Episode 10: Happy Halloween with Some Creepy Plants and Critters

[Feel free to skip my asides.  I talk too much on this show!  I'll try to mark my tangents with brackets.]

Halloween barely registered with me this year.  Long gone are the days when my kids went out trick-or-treating or I went to parties in Elvira costumes.  [I figured I had the best possible chance of being beautiful when I could disguise my natural appearance with wigs and tons of makeup.  I never had the slightest interest in looking scary, as many of my more confident friends enjoy.  If I were ever to dress up again, I'd want to go as Morticia.  Carolyn Jones as Morticia was the ultimate feminine role model--socially aware, compassionate, smart, and sexy.  Oh, and beautiful.]

But Mother Jones gave me an idea .... Why not report on the creepy plants and critters I've encountered in my yard and elsewhere over the years?  This can be my contribution to Halloween this year, and the Great Pumpkin should be pleased.  Unlike pumpkins, though, most of these species won't be found here in Appalachia at this time of year.