Why did the praying mantis cross the road?

Well, to get to the grasshoppers on the other side of course.

So as nice as our house is on the inside it is equally wild on the outside. The back yard has hay strewn everywhere in an attempt to keep the grass seed down. The front yard is being eaten daily by different groups of migrating birds coming by for a cheap shot at my new grass seed and the bugs. Today when we were getting the mail we stumbled upon this beauty. It is probably 7 inches long and very slow moving in the pavement. It had just started to cross the street so we acted as body guards as it moved to the other side, so it wouldn't get run over by a car. I had to run to the house to get a camera for this, but I didn't think to grab a box to keep her in until Johannes got home. He was really bummed that we were not able to catch it and show the kids how they eat grasshoppers and crickets. I could have really used a praying mantis in my garage to eat all of the crickets that come in. But it may have been fatal because all of the crickets come in at night and by the next morning they are dead. I think they are asphyxiated by the fumes of Johannes' jeep.