August 29, 2004

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  IT WAS THIS BIG    Let me tell ya something...Katt is no Fraidy-Katt. I will jump right in and get my hands dirty when it needs doin'. I worked on a ranch every summer for 5 years and I helped deliver untold critters and have been covered with just about every kind of mess an animal can make. I can muck a stall, change the oil in a car, move the 7 foot black rat snake that was hanging out on door of the side porch of the house, and climb our 2 story tall apple trees to prune limbs or get those delicious apples . Dirt doesn't bother me, blood doesn't scare me, and I am not easily intimidated by anything. I just bite the bullet and go for it.    But today when I was outside watering my poor gardens which were succumbing to the august heat *where is all the blasted rain when one needs it, eh?*, I saw something that gave me pause.    Now, our house is situated in front of a meadow that is, oh, probably, 30 acres or so. It continues on beyond our house, following the Bynum Run along a walking path that is comprised of many more acres. We have bald eagles and herons flying over our house any given day, a red shouldered hawk taught her nestlings to fly off of our pin cherry tree last spring, and bluebirds, orioles, cardinals, bluejays, goldfinches, etc. are everyday sightings. Foxes roam through the 1/2 acre that is our back yard *fenced but the foxes don't know that, apparently*, we have a big ole wood chuck whom we have named Fat Cheeks that is most likely living under the garden shed, and chipmunks are trying to take over my herb garden. It is critter city round here most of the time.   Those aren't the only visitors we have had in our yard. I have seen more weird bugs.  Assassin bugs, praying mantises, humming bird moths, and walking sticks to name a few of the less common ones. Today was another weird bug experience:    It was a spider. She is in my garden. And she is THIS BIG No, I am not exaggerating. I looked it up. Her up. She is an Argiope classified spider called a St. Andrew's Cross spider. Beautiful, very large and slightly creeper in her largeness. This is exactly what this lady who is in my garden by my purple zinnia's looks like.    I need to weed my garden. She needs to either relocate on her own, or she will be relocated. As they aren't poisonous or aggressive I won't kill her, but neither is she going to be able to remain where she is. I want to weed my flower bed!   She knew what she was doing when she made her web near my house. I won't kill her...as long as she is outside! Inside, all bets are off.  That concludes today's science lesson centered on arachnids. Stick around. Next I think I may talk about the 7 foot long black rat snake that keeps appearing inside the house *yes, as in not outside the walls of*. Blessings...                                                                                    Kathie

  • 7:38 pm
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