When we went outside to release our cicada, we found another interesting insect against the base of the house, resting on an empty orange juice jug that I use to water plants with.

Imagine our delight when we saw it was a very unusual cricket (another "C" word!), lovely light-brown with long, drumstick-like back legs, long antenna, and a slender, long "tail.".  We quickly snapped some photos, because that little guy could JUMP, and then headed inside to look him up on the internet.  He is a member of the Rhaphidophoridae family, and is known as as a cave or camel cricket, which is also known as "spricket" or "spickets" (words melded from the words spider -- whose legs they resemble -- and crickets), or "hopsies" due to their erratic hopping, which we can attest to.

UPDATE:  Ok, I think I even more excited now about our nature finds today after visiting Barb's "Handbook of Nature Studies" where this week's challenge is crickets!  We will be spending time this week using her lesson plan, and I encourage you to get out there and to the same..Check it out!

And, as a special surprise, Darling Daughter spotted a Blue-Tailed Skink, and due to his quick scurrying for cover, this is all that we were able to we capture of him...