Thursday, September 18, 2008

spider funnel


For the first several months after we moved out here, we slept in a tent in the house, mainly to avoid the brown recluse. The house had been dark and empty for some time, and we came across a few too many for comfort as we tore things apart. Now we see only harmless specimens. Luckily, the recluse is true to its name.

We still have a crazy lot of spiders -- I could sweep webs from the front porch on a daily basis if I were so inclined. No need for screens when the spiders do all the work. I let the tub full o' toys sit for several weeks, untouched by the broom, and this is what happened: a spider funnel. Sometimes we can actually see the spider that lives there, deep inside the hole.

(I stopped off at the dreaded WalMart on my way home from work today and strolled past a box of cooked bacon on a shelf. I ask you: has it really come to this?)

3 comments:

Allison said...

Regarding the cooked bacon, alas, it has come to this and more. Ask the (wo)man on the street how to make a white sauce, build a french drain or gap a spark plug and my bet is you'd get a blank expression in response. I fear we've become a nation of fools. Present company excluded, of course. ;-)

Julia said...

White sauce is no problem, but I had to look up a french drain! I blame decades of apartment dwelling ;-).

I like the funnel, what is the spider's favorite food of choice?

countrypeapie said...

Allison, hello! We missed y'all today -- I hope Leon is alright. I really enjoy keeping up with your blog.

Julia, french drains sound far more exotic than they really are. Prefacing anything with the word french has that effect. Except maybe fries. Regarding the spider, there are bugs aplenty for him/her(?). I haven't actually seen the funnel spider eat, but the spiders that screen the porch tend to catch anything that flies. Except bats. Once a bat swooped right between the iron posts -- I've never seen one fly so low and so close. I believe, in that case, it was the spider that was caught.