the age where he loves to just run around outside chasing bubbles, playing in the dirt, or rolling in the grass. Charlotte enjoys being outside and watching the trees blow and feeling the cool breeze. However with all this outside time comes some unwelcome pests. Mainly in the form of spiders, ticks and bears. In the past 24 hours Jay or I have seen all 3!

This morning when I came downstairs there was the most revolting and HUGE bug I have ever seen on the wall in the kitchen. I carefully monitored its movements so as to make sure it did not come anywhere close to me and when Jay came downstairs I informed him promptly to kill it. I would have but I could not reach it. Jay proceeds to tell me it was a spider with all its baby spiders on it's back. Literally, the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my entire life. Thinking about it still gives me the creeps.

Tonight we changed Trey's diaper before his bath. When Jay went to put the diaper into the wash later on there was a tick on the outside of the diaper. We cannot figure out how it got there because we stayed inside all evening to avoid the 90+ temperatures outside. I gave Trey his bath and I always check him all over for ticks and bites so I am confident he did not get bit by the tick, but I am still unnerved by the fact that a tick was so close to him.

The last straw was when Jay went up the road to activate my new cell phone. Yes he went up the road because another perk of the country is that you only have cell phone service on top of the nearest mountain when the leaves are all off the trees. Seriously. When he comes back he tells me that if I go for my run after the kids go to bed to take Cooper (our lab) with us. That sounds a little fishy to me so after some gentle prodding he shares that a bear ran about 100 feet in front of him and crossed the road when he was driving to activate the phone. Let's be honest here- it doesn't take much for me to put off my evening run so this definitely meant I was not running tonight. Or any other night until the bears are officially in hibernation mode again. Jay tried to assure me the bear was more scared of me than I was of it but I disagree.