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Tuesday, September 16, 2025

UFBs

discovered in a child's
playground toy 
(insert horrified face here)
My son and I have spent decades marveling at bugs, especially those that attempted to ambush us, scare us, kill us. Yes, that's hyperbole; we reside in Canada, not Australia. But still. 

One of my son's first most complex utterances was, "Look dad, BIG HONKIN' SPIDER!" 😂 'Twas. 

These days we just text photos to each other: evil Spruce/June bugs, big-ass (honkin') spiders, and UFBs aka Unidentified Flying Bastards. 

This reminds me. No shade to the majority of the population, but I am astounded at how many of you folks belong to various group texts. I cannot endure text chains. Occasionally I experience momentary fomo, but (to me) most group texts feel more sad trombone than thrilling announcement. They're like urgent emails on Friday afternoons. Or like ringing someone's doorbell—not to socialize with them—but more like to stand in their yard. Ugh.

My son has similar feelings. But, and I bet he'd agree, I'd join a group text whereby participants simply share a photo of the bugs that attempted to slay them. Relatable, or um, no? 

Dear friends, do you enjoy group texts? Or UFBs? Also...if this post (ironically) feels a bit group-textish, I apologize and, as always, no comment is expected nor required. 

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Codex: comment wouldn't come up.
Big Fred.


Depends on the group but yeah stink eye.

Anvilcloud said...

I haven't much experience with group texts, but blogs are sort of like that, I guess.

We were in a group campfire setting. I looked down and saw a big honkin spider on my knee. I thought Sue had played a trick. Sue saw the spider and thought I was playing a trick. Then the spider moved. 😁

Kathy G said...

I am part of a text group of women that gets together for dinner every few months. When someone posts the whole group goes into a frenzy of Likes, 'Me toos and 'I love yous'. I need to be part of the group to receive information, but I turned off text notifications so my phone doesn't go crazy with dings.

Sarah said...

I love that spider, you can see it's eyes!! I'm only part of 2 text groups, one with my 3 work friends, and another with my family. I enjoy both, but that's probably because they are made up of people who I'm close with and know each other really well.

Anonymous said...

Codex:...because of you I just watched 8 whole minutes of Lucas the spider. Why?

Bill said...

Never been in a text group.

DB Stewart said...

Stink eye, exactly.

DB Stewart said...

*shivers*

DB Stewart said...

Smart.

DB Stewart said...

I know, eh? My son took the photo. It's impressive.
Your reasoning is sound, imo.

DB Stewart said...

Ha! That is time well spent, imo.

DB Stewart said...

Jealous.

CheerfulMonk said...

I don't text. I do belong to one email group, with people from college 65 years ago. We also meet on Zoom once a month.

DB Stewart said...

Wow. Sounds like fun.

Shammickite said...

Not sure what a text group is. So I probably don't have one. The only people I send texts to are people with my DNA. And I do an International Zoom with cousins twice a month.

Kate said...

Group texts can be informative and convenient. My siblings and I set up one that we used daily during the last year of our dad's life, when I spent a lot of time helping him and telling them what was going on, and in February/March/April this year when my sister had a serious health crisis and recovery that took weeks. But my brother, a working truck-truck driver, had to mute his notifications because texts were frequent enough to be intrusive.

I'm also part of a group text for the local food bank, but since there are a lot more people on it and they're planning and organizing, which I don't participate in, I've set the notifications to be silent to save my sanity. I understand where my brother was coming from!

So they have their uses.

37paddington said...

We have a family group text mostly to share photos of the little one and to tell each other happy birthday etc. and other random things. No one has to chime in if they don’t feel like. One member never does. It feels like connection to me when those texts come in. Some family members are really quite funny. Or droll. It’s amusing. I don’t mind it at all. I know the cousins have their own group text without us oldies. My husband’s family on several different islands and continents has a very active group chat. I mostly don’t read the texts and let him tell me if I missed anything. I have a moms group text that started when our kids were in kindergarten. They’re 30 now. I guess I must be ok with the concept.

Midwest Mark said...

Tara belongs to a group text with her family. I long felt slighted by not being included, but then she showed me some of the texts, and that cured my FOMO. Let's just say I'm better off without all that drama in my life.

DB Stewart said...

Insert fist bump here.

DB Stewart said...

Excellent food for thought.

DB Stewart said...

Your comment reminds me to enjoy the flowers more than the weeds. Thank you. I'm an introvert and group texts can drain my batteries.

DB Stewart said...

Yes sir, that's ROMO (relief of missing out).

Gill - That British Woman said...

group texts tend to be annoying after a while. I have no option but to deal with bugs, as hubby is frightened of them......insert rolling eyes here!!

Jim and Barb's Adventures said...

I do not enjoy group texts or spiders! The rest of the bugs I do not mind so much, but there are a few that want nothing more than to take a chunk of your skin.

J said...

I am in maybe 2 group texts, both with only 3 other people. It’s a quick way of catching up with each other. One of them can get pretty chatty and sometimes I have to silence it if I’m busy doing something else.

Tom said...

...I hope that you know that spiders are bug or insects they are arachnids!

jabblog said...

Is group text like WhatsApp?