Spiders

(+1 inset!) (please view large to see the dew drops!) It was another very foggy, chilly day and even though I was bundled up, my feet and hands still got very cold during my walk. It was lovely though and I enjoyed seeing the grass twinkling with dew drops as I made my way up and down our driveway. On my last lap I noticed something sparkling on the road and thought it seemed too light to be a leaf. Bending closer I could see that it was a feather that was completely covered in dew drops! Amazing! I hadn't planned on taking any pictures outside today because I'd be working on my Macro Monday images but I simply HAD to get pictures of this feather! I soon returned with my camera and got lots of shots from many angles--I managed to get some very nice ones which I'll be sharing soon! Since I was outside I couldn't resist the temptation to wander off the road a bit. I had something in mind…spider webs. Yesterday I'd taken some pictures of dewdrops on a strand of spiderweb and I wasn't really satisfied with the outcome. I'd brought my macro flash but discovered the batteries were dead and the slight breeze ruined most of the pictures I took. Still feeling a bit disappointed, I wanted to find some more webs now that I'd replaced the batteries in my macro flash. Instantly I found plenty of strands to photograph, so tiny and fine that I would have had a hard time seeing them without the dew to make them stand out. At one point I looked up and OH!! A whole web was sparkling back at me, how exciting! I think dew-covered webs are some of the most beautiful things in nature and this one had such a lovely shape. Once I got back inside I copied my pictures over to my computer but I noticed a problem with the use of my flash. The reflection of light in the droplets worked fine in the pictures I'm sharing today but It was much too harsh in my other photos. I need to put diffusers on the flashes to soften the reflections. It's too bad because there were lots of pretty strands of "water pearls" but the pictures need to be retaken. Live and learn, right? For today's main image I decided to use the cropped version because the dew is larger and prettier. I have also included an inset of the whole web so you can see how cool it is. :) Pam, I did a search on your stream for "web" and found a delightful picture and story about Esmerelda that you shared back in 2014. It was wonderful to read again. I also enjoyed our back and forth commentary about your picture and story. I think you would have loved the spider webs I photographed today because they were almost invisible and not scary at all! :) Still, like I'd said then, I do not like spiders crawling on me, and feeling spider webs clinging to me gives me the heeby-jeebies! If they are strong webs and I walk through them and they are all over me…you'll hear me screaming from Oregon and soon you'll see me running past in a blur! :D Here's hoping that your day was as good as can be. :) Explored on 1/28/19, highest placement, #1.

(2 notes above) I was creeping around looking for interesting subjects when I noticed something very small that was flashing at me. Peeking closer, I saw an impossibly small spider waving back and forth in the breeze. I could barely get close enough to see what it was except that I recognized the posture which is undeniably "crab spider." When these spiders are in hunting mode, they always look like they are saying, "Yesterday I caught a bug THIS BIG!" LOLOL, oh how they make me giggle! I found a bunch of neat images today, but none of them could hold a candle to this picture which I took yesterday. And so, here is my cute little friend for all of you to coo at and love along with me! I know that everyone just LOVES spiders!!! :D

...There are many butts like it, but this one is mine. :D A few years ago I found a jumping spider on our front porch, and had a lot of fun taking pictures from all angles. I liked these rear angles because you can clearly see the spinnerets.

One day in September of 2012, I found a baby orb weaver spider on my front porch. Over the next year, I watched this baby get her first meal, survive a freezing winter, grow to adulthood, find a mate, make an egg sac, and finally, I saw her crawl slowly away under a bush to die. Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with this beautiful Cat-Faced Orb-Weaver, and I cried my eyes out when she died. Maybe just a spider to most, she was my little friend, and I missed her terribly in the months that followed. In fact, revisiting her pictures now pulls hard on my heart strings. I feel like I should be embarrassed that I feel sad as I look at all the pictures I took. How can a person become attached to a spider? I did though, and I feel pretty darn lucky that I got to know a spider well enough to cry over its death. This is a picture of Roscoe's children, hatching out of the egg sac she made and protected until she was too weak to do so. Seeing all of these kids brings a tear to my eye. I wished that some of them would have stayed around, but they all left after a few days. What a great experience it was to know my friend Roscoe. :) If you'd like to see Rocoe's story in pictures and tales, please visit her album here My Friend Roscoe

I know I posted a spider picture the other day, but I saw this one in my archives today and I can't resist! Would you just take a look at this adorable baby? He's doing his best to be YELLOW and I pretended not to see him while I took a picture of his cute little face! :) I am in love!! :) I found this cutie pie on a rose when I visited the Harry & David garden in Medford in 2014. Steve and I went for another outing a couple of Saturdays ago and we will be back soon. What a show!! :)

Last Saturday, Steve and I went to the Harry & David public garden with my workmate, Andy Spliethof, and his daughter. While we were there, they managed to get some super pictures of jumping spiders, and when I saw this image in my archives, I just had to share it! To show just how small this adorable spider is, that's a dog hair from our Border Collie next to it!

Whether they are coming or going, jumping spiders are fun to look at! They often have very fancy abdomens, and I thought this guy was especially handsome! I often find these spiders inside our house, so I'll coax them into a container and then put them outside on our porch for a photo shoot before they disappear from sight. Here you see the lip of a plastic container where the spider was crawling. Thank you for the awesome leading line, buddy! :) Looks like I captured this image a day before my birthday back in 2012!

(3picture above in a note) Oh, how I love crab spiders. I think they are so funny the way they look as they lay in wait for their meal to come within grasp. They all appear to be telling the same story to anyone who cares to listen, "I once caught a fly THIIIIIIIIIIS BIG!!" :D Too funny!! One of the cool features of crab spiders is their ability to change colors to match the flower they are hunting on. It takes them several days to closely approximate the color--in this case, I expect this spider came from some yellow flower and if it stays here, will change to a very light beige. I found this youngster hanging out on the edge of a Candytuft blossom in my friend's garden when I visited a couple of years ago.

1 picture above in a note :) This pretty lady arrived on our porch back in mid-October and I saw that she was a Cat-Faced Orb-Weaver like Roscoe, except darker in coloring. She was also quite a bit smaller, so I wasn't sure what her life expectancy was. Would she live until spring, grow larger and then make an egg sac? I didn't know, but I certainly enjoyed her company. Unlike Roscoe, she didn't stay in one spot and tried out several locations before settling on a place just above our doorway, tucked up against the ceiling. One of her spots was especially cool because she was able to make a very large orb-web in one corner of the porch, and she caught a huge number of wasps and flies there. I'm not sure why she moved from that spot, but maybe there was too much air current. A couple of weeks ago I saw her dabbing silk on one spot and I thought to myself, "I think she's making an egg sac!" That night I took another peek and found her proudly displaying her great masterpiece for all to see! The size of her egg sac is about half the size of Roscoe's, which makes sense, since this spider was much smaller. The picture you see above was taken when I saw her egg sac for the first time! :) A week passed, and then a few more days, and she never moved far enough away that she couldn't have one of her feet touching her egg sac. However, last night I looked up to see how she was doing, and discovered that she had left. I looked around to see if I could find her, but she'd already made her last journey to a dark corner to have her final rest. Even though I didn't know this spider very long, I enjoyed her company and loved her pretty coloring. However, just like Roscoe, this spider left me a great treasure to watch over until springtime, and if I'm lucky, I'll be able to share pictures of the babies hatching...and maybe one of them will choose to stay! :) (By the way, I've put her other picture as an inset for you to see! :)

MANY, MANY pictures above to show Roscoe from when I first met her until today... I checked on Roscoe last night and this morning, and she was near her egg sac each time. This afternoon, she was further out, legs held closely to her body, sitting quietly (see the inset image above). Then, at about 4pm, I let the dogs out and Roscoe was gone. I looked everywhere on the walls but she wasn't there. Just before I went back into the house, I thought about what she would do if she needed to crawl to a dark place to die. I looked down and checked the cement...and there she was. I could barely see her because she was so perfectly camouflaged with the colors of the stone, but I noticed something moving, which gave her away. Making her way slowly over the ground, she was just about to the edge of the porch. It was amazing that I spotted her before she was gone forever. I dashed into the house and back out, and she'd gone to the edge and crawled off the side, so I went around to the front in the garden and I saw her making her way to the edge of the cement and wanting to crawl down. She hung there for a moment, and that's when I took this picture. She wanted to go down but she had no more silk to lower herself, so after a few seconds she dropped into the leaves below and sat for a moment. I reached over and gently petted her soft, velvety abdomen, the only time I've ever touched her, and I said goodbye to my friend. After I left, I checked once more, and she had crawled out of sight. Rest in peace, dear Roscoe.

3 more pictures above ! :) Last night I went to let the dogs out before watching our evening show and going to bed. As I always do, I looked up to the left side of our doorway where Roscoe, my wonderful orb weaver friend lives. Exclaiming in surprise, I burst out, "OH ROSCOE!!! YOU'RE MAKING AN EGG SAC!!!!" I charged upstairs to yell excitedly to Steve, "ROSCOE MADE HER EGG SAC!!!!!!" and before he could barely utter a surprised, "WOW!!", I zoomed back downstairs to continue watching her work, totally transfixed. Moving slowly all over her enormous egg sac, Roscoe dabbed strands of sticky silk. "Wow...you must have been working on this all day," I murmured to her affectionately. "It's so beautiful and HUGE!!" In fact, her egg sac is larger than she is, and I also noticed two more things. Roscoe was so skinny now--instead of being huge and plump, she was now empty of all the eggs that had been growing inside her bloated abdomen. And I also saw how exhausted she was. "My dear, dear girl," I cooed softly to her. "What a masterpiece you have made." She moved so slowly, dabbing and dabbing more silk to finish her grand achievement. I got my camera and flash and took a few pictures, but I waited until midnight to get the picture here so that I could make it my Picture of the Day. The following image (both insets) were taken before midnight, while she was still finishing the last touches of her egg sac. One of the insets shows her dabbing silk onto her sac, which was very interesting to watch. I have known Roscoe for over a year now, from when she was barely a quarter inch in size, and I've watched her go through hibernation (brumation) and grow into a magnificent, beautiful lady, with an abdomen of almost 1" in diameter! I know that these spiders only live for one season, and I was feeling very sad because it looked as if she wouldn't be producing eggs, though I saw two different suitors visit the area. As September turned to October, and then to November, I watched her with quiet worry. My concern was unfounded, because she has just finished her gift to me...hundreds of unborn Roscoe babies who I will adore as much as I have adored her. I know that Roscoe's days are now truly numbered. She could live another day or maybe as much as a month...but I expect she will die within a week. I will miss her terribly, but I will be there to take pictures of her babies and maybe some of them will stay, just like Charlotte's children!! :) I will keep you informed as the days pass... Charlotte's Web is a children's novel by American author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams; it was published in 1952 by Harper & Brothers. The novel tells the story of a pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered by the farmer, Charlotte writes messages praising Wilbur (such as "Some Pig") in her web in order to persuade the farmer to let him live. Wikipedia: Charlotte's Web Elwyn Brooks "E. B." White (July 11, 1899 – October 1, 1985), was an American writer. He was a contributor to The New Yorker magazine and a co-author of the English language style guide, The Elements of Style, which is commonly known as "Strunk & White". He also wrote books for children, including Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan. Charlotte's Web was voted the top children's novel in a 2012 survey of School Library Journal readers, not for the first time. Wikipedia: E.B. White Explored on November 13, 2013. Highest placement, page 9.

2 images above in notes (same as on main picture) This picture shows Roscoe as she was still working on her egg sac. She must have started it many hours before, as it's larger than she is and she was completely exhausted from her efforts. Isn't she amazing?! I think she's just wonderful and I feel so blessed that I got to spend more than a whole year getting to know her. Would you like to watch a video which shows the life cycle of the orb weaver spider? There is an awesome guy over on YouTube named Bob McAndrews, better known as "Bob The Spider Hunter" , and he made a wonderful video which shows the life cycle of a species related to this spider. He is a fine instructor and, like me, strives to both educate and entertain, with the hopes to illuminate the beauty and gentle nature of spiders. Before you watch this video, please be warned: Bob allows the starring spider to crawl on his hands, so if this will make you run screaming into the night, you may want to prepare yourself! Please try to watch it though, it's very fascinating, educational and will show you that these beautiful spiders are not to be feared. :) Orb Weaver: Cycle of Life

Along the ridge line trail we walk on, tall golden grass grows, and I have been trying to get some good pictures of this grass. So far I haven't been happy with my results, but I continue to try. I was looking at some of the grass for possible angles when I noticed what might be a web. Approaching, I was extremely happy to see that it was a complete and perfect orb weaver spider web with a tiny spider in the center! The size of an orange, this web was impossible to see unless I stood in exactly the right spot. In fact, I walked by this web without seeing it 15 minutes before! YAY!!

3 more pictures in notes above! :) My uploads tonight are all dedicated to The Sunday Challenge group! :D You may know that I have become quite fond of spiders in the past couple of years since I began taking pictures and learning more about them. And when a darling little orb weaver spider came to live just outside my front door last September, I had a naming contest for my new little friend, who would be named Roscoe Frank McCrawlerson! :) I have read that Cat-Faced Orb Weavers live only one season, but it is now well-into October and Roscoe is still alive and well in her corner of her nook. She has had two suiters that I know of, but has not made an egg sac. I know that her time grows short, so I appreciate her every day that she is still here with me. (If you'd like to see pictures of Roscoe with many stories, here's a search for her pictures: Roscoe's Pictures on ipernity A few days ago, I noticed that there was a NEW cat-faced orb weaver in a much darker color, hanging out on the ceiling of the porch. Soon it found itself a spot not very far from where Roscoe lives! I think it's another female, and about half the size of Roscoe, the a body about 2/3" in diameter. Hooray!! And THEN I was looking around on the wall and suddenly gave a squeak of delight! There, near Roscoe's nook, was a BABY ROSCOE!! Awwwwwww!!!! Just a bit bigger than Roscoe when she came to stay (1/4"), this little doll is perfectly adorable, making beautiful, tiny webs and acting very brave and bold! I hope she and her older girlfriend will be here to stay, and I hope that everyone gets along! :) (Textures by Jerry Jones: Square-170 and Square-151 ) A big thank you to Shuttering Yukon , who is the admin for The Sunday Challenge , for letting my critter pictures slip in under the wire! :) A proverb (from Latin: proverbium) is a simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. Proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures, and sometimes come down to the present through more than one language. Both the Bible (including, but not limited to the Book of Proverbs) and medieval Latin (aided by the work of Erasmus) have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs across Europe, although almost every culture has examples of its own. Wikipedia: Proverb

This is the new, darker-colored orb weaver that has come to live on our porch! It currently has a body about 2/3" in diameter. So pretty! :) (Textures by Jerry Jones: Square-170 and Square-151 )

6 more pictures and several notes above! :D Back in the middle of July, I was delighted to find a very special spider in a web right next to our porch outside our house. I really love Black & Yellow Orb-Weavers and, as they are so hard for me to find, I was ecstatic that this one decided to make her web so close by! I had a naming contest and with the three winning names, I christened her Portia Odessa Goldbottom. Through the rest of July and all of August, Portia got bigger and bigger, and slowly, her body size increased and she started to look quite round when September rolled around. However, two days ago I was dismayed to discover that Portia was gone. :( :( She was probably full of eggs and it was time to make her egg sac as her last task before she died. :( :( I knew she would be dying soon, but I am sad because I'd planned to take more pictures of her. However, I did take a few pictures a few days ago, and looking at them again today, I feel a lot better because they are nice enough to show for her last pictures. Thinking about a proper memorial image, I decided to take a picture of the most distinctive part of her web, a web decoration, called a stabilimentum, that is only made by some orbweavers. Before I took the picture, I sprayed water all over the remaining strands of her web, and initially, I didn't even see the zig-zag webbing. Sprayed with droplets of water, it suddenly appeared and I took some pictures. The reasoning for these odd web strands is not clearly understood, but two theories include making the web more visable so that birds won't fly into it. The other theory is based on the fact that webs reflect ultraviolet light, which attract certain insects, and it is thought that the concentrations of webbing attracts insects more strongly. If you'd like to know more about these interesting web decorations, Wiki has a great page here: Web Decorations Robert Breault (born 1963) is an American operatic tenor. Born in Michigan, he holds a B.M. degree (magna cum laude) from St. Norbert College (1985) from which he received a distinguished alumni award in 1997. In addition, he holds a M.M. (1987), and a D.M.A. (1991) from the University of Michigan where he studied voice with soprano Lorna Haywood. His early training also included two years of study at the San Francisco Merola Opera Program, and an internship with Michigan Opera Theatre. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah where he teaches voice and serves as Director of Opera at the University of Utah School of Music. Wikipedia: Robert Brault Explored on September 10, 2013. Highest placement, page 3.

4 more pictures above in notes! Every single time Steve and I have paused to look at Portia, we have commented on how beautiful she is, and how extremely cool she looks. In this picture, Portia was about 3" in length from leg-to-leg tip. Not as large as I supposed she would get (5"), but still quite large and totally awesome! About Orb Weaving Spiders (From Wiki): The typical orb-weaver spiders (family Araneidae) are the most common group of builders of spiral wheel-shaped webs often found in gardens, fields and forests. Their common name is taken from the round shape of this typical web, and the taxon was formerly also referred to as the Orbiculariae. Orb-weavers have eight similar eyes, hairy or spiny legs, and no stridulating organs. The Araneidae family is cosmopolitan, including many well-known large or brightly colored garden spiders. The 3,006 species in 168 genera worldwide make Araneidae the third-largest family of spiders known (behind Salticidae and Linyphiidae). The orb-weavers include over 10,000 species and make up about 25% of spider diversity. If you would like to know more about this beautiful species, Wiki has a great page here: Wikipedia: Argiope Aurantia

Isn't she beautiful? Such a lovely little face! From Wiki: The spider species Argiope aurantia is commonly known as the black and yellow garden spider, writing spider, or corn spider. It is common to the contiguous United States, Hawaii, southern Canada, Mexico, and Central America. They have distinctive yellow and black markings on their abdomens and a mostly white cephalothorax. The etymology of its name means "gilded silver-face". Males range from 5–9 mm (0.20–0.35 in) females from 19–28 mm (0.75–1.1 in). Like other members of Argiope they are considered harmless to humans.