Showing posts with label spider. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spider. Show all posts

Sunday, December 29, 2024

The Idaho screaming death spider

In our pantry, a spider has made itself at home.

Older Daughter noted this afternoon that the arachnid was turned facing out, so its pattern was visible. "Kinda interesting," she commented.

"It's the Idaho screaming death spider," Don joked. "Found only in pantries."

I got curious, however. Was this a juvenile black widow? I enlarged the photo:

Below is a juvenile black widow (photo source):

Nope, definitely not a juvenile black window. Instead, it appears to be triangulate cobweb spider (photo source):

But, for our purposes, we'll continue to call this harmless and beneficial little creature the Idaho screaming death spider if it discourages people from moving to Idaho.

Monday, July 29, 2024

Bit and bobs

Here are a few random bits and bobs from the last few weeks.

We have a shed in our yard we use for garden tools, etc. The doors were open on it for about a week or so. One day Don saw a robin fly in with food in its beak, and we thought, "Uh oh, robin built a nest inside." If that was the case, we'd have to keep the shed doors open until the babies fledged.

Later that same day I went to put something inside the shed and saw this:

Not a nest, but a fledgling that had made its way in.

Of course we left the shed doors open. By the next day, it was gone.

Ground squirrel.


Full moon behind a pine.


There is a single volunteer sunflower plant growing in one of the potato beds.

It's always worth examining things like this up close...

...because you never know what you might see.


And another small spider, this one on our screen door. I believe it's a young orb weaver.

I have some basil plants growing on the deck. I was going to transplant them into the garden beds, but never got around to it, so I repotted them in larger pots and they're happily growing.

However something was eating the leaves.

Aha! Found the culprit. Look how closely it blends in, color-wise. I scooped it up and dumped it over the side of the balcony.


Grasses, blooming.


Allergies, anyone?

A clump of irises growing by the side of the driveway. This photo was taken about a month ago.

In late June, I baffled to see what looked like carrots growing in the rocks next to one of the garden beds. Carrots? How?

The mystery was solved a few weeks later. Not carrots, but Queen Anne's lace, a member of the carrot family.

I know Queen Anne's lace is technically an invasive weed, but I absolutely stinkin' love it.

A very, very distant doe and her fawn.

Some quail parents herding their chicks toward the safety of some brush.

Sunrise..

...and sunset.

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Micro-drama

We have a small lamp on the kitchen counter.

The other day, a small movement caught my eye near the base of the lamp.

It seems a tiny spider, living in the crevices on the lamp, had caught a fruit fly almost bigger than itself. I grabbed the camera, turned on the macro lens, and tried to capture the battle.

I wanted to cheer the spider on. Eat all the fruit flies you can! Please!

It was quite an epic (if tiny) struggle, and sometimes the spider had to pause and retreat a bit.

But in the end he succeeded and hauled the fruit fly away.

Micro (macro?) drama in the kitchen.

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Nature's guy wires

I noticed a T-post the other day that, in the morning sun, looked like it had multiple guy wires holding it up.

The spiders around here seem unusually active right now. I'm sure it has something to do with the waning season and the subconscious realization that winter is on the way; but wow, I don't think I'd ever seen such firm strands of silk. It looked, literally, like guy wires.

I hope the architect catches lots of bugs.

Monday, June 12, 2023

Random pix

Sorry for the silence, dear readers. I've had a nutty week with multiple writing deadlines and lots of things on my plate. So rather than write anything witty (my brain is pretty fried), I'll simply show you a selection of random photos I've taken over the last couple of weeks.

Black-chinned hummer.

Early-morning sunshine on dewy grass.

Busy robin feeding babies.

Some elk watching us from a nearby pasture.

Oak leaves.

For some reason, though, the tree is sporting a few red leaves, even this late in spring. No idea why.

We had this handsome boy grazing in our yard one afternoon.

Potatoes. I took this photo on May 30, so they're even lusher and taller now.

A neighbor's horse, framed by tree branches.

Aftermath of a thunderstorm...

...which left behind a beautiful double rainbow...

...as well as a pretty sunset.

My nuclear strawberries are starting to produce heavily. I'll be picking a generous bowl full every other day.

This was the first harvest. It's ramped up since I took this photo.

Some sneaky robins are enjoying the fruit too.

One last holdout. I figured breeding season was over, but evidently this fellow disagrees.

I removed this spider egg sac lest it get buried during a project. It ripped open and all the eggs were visible.

Poofy afternoon clouds.

Frumpkin, Older Daughter's cat, looking exceptionally cute.

So there you go, some random photos from the last few weeks. Hopefully I'll get all my writing deadlines done in the next couple of days and can un-fry my brain.