Animal Farm

Animals.
So I've already mentioned the flies (they must think I'm dying in the desert... They're pretty close.)  And I've mentioned the jumping spider.  But our dig site is full of other little critters too!
Let me explain.

I'll start with the ants.  I've been digging in a probe trying to find these two walls of the city, right?  Well, my probe has been FULL of black ants.  I kept going deeper and deeper and thinking I'd come to an end of them, but no.  More and more kept coming out and the further I dug down, the bigger the ants got.  FOR REAL -- it's not my imagination.
Anyway, this one particular time I was digging in my little hole and I felt something sharp and painful.  I leapt out of the hole and onto solid ground and yelped a bit...I had ants in my pants!

I had like 3 or 4 (that I could feel at least) and they were biting me.  A lot.  I certainly couldn't strip my pants off right then and there because there were about 6 or 7 people who I had already drawn attention from... and they all watched me as I awkwardly scrubbed my thighs where the biting was occurring.  And they continued to stare as I danced around in a jig, trying to shake these things out of my pants!  It was my ant dance. Those watching found it quite humorous.

NOW let me talk about the "butt ants" as I call them.  These ants are different from the black ants that enjoyed my company (and my flesh) so much.  These ants haven't bothered me at all -- but they are hilarious.  First of all, they are the fastest ants I've ever seen in my life!!  They are like little streaks across the ground.  But secondly and most entertainingly, their butts stick straight up in the air.  Their butts are about the size of the rest of their body and so their body is parallel to the ground and their butt is perpendicular to the ground.
You HAVE to try to imagine this.

If you cant imagine it sufficiently, I worked on a picture for you. (and yes, this picture proves why I went into business and didn't go to art school.  Thanks.)

I know that picture is awful but now that I look at it.....yep, it's pretty accurate to real life.  These things are goofy lookin', let me tell you.

Okay next let me talk about the 3 puppy dogs we rescued!  We found these dogs by our dig site and they were orphans and abandoned and definitely wouldn't have made it on their own out there in the desert...so they've been spoiled by all of our attention and they sure are cuuuute!

We also rescued a cat a couple days ago.  The cat cannot be more than a few weeks old, but it was also abandoned and grossly underfed/starving. We're trying to help this little animal that's about the size of your hand, but we think it has internal problems like a cyst or something and we don't know how long the poor thing will live.

Yesterday, one of our workers went out to the river that's close to the site and caught some fish.  So we have those, too!  But they are being used for bone research (we found fish bones while digging) therefore we wont be saving the fishies...

We have also been told to be aware of scorpions and Asps.  Okay, if I have issues with flies and ants, I will freak out the day i see a scorpion.  But!  I haven't seen one yet.  (knock on wood)  We're good.
An Asp is a black snake that lives here and is VERY poisonous.  Rumor had it that there's one living in a tree nearby and we all avoid going in the direction of the tree.  Even the locals steer clear of the tree.
If only Eve could've avoided a tree containing a serpent....

Anyway, we did find one Asp on the side of the road.  He didn't last long.

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."  Genesis 3:15