Little Miss Muffett

Let me tell you, I did not go seeking this one out! I found this one earlier this week quite unexpectedly.

This one was feeling quite at home with itself in a blanket that I keep at work. It's not a big blanket, it's just one of those airline blankets that I use to cover my legs up to try an keep warm when the damn air conditioning is killing me. I haven't had to use the blanket in a while since I was in an office all to myself and closed the damn vent so I couldn't feel the air conditioning.

Anyway, that is a whole 'nother story I could bitch about, but moving on...

I usually keep my blanket folded up and draped over my chair. Every once in a while it ends up falling down and bunched up on my chair. I'm usually too lazy to move it, but it was getting a little bit uncomfortable sitting on it the way it was all bunched up this time. As I picked it up and was folding it I caught some thing out of the corner of my eye that I thought looked like a big black spider. It caught me of guard and I ended up freaking out like one normally does when they think they see a spider and dropped the blanket. This bastard dropped down onto my chair mat with a little thud. I thought maybe it was dead from the way it just kind of body slammed to the floor and didn't move. Since I carry my camera with me in my purse, just for these kind of Kodak moments, I had to take a picture of it. After awhile it started crawling away. I guess it was just a little stunned.

I know you guys are all wondering. Did I kill the bastard? Nope. I found a piece of paper and tossed in in my garbage. I normally let them loose outside, but my office is on the second floor and I couldn't find anything to put it in to transport it. So I just tossed him in my trash can, which is under my desk right where my legs are. Yeah, I was hoping I wouldn't find it crawling up my leg later on in the day. I'm not sure what kind of spider it is, though I have heard it might be a wolf spider, all I know is from the look of it I definately don't want to get bitten by it! Specially if it is a wolf spider! The bite of the Wolf Spider is poisonous but not lethal. I think I'll pass on that one none the less.

So now I've got this bastard hiding out some where in my office. I know it had to have escaped the garbage can. I'm just wondering where I'm going to find the bastard next. Unless my office mate finds it first. I wonder if she is afraid of spiders?

I guess I'll find out sooner or later. Heh, heh, heh...

Ardaric the Orb Weaver

Yes, I am back again with another spider photo. Unfortunately this one is not of the one that I had been calling Abigayle. Abigayle it seems has disappeared. To where, I have no idea. I noticed she was missing last night. I saw her earlier in the week, Wednesday night. But that was the last time I saw her. I looked up the life span of the garden Orb Weaver, thinking that maybe she had lived out her duration. Found that Orb Weavers lives are short, only living one season.

The female Garden Orb Weaver lays her eggs in late summer to autumn. The eggs are encased in a fluffy silken cocoon and attached to foliage. The lifespan is about twelve months. They mature in summer, mate, lay their eggs, and die in late summer-autumn. Males and females are similar in size. During autumn, the spiderlings disperse by ballooning (floating on the breeze using small silk strands as "balloons"), and build their own tiny orb webs among vegetation.

I don't know for certain if Abigayle was female. I just liked the idea that she was.

I noticed one morning, last week, that I probably had two Orb Weavers when I found another web underneath the lemon tree. It was confirmed when I checked the web to see if there was another one after looking in on Abigayle and watched her as she was spinning her new web later than evening at about 10pm. The other Orb Weaver was busy spinning its new web too. This one I noticed was a bit smaller than Abigayle.

Yeah, I know. I'm strange. You don't need to tell me, I hear it enough from my friends and my family. Whatever! I just happen to find these spiders awesome and love to see the beautiful webs they spin each night.

This other one is still working on its web right now. As soon as its is done and just relaxing after spending all its energy producing all that silk, I'm going to take some pictures of it. I did take some as it was spinning, but I want to be able to get a nice clean shot when it's still. It will be better positioned where I can get its whole body with its legs still.

Okay, now that I have gotten a pretty good look at this one from the photos I just took, this one is looking like a fella to me. His markings are not as profound as Abigayle's, which I think is the marking traits of the males. I'm not completey sure of that though, that is just what I kind of gathered from what I have read of them on line. I could be totally wrong, but I still think this one looks like it's a male.

I think I'm gonna call this handsome little fella Ardaric. I like that name, it's a nice gothic name. Yes, I know... I'm weird... So what else is new!?

Fluffy, My Nightly Visitor

This big brown bastard lives in my backyard. It only comes out at night. I just happen to see it one night while I was having a smoke. I saw a big dark spot against the dimly lit night sky. Took a walk over and saw this bastard.

Everyday I look to see if its huge web is still hung between my fence and lemon tree. Sure 'nough, so I've been keeping an eye out for it every night as well. And everynight there it is sitting in the center of its web.

This was my third nightly try of trying to get a decent picture. After finally getting the tripod out and fooling around with the settings of my camera I finally got it. The whole while hoping that the damn thing didn't decide to jump on me. I'm not afraid of spiders per say, well, at least not as bad as my mother is of them.

From what I have found on the internet I'm guessing that it is a harmless garden spider called an Orb Weaver. What I found on them was:

"Vary greatly in color, shape and size, measuring between 2 - 30mm (1/16 -- 1 1/4") long. They have eight eyes arranged in two horizontal rows of four eyes each."

I'm sorry, I didn't get close enough to look it in the eyes. Plus it was too dark to see them.

"Most orb weavers spin spiraling webs on support lines that radiate outward from the center; the plane of the web may be vertical or horizontal or somewhere in between. Many of this family replace the entire web daily, spinning a new web in the early evening
(this usually takes about an hour) and deconstructing the web each morning in a ritual almost as complex as the spinning process: they gather the silk into a ball and eat it for reprocessing."

I can say that if it was to stand on top of a quarter you can bet your sweet ass that it would cover it completely. It's pretty big and the web is huge and just absolutely georgous! Good thing I know that it's there. It's about 6 ft off the ground, pretty much right at face level. I walk down the
walk there where it is hanging sometimes at night. How'd you like to be walking into THAT in the middle of the night NOT knowing it's there?!

OH! HELL! NO!

I'll pass thank you very much!

I'll leave the spiders to Spidey.

How's this for a big hairy spider, Wench?! This one doesn't creep me out half as bad as the weird HUGE cream colored spiders that hung underneather the porch roof, ALL AROUND Wenchy's house back in New Hampshire. Those things just creeped me the fuck out! And they were everywhere!

This was taken last night at 11:30pm, 6/6/06. Gotta love the number of the beast!

I'm surprised I didn't end up having some weird nightmare involving huge, hairy spiders with hundreds of eyes looking at me like I'm their next meal. :::okay, that just creeped me out:::

I'm going to try again tonight and see if I can't get a more clear, sharper, more detailed picture of her. When it's the middle of the night and dark as shit out, it's kind of hard to see what it is that you are trying to focus on. I saw another web out when I went to check out the her web this morning
to see if she did eat hers for reprocessing later. So I might have another one out there.

Anyway, I'm thinking of calling her, Fluffy.