Pointless photo essay of the day:

First, a triptych that I'll title Hot Cats Think that Brass Music Stands are Cool:

Then, Spiders I Found in Various Places Yesterday:

 This is a Crab Spider (on Shrubby Cinquefoil, which used to be a Potentilla but has been put into a different genus now. I'm too lazy to look it up), and I'm thinking that it might be a Goldenrod Spider, although the markings aren't showing. Crab Spider of some sort, at any rate.

 Also a Crab Spider (and on the same plant, a couple of flowers away), and this time the markings are making me a bit more confident that this is a male Goldenrod Spider. The females are quite a bit different. And larger.

Crab spiders are ambush predators rather than web builders. They sit there on flowers (or leaves, depending on the species of spider) with their two front pairs of legs open, waiting for an unsuspecting bee or other insect to not notice them.

Very cool to watch.

I'm not sure what spider this one is. The markings look a little like a Hammock Spider, but I didn't get that close of a look. The sunflowers were pretty busy with ants... maybe this particular spider was in the mood for something acidic?

And finally, the spider that you can barely see. That speck there in the centre of the leaf, I mean. You can probably see the shadow better than the spider. Tiny spiders and autofocus cameras just don't mix. What's more a shame, though, is that you can't see the perfect web the spider made on that leaf. If it's still there today maybe I'll spray it down a bit so that it's more visible to the camera.

That'll do it for me today. I'm housesitting this week (more on that later), so you can probably expect a few more pointless yard photos than usual since I'll have more time for them.

Lucky, lucky you...