This would have been Photo Friday, but other pressing matters came first. Thank you for your patience with me as we return to our regularly scheduled programming…
~*~
Little Miss Muffet
The Lady of Farmlet
(with apologies to Mother Goose)
The Lady of Farmlet
began her chores,
of feeding her chicken and geese.
When along came a spider,
that stopped there beside her,
resting and looking at peace.
The lady of Farmlet
not wishing to harm it,
leaned closer and heard it say:
“Dear Lady of Farmlet
I mean you no harm,
I’m tired and have lost my way.”
So the lady reached down,
picked up that three-inch spider,
and rehomed it straight away!
The End
~*~
NOTICE: When this rather large spider showed up beneath the water spout in back of the house I guess it thought it was auditioning for the part of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.” I broke it to the behemoth gently. 😉 I did not touch that Fishing Spider with my bare hands! I coaxed it into a large can with a stick and then transported it to the back fence where, when last I saw it, it was resting comfortably in a patch of wild violets.
Want to know more about the Dolomedes tenebrosus, or Fishing Spider? Look HERE
Life on the Farmlet 
What a great fun ditty! You made me smile! Z
Glad to do so, and thank you, Lisa! ~ L
I’m glad to see it’s a shy one, despite that rather impressive profile. I have lots of those little black and white jumping spiders – they don’t do anything but wave their eye stalks around and jump. Occasionally I’ll get a rash of spider bites, but I think those mostly are from being on the boats, where nearly invisible ones like to hide around lines and such.
I’m afraid I’d not be so kind if something like this showed up. I’m not really afraid of them, but I have this reflex… 😉
Linda, I get that reflex thing too, like when I saw a black widow spider in the garden that looked like and Ausie Redback! and then…
WHAPPA!!!
That baby was DEAD.
Yeah, I get that. 😉
Jolly good 🙂
Thank you! ~ L
What a fun little verse – well done (for the words & rehoming the spider).
Thank you, Victoria! I do have fun with nature and rhyming. 😉
This is so funny. I actually thought you picked it up with your bare hands and was awestruck – ha!
Yeah, right, Julie! I’m not exactly afraid of spiders, but I wouldn’t touch one, not on purpose. 😉
~ L
You’re brave!
Love the rhyme and the impulse to ‘rehome’ rather than end the spider, behemoth though he was. I suffer from the fear of the possibility that superstitions about killing spiders may be true, so even in the dead of winter I carry the poor things outside where I can imagine that they find sanctuary somewhere so if they expire it won’t be directly my fault. 🙂
Cindy, I’m with you! I too choose to catch and release the ones I find inside! I never knew it was bad luck to kill them. I have this theory on spiders…
Since I don’t like using chemicals I feel that it is prudent to let them do their job! They eat the bad guys in my house and garden. More spiders? MORE BAD GUYS! 😉
You mean LESS bad guys? 🙂 I totally agree. I have no problem with bugs, really, until they get too numerous and are touching me in too many places. 🙂
No, not exactly, but I think my wording was incorrect. Perhaps this would have made more sense?
More bad guys means more spider sightings in the house and garden. 😉
~ L
Is it bad luck to kill all spiders Cindy, or just Daddy Long Legs? We always said that if you killed one it would rain (SO long ago; )
More bad guys=more spiders? Is that what they meant when they talk about the law of supply and demand? LOL
My favorite time of year is late summer and fall when the garden orbs begin weaving those giant, beautiful works of art. I leave the webs and work around them. I have many beautiful photographs (well, I hope I get them back since they are on that non-working hard drive), and some are HUGE! We are spider-friendly here too. Your poetry is cute!!
Lori, when we first moved here there were lots of those spiders building webs from tree limb to ground. Some of them easily 8 to 9 feet at a stretch. Now I hardly ever see them. They were huge here too! Thank you for your compliment. Rewriting rhymes is an acquired teacher talent, and was gleaned from others as the years in the classroom went by. 😉
~ L
Fabulous spider and very cool little rhyme!! Love that you rehomed it!! c
Thanks, Celi! My only regret is that in my jitters to move it, I didn’t put her into the veg garden! 😉
~ L
A lovely looking spider, especially on the greenery!
Yay, Claire, you are a woman after my own heart! 😀
~ L
Love the quilting ruler! 🙂
You knew the difference? Awesome! ~ L
Wow, really had me going there… for a moment thought you’d actually picked it up to move it (should’ve known better, eh?; )
LOL! No way would I pick up a spider with my bare hands! I have a healthy respect for their biting bits. 😉
Welcome back Deb! ~ L
Thank you! (Glad I made it back in time help celebrate your “200 milestone”: )
I don’t think I’d run across the word rehome till now. It’s not in any of the standard dictionaries I checked, but it is in Wordnik and Wikipedia, and I found several million hits for it when I did an online search.
I get the impression that your readers are fonder of spiders, or at least less averse to them, than many of mine are.
Steve Schwartzman
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com
Steve, I don’t think they are more fond of them than your readers. I just post what I like and they are free to voice their opinions. 😉