Where I work

No, I'm not officially back yet, but I did go for a walk (in the wind) today. Here's a couple of things I noticed:

Just going down the path.

Neat lichens, tree.

Windy out on the West Lake.

Silver Berry (Wolf Willow) leaves.

Thin-legged Wolf Spider

Balsam Poplar bud.

No blather today, though. Time for me to find some lunch.

Things in the yard

So, today I got the last of my staples out, Queen Elizabeth II turns 90, and Prince died at 57. You can rearrange those three things in order of importance to you, I suppose.

I'm not in a blathery mood again today, so here's the last of the yard photos I took the other day. Time to go out and get some new ones, I guess.

The Two-spot Ladybird Beetle is a native species here.

The Seven-spot, however, isn't. It was released as biological pest control, and it's the one you see the most of now. Has it become a pest itself? There's still some argument about that.

A bit fuzzy since I had a short lens on, but here's a Red-breasted Nuthatch hiding seeds in the bark of a spruce tree.

Spider!

First spider photo of spring

Here's a Thin-legged Wolf Spider I found on the path at work a little while ago.

First spider photo of spring. Yay!



For those of you sticking up your noses at a perfectly nice spider, I'll say that I also saw some ducks and a Mourning Cloak butterfly.





They were ok, but I liked the spider better.

I have no idea

What this post is supposed to be about, I mean. I could tell you that the new weather app I downloaded (because I stupidly deleted my other one) rather amusingly thinks it can predict that it's going to start raining in exactly eleven minutes.

I could tell you that it's a pain to have gas when you're on a pouch but that would be a short story because it's a pain to have gas when you're on a pouch.

I could tell you that the idiots that manage my apartment building arranged to have the hall carpets cleaned this morning at 8 am (seriously. 8 am on a Sunday?) when the apartment's already stupidly hot and humid.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Humid to an Albertan is pretty much parched to the rest of the country. But still. Now it's more humid, and that's just stupid.

Aaand I'm noticing that there's already a lot of stupid in this post. Funny, really, because it makes me sound like I'm in a mood when I'm really not. Well, except about the gas.

I still don't know what to blather about, by the way.



Maybe it's best that I just don't then. Before I stop typing, though, I just had to point out that today's pointless photo does NOT contain any spiders. That's a harvestman, better known to some of us as a daddy longlegs. Definitely not a spider.

Um, so there. Catch you later.

Spider photo of the day:

Ok, this was actually for work twitter and you're going to have to click on the thumbnail to see what's going on, but this spider's too cool not to mention here.

Grass Spiders (Agelenopsis sp.) are funnel weavers. What this means is that instead of spinning the stereotypical sticky orb web, these things spin a web that at first glance just looks like a flat sheet. A better glance, though, will show you that the sheet actually curves down into a funnel shape. At the bottom of the funnel, the spider waits for vibrations on the web that will tell it that a prey animal has landed. Then the spider comes out of its hidey hole, grabs the insect (or other spider), and takes it back down the funnel to finish it off.

Pretty damned neat.



Is too.

The spider looks roughly like this (note the long spinnerets typical of the genus) and, even though you may be completely freaked out by it (and if you are, why are you on this blog?) it's considered harmless to humans.

Its Australian cousins, though, can sometimes be deadly. Apparently.

Sometimes I think that everything in Australia is at least somewhat deadly. That's certainly the press we get here, at any rate.

Anyway, look for the webs in the morning dew if you're out for a stroll, especially this time of year. Then look for the hiding spider. It's fun.



Is too.

Not-berry picking

And look! A spider on a rose, courtesy of the new phone.

Oh, and before anyone says anything, I do indeed know the difference between portrait and landscape. I took some of each; just liked this one better. I promise, however, that if I ever post a video I will shoot it in PORTRAIT on purpose to completely annoy you.

Anyway.

This shouldn't be as wordy as the last post, but I thought I should mention that I had a little revisit of my childhood yesterday. Dad's few saskatoon bushes were absolutely loaded with fruit, so I picked about half a margarine container full so that they wouldn't go to waste. Waste? No, that's not quite right. The rest can go to the birds, which won't be a waste, or to casual grazing by Dad when he's gardening.

For whatever reason, the nursery-stock saskatoons seem to be having bumper crops this year. I say nursery-stock, because many of the wild ones I've seen set fruit that then dried up because hello drought conditions. The more domesticated ones seem happy enough, though, and the u-picks are saying that they have some of the best crops ever.

I grew up on saskatoons, but for those who haven't had the pleasure think blueberry but with a somewhat brighter taste. They're kind of a thing on the prairies/parkland, and for some reason (many people think soil conditions) grow much sweeter here than in other parts of Canada.

Wondering about the not-berry in the title? That's because saskatoons aren't berries, as much as people may call them that. They're pomes. For you French speakers out there who may be thinking that I'm missing an m in pome, I'm not. That's just science-speak for a structure that's like an apple.

When I was a kid my maternal grandmother did a lot of canning and preserving, and much of that was wild fruit. Chokecherry (which, despite the name, is pretty fantastic once sugar's added and it's cooked down), pincherry, nanking cherry from her yard (not wild here, but practically grow wild once you get them going), and, of course, saskatoon. Mom and I used to go out and help her harvest them, which sometimes was fun and sometimes... was not. Hey, they were both pretty strong-willed women, and some days that's confusing as a kid.

Not all saskatoons were preserved, of course. Some were used fresh, and some were frozen for use later in pies and things like that. My grandmother made a mean saskatoon pie. Well, she made a mean pie anyway, but saskatoon pies are what I miss most.

I wish I could make pies.



Ah well. The most complicated thing that will happen to these particular saskatoons is that they'll be scattered on some ice cream, and that's ok too. And as for spiders on roses that have nothing at all to do with blather topics? They're better than ok, you know.





Yes, really.

Artistically dead thing of the day:

I would like to point out that there are no spiders in this photograph.

There aren't, you have to admit.

There aren't many words either, yet again. There will be at some point, but there's just not the time for it now.

So... bye, I guess. Catch you later.



Get it? CATCH you later... yeah, I know.

So what shall we have?

My two fans have, I know, two favourite topics on this blog: what rocks I've been wearing lately, and spiders. I now have pointless (or maybe not-entirely-pointless) photos for both topics, so what'll it be?

That's right; it's spiders! Actually, that's only because I need to keep the blather portion of this short today since I wasted so much time editing (and, erm, checking twitter). More actual blather tomorrow, probably, but for now let's meet Salticus scenicus, the Zebra Jumping Spider. I'm a big fan of Jumping Spiders in general, so finding this little one on the house just as I was heading in was a lucky thing for me. Before the photos, here's a bit more information on the spider itself.

Ok, done reading? Let's have a look at her:

These spiders are tiny. The edge you see at the top is the vinyl siding.

Jumping Spiders see very well for spiders. It can make photo-taking tricky.

For example, at one point she somersaulted. I had no idea until I looked at the shot.

I don't think she saw me any better after that, but worth the try?

One more look with the siding edge included.

I have to say that I was fairly impressed that the lens was able to get these images on a very sunny day (never ideal, of course). Yeah, I've cleaned them up a bit, but nowadays what digital picture isn't played with? I didn't have to do too much, and there was no colour correction at all. Nicely done, camera.

I bet you can't wait for the rocks now, huh. You'll have to, though. I've been down here far too long.

Things in the yard. And, of course, rocks.

This is pretty much a pictorial today, since it wouldn't make sense to hold onto these photos for too long. Consider it a look at early spring here. Also consider that we'll likely have at least one more winter storm and probably a few hard frosts coming up, so don't look for flowers anytime soon.

Oh, and I know the order of these is a bit wonkus. I wasn't in the mood to fix it. Having said that, let's take the tour.

To the left, daffodil shoots. These ones are by the dryer vent, so the soil thaws early. There were also European crocus shoots, but I noticed that the long shot I took also featured turds from one of the neighbourhood cats. Thought you'd appreciate it if I left them out.

That indistinct thing in the background is very important, really, even if it was massively disinclined to have its photo taken. That's my first spider of the season.

Pretty much as important as the first violet.

I'm serious. And for those who don't know about the spider thing, just hit the spider label at the bottom of this post or search spider at the top of the page. Then you'll understand.

For whatever reason (weirdness), I have a thing for melting ice. I have so many pointless photos of melting ice.

Here's... another one, I guess.

These are the first shoots of what most people around here call Prairie Crocus, but I find myself increasingly calling Pasque Flower (the alternate name) because it's not a crocus at all. It got called crocus because it's one of the first flowers of spring and the purple colour reminded settlers of the European Crocus. Similar colours, yes, but Pasque Flowers are what's called pubescent. Relax, it just means hairy in biology. Pasque Flowers are very fuzzy.

Here are some images for those who aren't familiar with the plant. It's a favourite of mine.

And now... rocks! Oh, come on. It's been a while since we've done rocks.

My local rock shop had its big semi-annual sale the other week and I... missed it. For a variety of reasons. I should explain that the sale isn't a sale as in fantastic prices (although some of them are ok); it's quantity. They bring in a whackload of stuff. Whackload, as always, being the correct scientific term.

Well, as I said, I missed it this time. To make myself feel better about that -- that's the excuse, anyway -- I stopped in on my way to Dad's place to pick up a few new things. Oh, and for anyone new to the program who wonders why most of my rocks are imprisoned? It's just the easiest way to wear rocks if you don't happen to own a rock drill. I generally wear my rocks as pendants; thus the rock cages.

Anyway.

What you're seeing this time (clockwise from the left) is Zebra Jasper, Tree Agate, a Snowflake Obsidian marble, and a Tiger Eye pendant. Yeah, more tiger eye. I just have such a hard time staying away from that stuff, and have had since I was a child. This one's cool (she excuses to herself) because although it has a brown base it has streaks of blue as well. Between tiger eye and amethyst, though, I could probably outfit an entire jewellery box if I didn't force myself to look at other things.

If anyone's noticing a mottled/stripey theme to Friday's buys, I agree. I couldn't tell you why. Mottled mood at the time, I suppose.

And if anyone's noticed as well that I only gave you image links for the rocks rather than information links, it's because I've got so sick of reading the healing crystal stuff out there that I'm leaving it for you to google if you're so inclined. Everything out there made of rock is apparently some sort of positive energy, if you believe that sort of thing. Funny how you never seem to find any malevolent rocks. Surely there are some minerals out there, at least, that hate humanity?

My apologies as usual to those of you who do believe in the power of positive rock wearing. I just can't. Rocks look nice. The end. Any other benefits you find? Well, good for you, I guess. It's not like it's going to hurt anything.





Anyway, enough words (and photos) for today. Next? Either tea buying or doodling. Maybe both, if I can get the Bob to stop sitting on my foot. He's a bit of a heavyweight these days, and my toes are tingling.

Um, yeah. You needed to know that.

Your annual Emmys blah

But first, today's sunflower companion. That's a harvestman. When I was a kid we called them daddy longlegs, but I've since found out that there's an actual spider called a daddy longlegs. To keep from getting the two confused I've tried to use the term harvestman for the non-spider one.

This is why scientific names are better (or at least less confusing) than common ones, but I doubt we'll all be speaking pseudolatin anytime soon.

----------

Ok, the Emmys. First, a confession. I sort of watched the Emmys. They were on, and I occasionally paid a little bit of attention, but I was also doing other things. With that caveat, then, here's my summary:

Blah.

They were blah. Seth Meyers? Nice but kind of blah. Production values? Ok, but sort of blah. Fashions? Honestly, mostly blah. There were one or two wtfs, as there always is, and maybe a couple of standouts (although it's always entertaining to go to the internet fashion lists the next day and see one person's wtf be the next person's ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! I don't think even differing opinion could have saved Lena Dunham, though), but mostly it was indifferent. Gentlemen, I will say that it was nice to see so many bow ties. I say this every awards show, but if you wear a straight tie with evening dress, it's not making a fashion statement. It's wearing a shiny suit with an inappropriate tie, is all.

I do have a couple of non-blah comments, of course. To the bulleted list, then.

• Weird Al's thing was awful. And that's coming form someone who likes Weird Al a lot.
• In a three-hour-long awards show, please can we cut the improv? Ricky Gervais, no one cares about your no-win monologue. Jimmy Kimmel? We get it. Matthew McConaughey is a movie person. There may have been funny bits, but fer Whomever's sake get on with it.
• Academy? Watch some new frigging (well, not literally frigging. Unless you want to, I suppose) television, already. Three consecutive wins, five consecutive wins, eighth nomination... all of this indicates that voters just choose names that they recognise instead of trying to figure out who the new people are and seeing if they're any good. Sad, really.
• This will probably surprise people, but I thought that the Robin Williams tribute was... inappropriate. Yes, he was beloved. Yes, his death was a recent shock. But singling one person out in the In Memoriam is always uncomfortable. To me, at least. The business lost some really big names this year. They were also beloved, and I'm sure that their families would have appreciated more than a picture. Do it for one person, do it for all... or don't do it AT all, I figure.

Anyway, I need to get back to work now. And this was actually a post for a change. Congratulations, me.



Next time maybe wear a bow tie?

Something

O spider I see in the vanity sink,
they say that you've been there two days.
I think you should probably find your way out
or someone will flush you away.

I 'spose if the sides are too steep for escape
You're likely in need of some help.
Yeah, I'll grab a cup and then scoot you up top,
but next time please do this yourself.

 NO, I HAVE NOT LOST MY MIND. It's just Bad Poetry Day. And apparently copyrighted for profit, according to that link. Kinda figures, doesn't it? And yes, I wrote a poem about a spider (which I really did save this morning, to no one's surprise who's ever read this blog. It was a European House Spider. How sad is it that I knew the scientific name without even looking it up? Anyway, I let it go so that it could keep eating things in the basement. Incidentally, I do understand if people are creeped out by this particular species. Long legs, very scurry-y... they're harmless, though. Um -- what was I saying before I started on this?) and accompanied it with picture of fish. It wouldn't have been pointless otherwise, would it?

Just for fun, I put a modified version of the first line of my bad poem through this poetry generator a few times and got this:

Spider in the bathroom sink
While I sit all alone singin the blues........
though i never knew what was in the flue.
Grey souls, Grey shoes I've even got grey blues.

Deep, man. Deep.

I actually have been a bit of a poetry writer over the years, but this is the first one I've written in I don't know how long. It's like most of my hobbies, really. I'll go totally gangbusters on something (poetry, knitting, needlework, I-bet-some-of-you-are-expecting-me-to-say-doodling-but-I've-never-really-given-that-up) for a while -- sometimes years -- and then completely drop it for sometimes years. I'm pretty cyclical, though. Hobbies never seem to totally go away, and the return is easily triggered. Say a person (ok, me) hasn't knitted for a while, and then notices that the homemade dish cloth is getting ratty. Well, you take out the cotton yarn and the needles and you whip up a quick dish cloth. Then you think about the fact that you haven't made a new toque for a while and get out the patterns. Then you find yourself frequenting the yarn aisle looking for something that would do for a fuzzy but not too fuzzy throw...

And then you get tired of knitting and remember that you probably still have some embossing paper hanging around here somewhere.

I'm a natural born dabbler, I guess. It's good for my job, though. I can do a little bit of a lot of things, and when you're trying to think of programming ideas that can be handy.

Anyway, lunch time now. If you're at all interested in my poems from back when I was regularly writing (some good, some ok, some definitely a good fit for Bad Poetry Day) there's a few at this link from the other blog. And just for fun, here's a last word from the poetry generator. First line's mine. The rest? The universe, I suppose:

Cows, cows
End this charade now, disguise not your battered soul.
I see her now!!!! 
The shock of never rips through my soul.

Pointless spider on a flower of the day:

Wait a minute. Who am I to say that the spider is pointless? It may be having a very pointed life for all I know.

It is on a flower, though.

Probably the reason why this group of spiders is sometimes called the Flower Spiders. That's my guess, anyway.

Speaking of guessing, who's already guessed that I have nothing?

It's one of the hazards of posting at work, I suppose. Work happens, and then when there's time to blog you have that moment of wait. I think I may need a topic. Does anyone have a topic?

I don't have a topic.

I do have a rock in a cage around my neck. Well, the chain's around my neck, really. The rock in a cage is hanging from the chain. The chain and the rock are both in this post -- today's rock is the one on the upper right. Leopard skin jasper. And why am I telling you this? Sadly, and Whomever help me, I'm in the mood to buy rocks again.

This time I blame the shopping channel. Yeah, I've been watching jewellery shows again, and for the most part they've been laughable. It always puts me in the I prefer real mindset, unfortunately, and that makes me think of what other rocks I might like to have dangling from my neck.

I don't need any more rocks just now. And I really should do my best to convince myself not to stop at the rock shop on my way back from Dad's on Tuesday. Can you tell that it's probably not going to work?

I can't help it. I like neat rocks, and they're kind of fun at work.

Speaking of which...



I'll try to have an actual topic tomorrow. That's not a promise, but it's also not a rock. You know, for what it's worth.

Probably not as much as a rock.

[/silliness]





Oh, and just because I can, pointless earworm of the day.

Things on flowers

Well, I've been working (at work? Seriously?) and I haven't had time to think of a blather. Plus, I have a malfunctioning mouse. You never know how much you depend on mouse technology until your mouse develops an evil plan of its own, really. Ah well, Wheat's picking me up a new one on his way back from lunch. In the meantime I'm going to use the mouse and the work as an excuse to just give you a brief pictorial essay entitled (as you may have guessed already) Things On Flowers:

 Bee on Veronica. I've been trying for more years than I care to admit to get one of these that wasn't either completely fuzzy or completely overexposed (as it were). Bees move quickly.

Spider on Sunflower. Come on, you had to know that there would be a spider. In this case, the white Goldenrod Spider on the petals to the right. There was also a yellow Goldenrod Spider on the same plant, but I never got a decent shot of it. Goldenrod Spiders can change from white to yellow depending on the flower that they're on. Apparently those two couldn't make up their minds to match.

And here, Bee on Sunflower. I suppose that was pretty obvious, though.

That'll do it for this addition of Things on Flowers, otherwise known as I Have A Few Words For This Bloody Mouse. Seriously, if you knew how long it took to do even just this much, you'd be impressed that you're getting a post at all.

I certainly am.



Later.

So disorientated

The title, by the way, is a joke. There's a debate about disorientated versus disoriented, and to be honest the first one makes me cringe a little even though it's in common use and increasingly accepted. It's not something I go all Grammar Granny over, but if you knew me in person you'd know that I'm never disorientated. I am, though, frequently disoriented.

I am now, in fact.

Summers mean that my work week has shifted so that I can be here (at work, that is) on weekends. That's always weird to begin with. Tonight I'm also helping to cover the evening shift because I'm somewhat short-staffed, and that makes it weirder.

But hey. Here's a spider picture. That should make things better.

These particular ones are Bowl and Doily spiders; a female and two males. I took this a while ago, and I don't imagine both males stayed long. One might have, though. Males and females have been known to share webs for a while. I like Bowl and Doily spiders (big surprise, I know). They make cool webs, have a neat hunting style, and look like they've been graffittied down their abdomens.

And they spend most of their time upside down.

Without being disorientated.

Anyway. Not much to say from me today because it's been kind of a talky day already. This afternoon I was leading an edible plant walk (surprise! If you get lost in the Alberta woods with me, we won't starve to death. I have sooo many secret skills, you know) this afternoon, and it's surprising how tired an hour and a half monologue on a hot day can make you.

Speaking of hot, we're supposed to have a fair scorcher -- for us, anyway -- of a week coming up. And of course the newscasters are all saying how great it sounds in their obligatory chummy chat after the forecast. WHAT IS GREAT ABOUT TOO-HOT WEATHER? We're not used to it, it makes everyone crabby, and it's probably going to be a gajillion degrees in my apartment by Friday. Geez, people. Have some sense.



That's um, a long-standing annoyance of mine. Bet you couldn't tell.

Ah well, back to work for another fifty minutes or so for me. At least there are some words down here tonight. There probably won't be tomorrow because I'll be busy, and then I'll likely be away from the computer for a couple of days after that. This blog is terribly active lately, isn't it?

Ah well.





Again.

Crouching tiger, hidden spider

 Except for the tiger part. Although the fact that tiger selfies are/were a thing still astounds me. That gets girls how? And who came up with it in the first place, anyway?

People are weird.

Anyway. This will, I hope, be a short post (and it never is when I say that, so why do I keep doing it?), because I was arting this morning and I have neither the thoughts nor the wrist to type a long one. So... an update on my usual summer spider hunt, whether you want it or not.

It's not going terribly well, to be honest. I haven't exactly seen an abundance of anything, and those that I do find -- with one exception, which I haven't posted yet -- I seem to be finding in the photoeditor after I've taken the shot. There was that Goldenrod Spider in the High Bush-cranberry flowers from a few weeks ago, if you'll remember, and there's one above in that Centaurea. Bottom right, if you're looking for it. I wish I'd seen it at the time, because my focus would have been way different.

To the left, at least, is a spider that I found before I took the picture. It's on Mock Orange (third flower down), to give you an idea of the size. Pretty tiny spider and pretty hard to get in there, but at least when you zoom that one it's pretty easy to tell that it's a spider and not just some random white legs like the other ones.

Ah well, they'll come. And when they do, it's looking like the new lens will do a pretty good job of them. It was interesting this weekend, comparing the two lenses. Other than Christmas it's the first time I've had them both here at once. I'll have to do it more often.

There. Does that count as short? Ish? It'll have to do, I'm afraid, because I'm done now.



See you in a bit. However long a bit may be to this blog.

Yeah, you know it

The I've got nothing that you're about to see, I mean.

I've got nothing.

And now you've seen it.

I sure wish I'd seen the spider that was hiding in these High Bush-cranberry flowers when I took the picture, though. I would have worked harder to get it into focus. It's there, at any rate. Even a mostly not visible spider is better than no spider at all.



And as for me? Back to work. Happy Canada Day tomorrow, everyone.

Anti-social

Psst... there's a spider in this photo.

Bet you never would have guessed.

----------

The other day my boss was mentioning that people had told him this place seemed somehow less cheery over the summer; people were either looking kind of glum or too head-down busy working. I was surprised by that, because I honestly hadn't noticed. I said something about it to Wheat, though, and he agreed with the statement. Funny, really. I thought we'd had a decent summer overall. No real fireworks, and to me I'd sooner have calm and functional than overly exciting. Isn't the curse may you live in interesting times, or something like that? Ah. Here we go.

I'm not sure that I'd agree that the workplace is down, really, but one thing it is is less social. I figure a couple of reasons for this: more work space, and the internet.

When I started here, back in the dark ages, there definitely wasn't enough work space for the staff. There were, if I recall, three offices. My own "desk", which was originally just a table, was in the storage room, and in summer when I was full-time I used to spend an awful lot of that time working at our sister site. It was more pleasant than working in the hole.

We used to have pretty strict (or maybe regular would be a better word) breaks back then, and I really do think that escape from our cramped work quarters had something to do with that. Mid-morning coffee break, ostensibly fifteen minutes but more like thirty by the time everyone had gathered. Lunch breaks where we actually came out to the lunch tables to eat. Mid-afternoon coffee break, much a repeat of the morning. We sat, we socialised, then we went back to the dungeons.

This place definitely doesn't qualify as any sort of dungeon anymore.

The building was expanded about thirteen years ago, and a lot of thought was put into things like natural light. I share an office with a wall full of windows. It's pleasant, it's not cramped, and...

It has internet.

When I first came here we had, I think, three computers in the building. Not networked, of course, and only one was on a dial-up internet connection. It was easier to use books (remember books, boys and girls?) to do research, and there wasn't really anything to hold us at our desks during break times. That doesn't work in today's world, of course. We all have our computers and our high-speed internet, we do most of our work that way, and on breaks it's usually easier to eat at the desk and use our time to check personal e-mail or favourite websites or, I don't know, watch cat videos or something. We don't all wander to the front to talk to each other because we have other forms of entertainment.

That's not to say we don't talk, of course. Overall this is a pretty friendly place to work. We just do it more casually now. There's not a designated time to visit.

Does that make the place glum?





I have no answer, by the way, and having spent my break time typing a blog post I really should get back to work now.

What can I say? I'm a product of my environment.

Chapter 1806: Wherein Dee annoys the crap out of a spider with a spray bottle

But first...

I swear that (with the exception of scissors) I don't find most left-handed products all that necessary, but I WANT THIS. As in, where have you been all my life I want this.

Yes, I know that it's not strictly a left-handed product, but think of the lefty applications. Imagine working in graphite and not having the side of your hand look like it's auditioning to play the Tin Man. Imagine being a left-handed kid and not smudging the bejeebers out of your whole page when you're learning to write. It makes me want to commit the sacrilege of cannibalising a pair of my mom's circa 1960s gloves just to get a feel for how it might work.

And yes, I am currently losing my freaking mind over the idea of a one-fingered glove. You right-handers just don't know.

Anyway. Spider.

Yesterday when I was prowling the yard in search of camera fodder I noticed a large spider apparently hovering in the air in front of one of the basement windows. The apparent hover was because the web wasn't very visible, and was sitting at a bit of a weird angle to the window well. I just managed to get the picture above before she scrambled over to her hiding place by the window, and getting shots of her there was pretty much impossible.

I figured that was it for this particular spider and her on-camera debut, but at least I could try for a web shot. Not ideal because of the light-coloured backdrop, but why not give it a go?

So, back inside for the spray bottle (well, truthfully, back inside and not finding the spray bottle, asking my dad where he moved it, going back outside in a huff when he didn't remember moving it, and having him bring it out to me a few minutes later when it turned out that it was exactly where it was supposed to be but for some reason I didn't see it)  and a misting for the web to make it more visible.

I should have figured that vibrating the web with the water would bring the spider back out again. There she sat, getting wetter and wetter as I loaded her artwork down so the camera could see it. Poor stupid thing.

These definitely aren't the best spider pictures I've taken and I do wish the web wasn't in front of light siding, but it's actually the first time I've tried the whole web-misting thing. I think you'll be seeing more of this because it was kind of fun.

The spider itself? Probably a Jewel Spider or Jewelled Araneus. I didn't get the best look at her top side, but she did seem to have the diagnostic bumps on the top of her abdomen. They're in the Orb Weaver group and are one of our largest spiders here in Alberta, although this one was definitely no giant.

Assuming that she mates, she'll lay eggs in an egg sac and then die a few days later. No overwintering for her. Think Charlotte's Web, if that helps. No pig, though.

There was another large Araneus over on the greenhouse. Definitely not a Jewel Spider this time, but the light wasn't good enough to tell whether she was a Shamrock Spider, a Marbled Spider, or something else. My bet is on Marbled, since they're so variable. Shamrocks are more distinctive.

That might be a male up in the lefthand corner. I'd hate to say for sure, but it'd be weird for another spider to hang around and wait to be eaten otherwise. And yes, the size difference is normal.

I sprayed that web too, incidentally, but it didn't show up well in the photos.

Aaand I'm sure that most of my two fans are ready for me to be done talking about spiders now. Too bad, really, since it's my house/my rules all the time here at the home of all things pointless. If for some reason you want a closer look at the web and the spiders, as always click on the thumbnails for the bigger versions.

If you don't want a closer look, then just don't. Pretty simple, really. I wonder why it's so hard for some people to figure that part out...

Find the spider!

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Goldenrod spiders are fun.

If it's any consolation, I've been thinking about taking my purple pigeon skull for a tour of the Nature Centre on the weekend via camera. That'd be a change from spiders on flowers, you have to admit.

The skull still lives on my desk, by the way. In a little plastic canvas box, so it doesn't get broken. One of our interpreters asked if it was a little plastic canvas coffin, but I wouldn't have a little plastic canvas coffin sitting on my desk now, would I? I'd have a skull, yes, but not in a coffin. That'd be silly.

Just got a phone call from my dad that my brother and his family are on their way to town from the Edmonton airport. That's right, the Ontario crew have made their way to Alberta for a week. Does that mean that the blog will have actual people pictures on it rather than spiders and flowers?

Probably not.

I don't take many pictures of people. They refuse to pose on flowers.

Actually, to be honest, it's a bit more about privacy than anything else. Yes, in this facebooky age when so many people put so much of their lives on the internet for everyone else to judge or admire or whatever, I'm still not into it. I'm not on facebook. I have a linkedin account that I think I might have signed into twice, no matter how much the excessive e-mail generated from the damned thing encourages otherwise. I use a spider for my profile picture. I honestly don't care if you ever see me.

I've said this before, but I'm under no illusion that I'm not traceable. I mean, first of all I work at a nature centre in Alberta. There's not that many of them, and it wouldn't take a lot to find me that way if you wanted to. And that, of course, is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. If you want to find me, you'll find me.

That's fine. Whatever. But you also don't need to have the minutia of my life showing up on your smartphone multiple times a day. I'm not interested in that sort of usage.



So... probably no family photos, unless I get a really terrible looking one. That I might not be able to resist.

Back to work for me, now. Have a good visit, family.

Pointless photo of the day:

Yeah, I know that's kind of lame of me when I haven't posted for a few days, but what can I say? I go through periods when I'm just not feeling very wordy.

So let's play spot the spider instead, ok?



C'mon. You know you want to, and I promise it's in there.

Later, all.