Got Tarantula? and Updates

My Halloween Tarantula -- Trick or Treat?

We are getting a taste of cool Southwest Desert weather.  The temperature dipped into the high 40s (F) last night and is projected to only reach the mid 70s (F) today.  The temperatures will be warmer after today-- back into the 80s (F) during the days and into the 50s at night.

Yesterday I found a tarantula outside my gate.  It showed up to scare me for Halloween!  I have only seen a few tarantula's in the wild. This is a small one.  There are about 850 different species of tarantula in the world. Only about 48 species of tarantula are found in the United States.  Their colors vary from black, to reddish brown, to tan.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the tarantula, it is a hairy spider.  The one I found is about 2 inches long.  See the photos.  Tarantulas have 8 legs and 8 eyes set in two groups.  Below the eyes is the mouth.  Tarantulas have fangs and I am told their bite can be painful.  They also have barbed and irritating hairs on their abdomens.  It is said that the females sometimes kill the males after they mate, like a black widow spider.

Some cultures eat tarantulas.  I imagine they are crunchy as they are exoskeletal creatures.  Tarantulas shed their exoskeleton.  Some folks keep tarantulas as pets.  I think keeping the exoskeleton would be more trouble-free.

Update 1:  As you read in previous blogs, I AM still waiting for the arrival of my replacement Omega VRT350HD vertical juicer.  I shipped it back to the company over 2 weeks ago.  Since then, I have been perfectly happy with my old, 16 year old juicer with which I make my daily quart of mixed vegetable juice.  It does not clog, is fast enough to clean, juices quickly, and does well with celery, which the Omega 350HD did not. 
Update 2:  As you read in a previous blog, Jeweler who did not pay me the correct amount for the "scrap" gold he bought has finally sent me a check to make up the difference.  He told me some more fabricated facts in an effort to save face.  Old saying:  A person who steals would lie.  It is sad when professionals have to invent stories to cover for their misbehavior.   What a pathetic person!  I hope he does business in a more ethical way in the future.

Thank you for reading my posts.  Check out my previous posts and the Southwest Desert slide show at the bottom of the blog.  If you like to make smoothies or juices, get this free eBook and check out the site for other good, nutritional info.  You may need to cup and paste the link that follows:
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1383344

Be well and happy,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011

Sold Gold?

Have you sold any of your old gold lately?  Thinking of selling some of your unused, broken, or unloved gold jewelry?  As you may have read in a previous post, I sold some gold to a jeweler who seems to have had trouble reading the weight of some of the items on his scale; i.e., items weighed less at his store based on the fact that he paid more per gram of 14K (carat) gold, yet gave me less for some items than another shop I had visited.  If you have good reason to believe a business has some scale issues, here is what you can do:

Call your state Department of Weights and Measures and your local Better Business Bureau.  If you were the victim of a scale that did not seem to weigh items correctly, these two sources can steer you in the right direction.

I filed a brief complaint with my local Better Business Bureau and the Department of Weights and Measures.  Weights and Measures was most interested in scales that were incorrect.  I told them the scale could be correct and it is the jeweler "reading" it incorrectly or "adjusting" the weight in his favor.  Nevertheless, they sent someone to the jewelery shop to inspect the scale.

It seems the jeweler has four scales!  None are licensed with the state.  That is bad.  He could be fined from $300 to $500 per scale!  Bad jeweler!  Thank you Department of Weights and Measures.

It seems the jeweler did not want to hassle with the Better Business Bureau, so he said he will be sending a check in the mail to cover the amount that I was shorted.  Have I heard that one before?  The old, "Check is in the mail" routing.  We'll see.

Waiting by the old mailbox,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011