Molokai living is so different than what I’m used to. Lots of interesting creatures, mostly fun and interesting, except for the occasional centipede. Ugh!
The axis deer run through the property every day. They are small deer, but wow, can they jump! When they manage to get into my mom’s garden, they eat everything in sight. She’s built an elaborate series of fences and bushes, but occasionally the deer find a way to sneak in and undo weeks of work. That’s the downside. The upside is watching them wander around the property and yesterday a doe walked right past the porch with her baby bouncing along. 
Gee, why do you think this is called a rick-rack spider? These spiders are pretty and their webbing is elaborate. This guy is in my mom’s garden and measure about two inches, front to back. 
These shells weren’t collected at the beach, they are garden snails! Yikes!!! My mom has a pretty good handle on these in her garden, but it only takes one to find its way in to decimate the greens.
I’ve been coming to Molokai for years and this is the first picture I’ve been able to capture a picture of a red cardinal. This bird seems so out of place to me. I picture them on a pine tree in snow, not at the beach in a kiawe tree! Beautiful, isn’t it?
The aloes are blooming all over the beach now and I got this picture of a carpenter bee looking for nectar. When these guys are getting nectar from flowers, they come to my mom’s house and eat the wood siding. Love those wings! 
The gardening is challenging enough here on the dry, west end of Molokai, so the fauna just adds an extra layer of challenge, but it wouldn’t be gardening if there weren’t problems to be solved, right?
