#110 - 14th BTS LECTURES PART III

Breakfast is done and the AGM and Committee Meeting begins in 40 minutes. I can't believe that in 24 hours I'll be about to land back in Dublin and then land at O'Hare at 2:10 pm Monday afternoon. Our UK week has flown by and I'll be sad to leave the Pennells and my home away from home.

I will be bringing back a very limited number of BTS t-shirts for distribution in the US. I made a couple of Instagram posts but haven't had any replies so I thought I'd advertise it here. Here's some pix. 

The above black T has the BTS logo and celebrates our 30th anniversary last year. It is an exhibition shirt and the back is like a concert tour shirt with all of the past Exhibitions listed. 

This shirt also mentions the 30 years of the BTS and is available in this grey version as well as black. 

Email me at m.a.jacobi@icloud.com if you are interested. The cost will be around $29 shipped or two for $53 shipped. I'll work out exact price when I return, but preferred payment will be check made payable to me and sent snail mail or friends/family PayPal payment to spidershoppe@icloud.com. As I wrote, this will be a limited availability offer and I'll only have L-XXL shirts. 

Tonight I'll give you a final wrap up of the 14th BTS Lectures and our UK adventure   MJ 

#109 - 14th BTS LECTURES PART II

Today's BTS Lectures were brilliant!

Last night 22 of our attendees gathered for dinner and night before party. The Aztec Hotel and Spa is a posh boutique hotel and has a cozy pub area and nice restaurant. Hopefully you've seen some of my pix on Instagram. It was especially good to see old friends like Jean-Michel Verdez. Many pints were drained and I think I drank my weight in Guinness. This morning Joel and I met Mark and Kim for breakfast and then we began to prepare the Costwold Suite at Aztec for the Lectures. It was great when dear friends who couldn't make it last night, especially Ray and Angela Hale, begin to arrive. 

The lectures kicked off at noon with an opening talk by BTS Chairman Peter Kirk. As is the tradition, the first talk is a humorous opening act delivered either by Pete or Ray. Pete's theme was "Spiders and the Media" and he pointed out the ridiculous and sensationalistic way spiders are portrayed with great wit and clever slides. Peter was followed by Mark Pajak who works at the Bristol Museum. His interest is the native spiders of Bristol, which include the mygalomorph Atypus. He gave a great presentation on both urban and rural populations of spiders in the western country of England. Next up was Benoît Menárt from France. He is an arachnoculturist who has made four trips to peninsular Malaysia. He travels to the Lectures with mon ami Jean-Michel and is a lovely, dread-locked, reggae-loving young man. He was nervous to lecture in English, but did an excellent job. His extensive lecture covered all of the known tarantulas from the region as well as some yet to be described, and also included some great photographs of other arthropods, reptiles and more. Then it was time to break for coffee, tea and biscuits, which for people like me and Mark meant a trip to the bar. After our brief intermission Ray Hale kicked off a brilliant talk on adaptation in organisms. He was followed by our special guest speaker Dr. George McGavin. George is an entomologist who worked at Oxford Museum for 30 years before launching a second career as a nature program television presenter in the mold of David Attenborough. He specializes in tropical insects and has a great interest in spiders. His BBC series include a number of Lost Land expeditions and Monkey Planet. His talk was full of energy and great wit and included some behind the scenes looks into the filming of nature documentaries as well as clips from the series he has been involved in. If you haven't seen the Lost Land of... specials I suggest you look for them. Again, please check out my Instagram for photos from the day.

After the afternoon's lectures concluded we headed to the hotel bar and I sat with George and Martin Nicholas for awhile. Once we all freshened up and reconvened for dinner our head table was comprised of George and Martin, Mark and Kim, Ray and Ange, Peter Kirk and Connie, Lee Cole, and Joel and I. A fine bunch and we were treated to more of Dr. McGavin's stories and, of course, the sharp wit of both Hale and Pennell. Dinner was very good and once dessert had been served Andrew Smith kicked off his traditional after dinner talk, which this year was about the field trip to the Atlantic Coast of Brazil he took in December with Dr. Stuart Longhorn and Benoît Vignaud. Then it was spider talk and drinking for all, although I must admit many topics were covered including the upcoming American presidential elections.

It's now 1:30 a.m. and I must crash. A day of Guinness and a few vodka tonics as a nightcap are in me and we are meeting for breakfast at 8:30. The Annual General Meeting runs from 10:00-11:30 a.m. and then it's "Sunday Funday" with Mark, Kim and family and friends. Rumor has it that we will hit the social club to play skittles. More on that soon ...

MJ

#108 - 14th BTS LECTURES PART I

Greetings from Bristol, England. Tuesday morning my stepdad Joel and I arrived in Bristol after leaving Chicago on Sunday and spending Monday in Dublin, Ireland. Tuesday we picked up our sweet rental car, a Volvo S80, but soon discovered that the steering wheel was on the wrong side. Then as I pulled away and entered traffic I learned that it was best to stay to the left to avoid a head on collision. This is a funny country ;)

Actually, although I had piloted a right side steer vehicle on the left side of the road in Suriname, it is madness to try to do so here in the UK. Roundabouts, narrow roads, foreign signage and pavement markings and loads of pedestrians make driving here quite the harrowing experience. Worse still was the fact that I had printed directions from Bristol Airport to Mark Pennell's Serious Ink Tattoo Studio from Google Maps. Unlike GPS (or what they call "Sat Nav" here), when you miss a turn there is no electronic voice informing you that "she" is "recalculating". We were soon properly lost. The pretty Hungarian girl who assisted us at Europcar asked me if I wanted GPS. Silly and confident, I declined. However, our luxury Volvo has built-in GPS so it was time to figure it out. Unfortunately, the last renter must have been French. As I explored the controls while driving a car completely back asswards, I found that the entire vehicle's electronics were in Français. Fuck me running.

Eventually I pulled to the curb and invested the time in figuring out how to change the Volvo's language to English. American English wasn't an option. We had driven through Bristol's City Centre for at least 30 minutes, driving in circles while doing our best not to kill anyone or ourselves, and now we finally had instructions on how to get more ink. I was "happy as Larry" (as they say) when I pulled into Hung Road and saw Mark's studio on Nibley at the end. As we pulled in we saw Mark and his daughter and apprentice Brandon waving. Mark is my brother from another mother and Joel and I were "chuffed" to finally get to spend the day with him.

Hopefully you're checking out my @exoticfauna Instagram and have seen my pix thus far. Mark did his usual absolutely brilliant and skillful job of finishing off my right sleeve. The tattoos all represent death and loss and pay tribute to the two important "women" of my life: my mother and my sweet pup Taylor. They are gone but never forgotten. The finishing touch on the inside of my bicep/tricep area was to add a couple more roses and a raven sitting on a skull. The raven's head has a partially exposed skull itself. During the day Mark's wife Kim came by and later his sister Chris and brother-in-law Alan plus friend and client Harri. It was a great day that ended with awesome curry at Bengal Raj. Thanks once again to my great mate Mark for graciously and permanently displaying his talent on my skin.

We are staying at the Aztec Hotel and Spa, which is the home of the BTS Lectures. Now in its 14th year, this weekend's lectures promise to be outstanding. This boutique hotel is quite posh, and has a classy and cozy lounge and pub, plus every luxury amenity you could ask for. The full English breakfast is delicious and service charming. Yesterday morning at breakfast we were served by two people who were American-philes. One was a baseball freak whose father had worked in Arizona, and the other a pretty young girl who had traveled to Orlando a few times. They both paid special attention to the Americans in the corner.

Yesterday Mark's sister and brother-in-law took us on a "lovely" day trip to Wales. During my last visit to Bristol we had done the same, but I was eager to return and also have Joel experience yet another country. This is Joel's first visit to the UK so it is awesome to be able to have him visit Ireland, England and Wales all on the same trip. The weather was chilly and a bit wet, but we had an amazing day. Again, pix are on Instagram @exoticfauna. We returned to the hotel about 5 pm and had a beer and freshened up. At 7 pm Mark, Kim and Brandon collected us for dinner.

As I type this it is 6:45 a.m. here and I'll meet Joel for breakfast at 7:30 and then we will drive towards London. It is 105 miles almost due east. Hopefully my second day in the Volvo will go well. We will drive to Hounslow West tube station and then take the tube (underground train) 41 minutes to Piccadilly Circus station. We will then walk about Piccadilly and Leicester Square, etc. and up the Strand to a pub called The Coal Hole. Andrew Smith is supposed to meet us there just after noon to take us on a walking tour of London. I've been a guest in Andrew's home on several occasions (he lives in southeast London [Lewisham]), and on each trip he was an excellent guide to London. The three of us will walk about and visit St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Downing Street, Westminster Abbey... the usual tourist spots. More pix will follow tonight.

But back to the Lectures...

This is just my first installment and I will keep you up-to-date on the weekend's festivities. It is my goal to get at least one of you to start setting aside funds to make the trip over here for the 15th annual Lectures in February 2017. Tomorrow kicks it off as guests will start arriving. We have 68 people registered and over a third will join us for a Friday night dinner and party in the hotel lounge. It is the best opportunity to meet and mingle with some of Europe's great arachnoculturists. I love May's yearly Exhibition too, but the committee, traders, and eager buyers are distracted by all the goodies. There is work to be done; commerce to take place. People are busy. The Lectures is the better venue for socializing. Kim and Mark do an awesome job of putting on the event and it all starts with tomorrow night's social. Then Saturday morning many of us will meet for breakfast and then midday the lectures will commence. To celebrate our 30th Anniversary, this year we have booked a celebrity keynote speaker. He will be unfamiliar to my American readers, but based on his bio I expect a very interesting talk. Between the Lectures and dinner those of us on the BTS Committee will have a brief meeting and then after dinner Andrew Smith will deliver his after-dinner Lecture and then drunken debauchery will continue. Sunday morning we have the AGM (Annual General Meeting). This is a chance for the members in attendance to take part in a committee meeting as it is open to all BTS members. I expect my taking on the role of Editor of the Journal will be a hot topic, as I know there will be some in attendance that disagree with a few papers published in the past year, most notably the Phormingochilus and Ornithoctoninae revision that Andrew Smith and I co-authored. There are always dissenters and critics. They are free to publish their own findings. Andrew may be a "splitter" and old-fashioned in methodology, but he certainly has made his mark on Theraphosidae taxonomy. He continues the great tradition of "amateur arachnologists" who have worked on tarantulas. He admittedly is a throwback to the 1900s and the work of Pocock and others, but you can't deny his expertise and contributions. The opposition should be respectful, and I challenge them to do better. People won't find much result in critiquing me. Whether they are happy with the American in charge or not, I am the Editor and the BTS has always given each Editor complete creative control of the Journal. I take my responsibility very seriously and am honored to take over the prestigious publication. I won't be bothered by the unruly.

More Saturday morning as I give you a report on Friday night's social (most likely with a pounding hangover). I'll have some hair of the dog and set to typing regardless. I want to take a few blog entries to do some journalism; sideline reporting from the great 14th BTS Lectures if you will. Maybe you'll decide to join me next year. You are very welcome to!

Thanks for sticking with Kiss My Big Hairy Spider. MJ

#106 - POPPIN' IN

How y'all been? Sorry I haven't been out to play much lately. Thought I'd pop in and give you a life dump. My quietness is partially because I was on the road for 23 nights in February. I know most of you don't give a shit about my gun stuff and that's all I was up to. I have another blog for that. However, it was one hell of a scenic road trip so I hope many of you have been following my @exoticfauna Instagram. I posted loads of pix from my 5000 mile epic road trip.

Even in retirement I still have some involvement in arachnoculture. As you know, that is primarily through The British Tarantula Society, which I encourage you all - once again - to become a member of. Welcome to new or renewing American members including John Apple, Frank Somma and my bonus dad Joel Greenblatt. The budget option is online Journal only, but if you can swing the $55 or so you can also get three print issues sent to your home that are edited and produced by yours truly. I am happy to report that I am tonight putting the finishing touches on my first issue as Editor - 31(1) March 2016. One of the articles features Heteropoda and is co-authored by Tom Patterson and I.

Before I leave the subject of the BTS I must add that I leave Sunday for the Annual Lectures. I'm not speaking this year and have Joel with me so I'll be able to chill and really enjoy the weekend's festivities. The night before drinks is always a meeting of the minds when it comes to world tarantulaculture, and the Lectures never disappoint. Then Sunday we have our Committee Meeting, which is the Annual General Meeting and is open to the membership at large. Joel and I are stopping in Dublin before we get to Bristol and I'll revisit both Guinness and the home of my tipple – Jameson's Distillery. Then it's off to Bristol and Serious Ink. Mark will be finishing my right sleeve while his apprentice daughter Brandon recolors the Encyocratella olivacea tattoo that's on the inside of my right calf. Day trips to Wales and London will follow before the weekend and the Lecture arrives.

Now that I don't use Faffbook (full disclosure: I actually do have a page for my new business and the necessary personal account to maintain it, but that is the account's sole purpose and I am not accepting/seeking friends. Sorry), I am posting pix to Instagram and also maintaining my high resolution galleries at SmugMug. I hope you visit my SmugMug account every now and again. You can even order prints if you choose to hang my photography on your wall.

Screen cap of my Tarantula in Terrarium gallery at SmugMug. 152 photos and counting ...

I've also recently updated my The Tarantula Bibliography a few times for February. The revision co-authored by Andrew M. Smith and I resulted in numerous changes, but nothing compared to the complete United States Aphonopelma revision published by friends Chris Hamilton and Brent Hendrixon along with Jason Bond. Plus there are a couple of miscellaneous new genera like Bistriopelma and Neoholothele.

Although I still keep and will breed Harpactira pulchripes, Monocentropus balfouri and Poecilotheria subfusca, the two final never-been-bred-yet projects are "Monocentropus lambertoni" and Avicularia sooretama. I recently posted pix of the adult pair of A. sooretama on IG and SmugMug and will also share below.

Adult female Avicularia sooretama. © Michael Jacobi

Mature male Avicularia sooretama. © Michael Jacobi

Mature male Avicularia sooretama. © Michael Jacobi

Anyone who has ready any of my articles on arboreal tarantula husbandry - in print or online - or even that has followed Kiss My Big Hairy Spider is well aware that I often use a "breeding area" type of set up to pair both theraphosids and araneomorphs. Much of this technique has been devoted to the mass production of Avicularia and Poecilotheria over the years. The adults are housed in customized cereal containers or gallon jars depending on size and gender. Once it's time for the spiders to bump uglies both individual containers are placed inside a much larger tub. Generally, I allow them to settle in and feed and then only release the male so he can sniff about for a few days unmolested. The female is then fed again and extra food left in the breeding arena. A day or two later I open her enclosure too. They are free to mix and mingle as their schedule allows.

In the case of the pair of Avicularia sooretama, the male stayed in his gallon jar too long and had to be coaxed out. He then had free run of the place for a week or so. Even before I opened the female's nano ExoTerra terrarium I knew that she wasn't likely to leave her home. She has a very thick and secure tube sock in her terrarium and there's no reason for her to roam. I eventually tickled her out and removed both enclosures from the large "breeding arena" tub. I placed the live plant and cork bark pieces from the female's terrarium in one corner and put the terrarium light on the top of the breeding tub once I shut the lid. Then I remembered that I had a tub of terrarium plants in my living room that were removed from the enclosures of spiders long sold. I had a big tub of plants being rehabilitated a bit for possible reuse. So I decided I would just put them all in the "breeding arena" and the pair would end up with a communal mansion of sorts. That is where they remain.

The "breeding arena" A. sooretama mansion with two ExoTerra lamp fixtures.

The male likes to sit up here.

Inside. It's hard to see the cork in the back right corner, but that is where the female has built a new tube sock.

Close-up of the male Avicularia sooretama.

As for the other project – "Monocentropus lambertoni" – I should remind you that in an article in the BTS Journal two issues or so ago I questioned the validity of the ID of our hobby spider. Hence, the quotation marks. Regardless, I had a very rare male mature, and he bred with my only female many times. Unfortunately, she subsequently molted. However, the male is still alive even though he matured last May. He has successfully mated with her several more times, and I will try him again over the next few days. Sadly, he is destined for a spirit jar living on a shelf in England. I want this spider identified and he will be donated to African Theraphosidae specialist Richard Gallon. So, live or dead, he is traveling to Bristol with me. It is an easy decision to make only because I have a penultimate male here. If the mature male did not successfully transfer sperm at least I have a backup.


Well, that's it for now. Glad we could chat again. Please check out my @exoticfauna Instagram. There are loads of pix from Costa Rica, my road trip (Arches N.P., Grand Canyon N.P., Red Rock S.P./Sedona AZ, etc.), and starting Sunday there will be loads from my trip to the UK. I've lost count of how many times I've travelled to the UK since my first in 2006 - I think this will be 8 or 9? Bristol is my home away from home and the location of me mate Mark Pennell and his Serious Ink Tattoo Studio. Fucking stoked.

All the best, MJ

#101 - HAPPY NEW YEAR! [off topic]

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND KISS MY BIG HAIRY SPIDER!

My best to you and yours in 2016. May it be rewarding, prosperous, healthy and full of smiles.

Don't be a quitter and make new year's resolutions. Be a winner and strive for your goals!

What will January bring from you? Are you in one of those places that become frozen tundra and everything goes into slow motion as people brace themselves against the winter chill? I am.

But what's in your planner? Have goals? Plans? Changes? Feel free to comment below.

My January begins with the development of a new company. Want to talk about change? I'm going from "Michael Jacobi's SPIDERSHOPPE" to Triggercontrol Tactical, LLC. It's actually a life theme for me that I am always driven towards something new. I have the spirit of adventure and the passion for travel. As I continue work on the launch of TCT, I prepare to travel some more!

My January's theme is EPIC ROAD TRIP!

• I will depart very early on Monday January 11 and return somewhat late on Monday February 1.
• I will drive 4800 miles and sleep in hotel rooms for 21 nights in a row
• I will train for a total of 7 days (a 2 day and 5 day course of fire) and shoot 2000 rounds
• I will walk about 50 miles over several days at SHOT SHOW in Vegas.
• I will play poker.
• I will post pix on Instagram on all 3 accounts: @ExoticFauna (scenery & travel) or @dailyhandgun/@triggercontroltactical (training/SHOT SHOW)

My route goes like this (just for my stalker friends):

Huntley, IL > Lincoln, NE > Glenwood Springs, CO > Vegas (2 days) > Chino Hills, CA; Prada Olympic Shooting Park (3 days, 2 days training) > Vegas (4 nights for SHOT SHOW) > Paulden, AZ/Gunsite Academy (8 nights, 5 days training) > Grand Canyon > Albuquerque, NM > Tulsa, OK > HOME, SWEET HOME

Then I'll be home and BUSY, BUSY, BUSY until Feb 28 - March 7 for the 14th British Tarantula Society Lectures. And, with that, we bring this blog entry closer to on topic (not that it's not still going to piss off someone who only wants to read "epigynal insertion of embolus"). The BTS Lectures and Annual General Meeting will be another magnificent trip to England (my 9th I think?). I love Bristol, home of my dear mate Mark Pennell. I will be under his needle for more Serious Ink. I'll have my bonus dad Joel along and we'll first spend one night in Dublin where I'll make return visits to Jameson's and Guinness. We'll have a car once we land in Bristol and have side trips to Wales, Stonehenge and London planned.

Then its back home to launch TCT, although I'll only stay sedentary until next training session back in the Prescott, AZ area in late April ;)

Tonight I will toast you all a Happy New Year with a glass of American crafted bourbon (Breckenridge) and a Cuban Cohiba from Costa Rica.

Cheers, MJ

#62 - THE BRITISH TARANTULA SOCIETY - PART TWO

#60 solicited new North American memberships to the world's greatest tarantula society. With our first rate Journal, the BTS is definitely on the cutting edge of arachnocultural and archeological education. However, I want to further entice you by mentioning the two great events that the BTS holds each year. An overseas trip to attend one of these may seem like only a dream to many of you, but maybe you are ready for a trip of a lifetime. Even if a trip to the UK for an arachnid event is unattainable, I am sure you will appreciate being a member in a society that successfully produces the premier arachnid-related events in the world.

I've been over to the UK for these events eight times now and each trip has been memorable. The BTS Exhibition in May in the English midlands brings vendors from all over Europe and there is a dazzling array of tarantulas, other arachnids, mantids, phasmids, beetles, snails and other invertebrates. The February lectures in Bristol's west country England has seen some of arachnoculture and arachnology's finest speakers at the lectern. I have been honored to be the keynote/guest speaker twice, in 2007 and 2015.

The BTS Lectures is held in Bristol, England and hosted by Kim and Mark Pennell. This February's Lectures was the 13th annual meeting and the 14th will be held March 5, 2016 at the fabulous Aztec Hotel and Spa. Last year my lecture on my 2014 field trip to Sri Lanka was accompanied by fine presentations by an opening humorous history of the BTS by Ray Hale, Ray Gabriel on the Tarantulas of Nicaragua, Mark Bushell from the Bristol Zoo invertebrate department, Steve Trim from Venomtech, LTD, and an after dinner lecture by Andrew Smith. I can only imagine what is in store for us in 2016. This is the do not miss event for the BTS. It is the best opportunity to socialize with some of Europe's leading arachnoculturists. The night before party is spectacular and the day after the lectures is the Annual General Meeting where all members can attend one of our BTS Committee meetings and be included.

The BTS Exhibition will enjoy its 31st year in May 2016. The past two years we expanded it to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry and saw the largest turnouts and most traders in the event's three decades. Unfortunately, the Ricoh Arena is under new ownership and we were unable to negotiate a reasonable rate so the event is moving again, this time to the Warwick Exhibition Centre on May 22, 2016. Ray Hale does a tremendous job as exhibition organizer and he and his wife Ange, plus our whole BTS committee put a great deal of work into hosting the finest arachnid sales event in the world. In addition to all the goodies the many vendors offer (Brits call them "traders"), the BTS booth - they call it a "stand" ;) - is immense and has all sorts of apparel, schwag, back issues of the Journal, membership renewals and, of course, the Competition. Each year live arachnids and photos and artwork are entered into various categories and judged. The winner of Best in Show is featured on our annual membership card and bookmark. Kudos this year to Maria and Laszlo Gombasne-Gudenus for winning with their female Phormictopus sp. Green! Those of you who are already BTS members should have received your annual membership kit with the Journal that arrived a couple days ago and seen the winning spider.

I'll close this entry with some photos from these events. Perhaps you will start thinking about saving for that trip that you know you deserve. Maybe you'll join me in representing the U.S. at a future Lectures or Exhibition. When I first spoke at the 2007 Lectures, Arachnoboards owners Scott and Debby Scher were there along with Tom Patterson. I know Eric Reynolds and Chris Hamilton have been over for the lectures and my old friend/colleague John Hoke made it across one year. It's your turn ;)

For the 2008 Exhibition I traveled over with my then employer, Alex Orleans of tarantulas.com and Northwest Zoological Supply. That's him in the orange shirt on right. In the sweater (he would call it a "jumper") and spectacles is none other than Carl Portman.

This classic is from the 2008 Exhibition when it was still held in a school gymnasium. In the center is Scottish tarantula legend Ray Gabriel and in the right foreground is African tarantula expert Richard Gallon.

Thanks to the U.S.D.A. you won't see phasmids like these for sale in the States.

Lee Ardern's Welsh The Spider Shop always has about ten tables filled with tarantulas and more!

After my 2007 lecture I took a little side trip to Amsterdam. I saw canals, but mostly I saw coffee shops and the red light district. Those stories will not make it to this blog.

A much younger and much hairier me in the British Museum during my first trip in 2006. That is the type specimen of "Poecilotheria bara/subfusca"

Here I am presenting "Tarantula Keeping: The Next Generation, Innovation in Modern Husbandry Techniques" at the 2007 British Tarantula Society Lectures. This was my first trip over for the Lectures and I was honored to be the keynote speaker.

Jump ahead to the 2014 BTS Exhibition and here is Ray Gabriel, Andrew Smith and I.

This is also from the 2014 BTS Exhibition. Mark Pennell with the perfect photobomb in the background plus, left to right, Shelley Cole, me, Connie Kirk, Maria Gombasne-Gudenus and baby Reka and Laszlo Gombasne Gudenus. 

This is from this past May's 30th annual BTS Exhibition. Spider Shops, New World and Old World. The Spider Shop in Wales owner Lee Ardern and myself.

The British Tarantula Society is truly an international organization and these events see people come from all over Europe. Of course, "all over Europe" is smaller than "all over the United States". For them it's like me going to Tennessee. But if you want to make the pilgrimage (I guess that would be "reverse pilgrimage") and plan the trip of a lifetime to attend a BTS event drop me a line. I will be your guide. MJ

#19A - RANDOM SHIT - ANOTHER LIST

1. My new Kiss My Big Hairy Spider Faffbook page is only 24 hours old and already has 150 likes. This is where I will post each new blog entry so please LIKE and, more importantly, FOLLOW. I've noticed that my posts there so far show only an average of 40 reached, which I hope is because not everyone has looked at their news feed yet and not that many "LIKERS" are not also "FOLLOWERS". The whole reason I created a KMBHS Faffbook page is so that I wouldn't announce in other groups where I would be violating rules on external links to other websites or pages that contain profanity.

2. Last weekend was a blast! Not only did I have the Pennell Family from Bristol, England as house guests all week, but I had a small gathering on Friday night that turned into quite the whiskey shooting extravaganza. Jason Newland was fresh back from 7 months in Peru and brought some killer award-winning wings from Crosstown Pub in Naperville. But what excited him was finally getting the spiders I had been caring for while he was gone back, which included some new ones he had ordered while in Peru and hadn't even seen yet. Plus I sent him away with a few gifts to get his collection going again. First to arrive was another best bud. Chad Campbell hauled ass down from Minneapolis and arrived noonish. We started drinking immediately and he brought some fine beer and spirits to add to the mix. Also down from Minnesota was David Lawrence who picked up some nice spiders I had been holding for him. I really appreciate all the people who drove so far to hang with us. John Apple and Norman Lee Culp came from Ypsilanti, Michigan. Randy Jr. And Randy Sr. Martinez were in attendance as was Jaimie Little and her fiancé Scott and so were my sister Lisa and bonus dad Joel. Spider room tours were given, spiders left with guests leaving me with fewer months to feed, whiskey shots were thrown back and pizza and wings were plentiful. I'm sure Mark, Kim and Brandon were amused by the assortment of Americans.

3. My watermark remains controversial. Somehow that and my copyright notices bother some asshats. They are clueless and beyond my desire to educate. I ignore as I always refuse to have battles of wits with unarmed men (or women). Some Simon Geary twat from Leicestershire, UK posted an egg sac pic complete obliterated with my logo. Perhaps I should pummel some fucking manners into him the next time I am over in Blighty. An AB Admin removed his retarded post. What troubles me is how the Internet has created this culture where manners are gone, people steal intellectual property with cavalier disregard or ignorance and people go out of their way to be argumentative or disrespectful. There are so many douchebags who think they are clever or funny when they're not, and go out of their way to stir up shit. 

4. So many topics are coming to mind, but they're all worthy of a dedicated blog entry. I just hope I remember them all. I guess I'll push on to #19B, which is today's primary blog.

But thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment below each posting and engage me in further discussion. Your opinion counts.