Itsy-Bitsy Spiders

Okay, so one's not so itsy bitsy. The other two aren't all that big, though, so for the most part the title stands.

I think I have mentioned before that I love the macro function on my camera. I fiddle with all sorts of things to get interesting shots. My friend Muriel is prone to taking pictures of all sorts of insects and spiders, and when I got my camera she told me that she just knew I would be taking creepy critter pictures as well. Considering my absolute terror of insects, I told her there was no way in hell I'd be getting that up close and personal with them. However, I've found myself trying to snap close-ups of a few creepy critters, much to my horror.

Spiders normally don't bother me too much - after all, they eat insects. Gotta love that. Although the behemoth I found in the backyard one night last summer had to go. She was enormous, with a web to match, that stretched between the garage and the deck - a span of about 10 feet. It was very dark, and I hit the web with my arm, which thankfully stopped me from walking through it. It actually stung my arm, so I jumped back and turned on my flashlight, only to be confronted by this web that appeared to have materialized straight out of a horror movie. I was even more horrified to encounter the web's creator and inhabitant, and was profusely thanking God that she was on the opposite side of the web from me.

I had never seen a spider like that here, and had no idea if she was poisonous or not, so I decided she had to go. It took about 1/2 can of Raid to kill her. Normally I would simply squish a spider or insect - I prefer to opt for a quick painless end for them. But this one was too large for me to even consider trying to squish. *shudder* I found out later that she was harmless, and actually quite common here. It's just that people don't normally encounter them, as they come out to spin their webs and feed in the dead of night, and then destroy their webs and go into hiding by morning. So next time I encounter one, I'll take a picture and leave her be.

But I digress. As I said, spiders don't normally bother me, and I will usually let them live in the house. Unless there's a gathering of three or more in one room, or one is perched on the bedroom ceiling over my pillow. Or if the are in the sink or bathtub. Our house spiders are quite large, and very fast. So I am not about to attempt to capture one to set it free. If it's in the wrong spot, it's toast. I did have one living in the corner in my bathroom for several weeks, and I was fine with that. I told her that as long as she stuck to her corner, we'd get along famously. I even took a couple of pictures of her, which I submit for your viewing pleasure. Don't mind the dust and the odd stray hair - I couldn't vacuum them up without destroying the web. Most of what you see is actually the web, though, not dust or hair. So here she is:


Wanna Use My Bathroom?

Unfortunately, this little (okay, rather large) lady crawled into my sink the other day, so she is now in spider heaven. Hey, don't look at me like that - I warned her that she was toast if she didn't keep to her corner! Anyhow, I didn't see her in the web for a few days, so that confirmed that it was indeed her that I squashed in the sink. I was about to vacuum the web, but noticed that another spider has moved into it! I know it's a different one, because it's smaller. Not a lot smaller, mind you, but still noticeably smaller. So the new tenant shall remain there until she too breaks the rules and goes where all my house spiders should fear to tread.

This little guy was hanging out on the window in my office the other day. I have a window that looks out onto the hall, and he (or she) seemed to like it there.


Office Buddy

This one was perched on a shovel in our back yard. Fairly small - certainly smaller than our house spiders. It was larger than the one in my office, which was actually quite tiny.


Spider on Shovel

So as not to finish off on a creepy crawly note for you all, here are a couple of more serene shots. We had about a week of lovely, cool, cloudy, rainy weather, and I've captured a few pictures to remember it by. Maybe they'll help soothe me during this long, dry, hot summer we're supposed to have. Ugh. I thought I'd share one with you all, just so you can see how lovely it was.


Cloudy Days

To finish off, here is a shot I really like - new growth on the Chokecherry tree trunk. I do love that tree...


New Life

There. I'm done for tonight, I think. It took me ages to get these pictures uploaded - for some reason Blogger was not being cooperative this evening. So I've pretty much lost track of anything else I was thinking of saying! This post is probably long enough anyhow (hey! quit nodding your heads so enthusiastically!), so I shall wish you all a good night, and sweet dreams!

Delivering as Promised!

Okay folks, here are the pictures I promised!

To begin with, here's the little guy on his way home:


Contentment


Homecoming Outfit


This one summed up EVERYONE's feelings!

Welcome home, little angel!

Here are pictures of the chests I bought:





Pictures of the Chokecherry tree in bloom:




Our cherry tree out front:




I think I'll stop at those - I figure that's enough pictures for one day! I have some other lovely pictures I've taken, which I may post another day. I know, no one but me likely cares, but it's my blog, so I can post what I want! hehehehehe!

Have a lovely night, all!

I'm Baaaaack...

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted! I can't believe how time flies. It's already the middle of May, and WAY too hot already. We are supposed to have a very hot, dry summer, which I am SO not looking forward to!

So, what's been going on since January, you ask? Well, you probably aren't asking, but humour me here, okay? Anyhow...

The big news is that the wee boy (who I've talked about in previous posts) went home last week - woo-hoo! He is doing extremely well, and is as cute as a button. There is an awesome picture of him on "going home day" that I shall post later on. Of course his parents are thrilled, as are his siblings. It was such wonderful timing too, as he was home with just enough time to settle in before Mother's Day.

There's not a whole pile of other news to tell. I've been putting my place back together bit by bit. I got some new furniture, which I will post pictures of later. I swore I'd never buy a sectional again, but of course that's what I ended up buying! I'm not thrilled with it at the moment, though. The first one had squeaky springs, so they replaced it with a new one, and the new one is horrid. I will have to call them and have them replace this one too. I had a good feeling about the couch to start with, so hopefully the third time will be the charm.

I'm most excited about the chests I got. I picked up two beautiful bamboo trunks which I am using as a coffee table. There were also two smaller trunks that aren't quite the same, but go very nicely with them. I don't like everything all the same anyhow, so they work beautifully. I am going to have a glass top made to cover the two large trunks, just to keep them protected from spills. I may use the smaller ones stacked as an end table, and if I do, I'll have a glass top made for that as well.

Hmm, what else...? Oooh yes. We have a lovely Chokecherry Tree (bush really, but it grows like a tree) in our backyard. It blossoms fairly early in the spring, and smells divine. Each year I keep wishing I could bottle that smell, and this year it dawned on me that I should try infusing an oil with the blossoms. So I've been working on that the last few days, and I'm crossing my fingers that I can get it to work. I noticed some scent in the oil yesterday, and added more blossoms - I think I put too much oil in originally - so here's hoping it will be stronger this evening.

I bought some new sheets yesterday, as well as a new cabinet. I have some cabinets with drawers that I bought to store all my ritual and working supplies in. They are matching cabinets, and there were three styles. I bought two of them awhile back, and they are perfect for my needs, but I've been debating about the third one for a few months. It dawned on me yesterday that it was the perfect size to store my tarot and other divination decks and paraphernalia, so I decided to get it. I have to take this one back, though. Some turkey actually taped up one side of the packaging - with the tape sticking directly to the finished wood surface. Plus one of the drawers has a big spot where the finish has come off. One or the other, and I would have just done what I could to fix it, but in this case I figured I might as well exchange it for one that is in better shape!

I've run out of things to natter about at the moment, and I should really get my butt in gear and get some work done here, so I shall sign off for now. I will likely post some pictures tonight. Have a good day everyone!