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!
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!
posted by Fullmoondolphin at 10:37 PM
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