”Spiders are always big in the autumn: they’ve had all summer to grow.”
The morning is hot, in the high 70’s, and sunny. It is a quiet morning as are most Sunday mornings. The air is still. The dogs are napping. I’ve read the paper, had my coffee and even had some toast so I am ready to meet the day.
My house resembles Miss Havisham’s house. Spider webs are everywhere, even in the smallest places. Wherever I walk, I clear webs. Even my plants have webs from one frond to the other. This happens every late August, and it is annoying every late August. Baby spiders abound. I am part of the plot of Charlotte’s web. Perhaps I should watch Tarantula or Earth vs. The Spider.
Today is the only day this week with nothing scheduled. My sloth days have been few. I long for those days of doing nothing, not even getting dressed. Today I do have to clean a bit and pick up Nala’s trash in the yard. I saw a couple of dog food cans she stole from the bag of trash in the kitchen and some wrappers from snack size Snickers. I’ll grab my prisoner’s stick and a bag and hit the yard.
When I was in the eighth grade, I got interested in politics. John F. Kennedy, my senator, was running for president. Uptown was a storefront headquarters for Kennedy. I went and got buttons to wear to show my support. I watched the first Kennedy-Nixon debate. I remember how bad Nixon looked and that he seemed to need a shave. Kennedy looked perfect. The only memory I have of the actual debate is the controversy about Quemoy and Matsu. I remember a map with the islands circled. I still have my Kennedy pins.
When I was a kid, we often had barbecues on Saturday nights. I was a fan of hot dogs and cheeseburgers. The cheese was always yellow American cheese. The mustard for the hot dogs matched. My mother sometimes made potato salad and peppers and eggs. I always chose the peppers and eggs, but my mother did make a great potato salad. Watermelon was the best dessert.
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August 25, 2024 at 4:13 pm
There are spiders here in packs. At night, when I go to shut up the chickens, they always look in the direction of the flashlight for a few moments. Their eyes are like green lasers out in the darkness. Then they scuttle away. Intent on their hunt for bugs to eat, bird baths to drink from, and other spiders to mate with.
This summer a pair of Red Shouldered Hawks nested in the tallest oak on the property. About 100 yards from the barn. Now I have to watch the chickens, like a hawk, when they’re foraging for bugs. The male is the biggest hawk of any species I’ve ever seen. Fully 30 inches standing up. I chaperone the Terrier when she’s out. They have three fledglings to feed so the hunting is relentless. I haven’t seen a squirrel in three weeks; Or mice or rat droppings. I used to see two or three squirrels a day and rodent droppings out in the sunflower breaks or sometimes the hen house. Now, nothing. All the songbirds have moved away but still come to feed and bathe. They know me and listen for the sound of the hose cleaning out the baths. You have to leave nature alone as much as you can. So things will change on their own. But that oak tree has been needing to be lumber and firewood for a decade. And the hawks will live somewhere else.
August 25, 2024 at 7:59 pm
Beto,
My spiders tend to live in dark corners. I find them and let them live. I always move the ones which have fallen into the sink. The spiders are tiny here now. All the babies learning about life on their own.
My hen when I was in Africa would leave for the day and return home missing a chick or two. Snakes were often the culprits. I once saw a boa which had swallowed a whole chicken. You could still see the shape of the chicken as the snake had yet to compress it.
Red tail hawks are common. They ride the thermals. They tend to prefer mice and rats, and I saw one dining on a squirrel.
The birds are still coming to the feeders.