A Shoggoth in the house of Fox Sr.

Check this craziness. My father, the venerable E.P. Fox, goes to pour some drinking water for his crazy one-eyed dog, and stops to brush some plant debris, a dead leaf or something, off the dish. Little did he know that as soon as he touched it, it would spring to life and show itself to be a pint-sized Lovecraftian horror!

Oh no, it's ok, I'm not offended, "what the f**k is that?!" is a pretty typical reaction, and I don't think that kind of language is at all inappropriate here. I am sorry I made you spill your drink, though. Here, let me get you a napkin. Oh dear, we seem to be out of napkins, could you make do with this DEMON-FURRED, SLUG-BODIED, BETENTACLED DOOM BEAST?!

Whew! Ok, let's catch our breath here. In actuality, the thing is damn cool, and while I am planning on writing a Lovecraft Mythos short-story inspired by it (DOOM!), the world's coolest biologist, the infamous Dr. PZ Myers, graciously identified the critter in this post.

So, it's a Hag Moth caterpillar, not a slug as I had originally guessed. I don't feel too bad, though, since some research indicates that the hag moth caterpillar has developed shortened legs that resemble suction cups, and my locomotion-by-"foot" observation wasn't in great error.

Myers riffed on my old man's place of residence in his post, suggesting that the abomination might be the spawn of local crazy person Michelle Bachmann, and Eric Zaetsch expanded on that theory here. All in all, quite a good run for these pictures, as I am fully in favor of both PZ being awesome and Bachmann being dumped. I feel like I've done my part to encourage both.

Actually, I'm kicking myself for not posting it here first. A link from PZ might have meant my first reader! Nevermind the fact that it would have been the only post...

Links Edited: Blogger doesn't do Trackbacks? Que the Fark? I may have to take this dog and monkey rodeo elsewhere...