Attack of the Mantis!

I took Emmitt to a new park today that's walking distance of our place. I found all the usual signs of a park I'd like to frequent: 1) Nobody there (strangers suck when the canned small talk runs out), 2) plenty of stuff to play on, 3) no graffiti that is recognizable as a really bad gang tag, 4) awesome, random wild life.

When Emmitt was playing on the slides, a mantis rolled up and parked right next to him. He took off quick, then turned around to poke at it with a stick. I can't remember the last time I saw one of these things, but they're cool with the multi-jointed limbs. They look like their limbs are articulate enough to pick up a pencil and write a note saying something like, "Stop screwin' with me and put that stick down."