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musings, thoughts, and writings of Barbara W. Klaser


September 13, 2008

Shelob is dead, but Ike rages on

Yesterday I killed the largest black widow spider I’ve ever seen. She was beautiful, but … she had to go.

Sorry to write such a Halloweenish blog so early. But the weather has been cool and cloudy here the past three days, making it possible for me to do a little gardening again, which makes me happy. I’m afraid in the hottest weeks of summer I don’t venture out much (or blog much, apparently), except to throw a little water on things to keep them from dying. Unfortunately weeds don’t seem to need much water to keep them from dying.

I don’t think I’ll ever be one of those people with a perfectly manicured and landscaped yard. But maybe this suits my personality better — you know, finding huge creepy spiders, growing a forest of weeds as prolifically as anything else, trying to figure out what to do with monster sized zucchini after zucchini, wishing a certain gopher would move elsewhere and that the neighborhood outdoor cats would stop killing my lizards and pooping in my flower bed. Story of my life. But it makes for more drama, perhaps, than a perfect yard.

Tara is growing up fast. She got spayed last week, which set her play time back some, a setback which had to be forced on her because she can’t seem to sit still for more than five minutes. People are such wusses after surgery, compared to pets. It makes one wonder why we’re the dominant species on the planet.

Now Tara’s making up for lost time!

My thoughts and prayers go out to those in Texas, where Hurricane Ike seems to be acting up much worse than my little terror of a kitten could dream of doing. I hope Ike doesn’t give her any fresh ideas.

— Barbara @ 10:38 am PST, 09/13/08

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6 Comments

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  1. 1.

    When I was out mowing last week there seemed to be a lot of spiders in the grass but luckily they were small and not black widows. I must say, I would love to have lizards in the yard. I don’t know if there are lizards around these parts. There used to be red spotted (my description) newts, albeit I think they were rare. I spotted them out in the woods, by creeks, two or three times. I used to see plenty of toads, but not lately. Whether it is just the particular place I’m in is inhospitable or whether they aren’t generally around so much I can’t say. No gophers either but we do have a woodchuck, kind of a giant gopher. But since we don’t grow anything we don’t mind.

    Comment by Eric Mayer — September 13, 2008 @ 4:02 pm

  2. 2.

    I stay indoors the hottest parts of the summer as well - same thing - water to keep things from dying, picking some garden veggies, and then back indoors. We’ve had good weather for a couple of weeks, but today they’re predicting 93 degrees and high humidity. I took a nice long walk early this morning, and now I’ll find thinks to keep myself amused for the rest of the day out of the hot weather.

    We had lizards when we lived in South Carolina. They’re fun to watch.

    I’m glad Tara is doing well after her surgery. She is a cutie.

    Cas
    I think of you and your beautiful dog often.

    Comment by cassie-b — September 14, 2008 @ 5:19 am

  3. 3.

    You know, I think you and I must have matching yards, spiders and all. I figure if it’s green, it’s adding to the oxygen level of the air and hiding the brown dirt. So it’s a weed…from a distance, who can tell? I keep it cut back to a level where I can see the cats as they walk across the yard and that’s good enough for me. Really must do something about the black widows, though. They are getting quite bold. And in the heat it’s all I can do to keep the ornamental plants from dying. Winter, where art thou??

    Comment by Sarah — September 16, 2008 @ 12:04 pm

  4. 4.

    Hurricanes suck.

    Sincerely,

    Birds.

    Comment by Creechman — September 19, 2008 @ 3:05 am

  5. 5.

    Black widows scare me…and I’ve found them in my garage. Kind of creeps me out to put on my wellies. I shake them and stomp on them to try to make sure there’s nobody hiding in there. (Shivers at the thought…)

    Comment by violetismycolor — September 26, 2008 @ 7:05 pm

  6. 6.

    I absolutely super agree with Creechman! Hurricanes really suck! My husband lives in Florida and I always hate it when there is a hurricane. Always praying for his safety. How I wish there are no hurricanes ever.

    -M from Mexico

    Comment by Cuautla Morelos — October 10, 2008 @ 1:40 am

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