We were driving home from the River Vally Coop when we saw the crowd begin to gather on King Street around the corner from our house.  Deciding to leave the small dog at home, we hightailed it (I’d say pardon the pun but I’m not sorry for it) over to see the fuss and mess the Red-tailed Hawk caused.

That bird of prey was delighting in its meal, standing on the splayed hindquarters of the squirrel for some leverage as it wrenched its head up pulling out one beakful of entrails after another.

The next morning while I was out on the new bike path parallel to King Street, walking the dogs, I saw the hawk up in a tree over Market Street.  While I was staring at it, Jack Finn of A2Z whose parking lot I always use as my egress off said bike path, explained that sometimes hawks like that one come into town when they’re getting older and can’t hunt like they used to.  So they retire to the city to find easier, more densely settled prey, usually by the new Taco Bell/KFC.  That original recipe goes straight to a little gray squirrel’s hips and weighs him down.

The image is all blurry because I used the digital zoom, not because I was scared the raptor was going to fly at my face or anything.

I mean, look how clear this baby turned out!  And I was like BAM! all in that spider’s FACE!

She lived on our bathroom wall for a while in a very impressive web.  I gave her a few days to spell out her intentions but after two days’ worth of empty web, I trapped and released her to the side yard.  Oh!  And slaughtered that pig.

Any ideas what kind of spider she is?

It’s that easy to persuade me.  I guess I’m just lucky he didn’t say, “You should send me your SSN and mother’s maiden name.”  OK.

Today I think the best cheapest eat is the 3-courses for 20 bucks deal at Spoleto. If I’m understanding the Web site correctly, it’s not even a separate menu.  Aside from some items that have an upcharge attached to them, you otherwise have the entire Spoleto to choose from.

PLUS!  I see they added back my favorite item from the older Spoleto days, chicken and sausage bow tie pasta!  Holy Hell is that ever delicious.  The chicken is cut up into bite-sized morsels, the sausage is lightly spicy and ground up.  THEN, then…this is the best part, the snap of those green peas and their  lingering sweetness on the palette is combined with a light tomato cream sauce and then tossed with tender bow tie pasta.  And the thought of getting that with the garden salad topped with the always delicious creamy fresh herb dressing and a mixed berry sorbet for twenty bucks is just a healing balm during these dark economic days.

I hope more restaurants follow Claudio’s suit.  We’ve stopped spending.  Okay, I’ll speak for myself.  I’ve stopped spending.  But I’m not alone.  I can’t afford to go out the way I used to.  No way.  So it’s nice to have the incentive of a great meal at a more affordable price right now.  I’m sure restaurants are feeling the pinch now too and they need to bring us diners in more than ever.  Deals like this create the feeling that we don’t have to wait for that special occasion.

For the price and deliciousness and overall eating experience, I rate this cheap eat four out of five empty wallets.