Four blobs. Looks like horse manure at a glance. Slimy black inside. Stains as if made of rich brown ink. No smell. Seems to be made up of cells packed together, not smooth/homogeneous. Popped up in a gravel walkway. Any ideas?

A big spider in the wastebasket — about an inch and a quarter long. I did not injure it, but I can see it is missing a leg. I wasn’t able to get this in the photos, but its eyes reflect light like a cats eyes do. Cute little bugger, but it needs to go live outside.

I am so curious about these teeny ants. They appeared only a year or two ago. I have seen them since at another house about 3 miles away. They are maybe 1/4 the size of the black argentine ants we get everywhere. And only about 2 feet away from a busy argentine ant trail. But the two don’t seem to interact. These little guys don’t seem to do anything at all except build tiny ant hills in the driveway. In spite of our encouraging them they have never grown in numbers particularly. No idea what they eat.

Note that there are ants in these photos. You may have to zoom in to see them. Maybe six or eight in each shot. They are very small, and a little reddish.