Category: nature

Short and Scary!

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There is an old joke that goes like this:

Q:  What is worse than finding a worm in your apple?

A:   Finding half a worm.

So this is no joke…

Q:  What is worse than finding a half or whole worm in your apple?

A:  Finding a dead Brown Recluse in the bottom of your apple bowl!

I filled the bowl before Christmas with Granny Smith apples and have slowly been rooting and whittling away at them; using them up.

What a shock to empty the bowl and find one of these!  Dead thankfully.

Brown recluse (Loxosceles) spider legspan size

Image found here:  https://www.verywellhealth.com/how-to-tell-its-not-a-brown-recluse-1298236

I assume it died because it couldn’t crawl out of the bowl.  However, questions remain:

  • Was it there and dead when the apples went in?  The bowl had been stored awhile.
  • Did it come in with the apples from the grocers?
  • Did it just find its way up to the table top and then into the bowl?

I am guessing the first.  The butler’s cupboard as we call it is dark and the items on the top shelves are rarely used.

Still it is creepy to contemplate

 

Hard to see in this very dark bowl.

 

 

 

 

But there she is!

 

 

 

 

What dangerous creatures have you unwittingly stumbled upon on?

A Wild and Wet Wednesday

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This morning is wet and blustery as I sit at the computer reading email and cleaning out my inbox.  Stuck inside I dream of spring and what I want to accomplish when it arrives.

A gust of wind smashes the large bush that grows in front of my window and I suddenly notice the birds that have taken refuge in its branches.  Hanging on tightly they are blown this way and that, yet seem unconcerned by the wild ride.  Instead, between gusts, they manage to move from branch to branch to consume the red berries there.

Closest to the window is a female cardinal

Do you see her? Can you make out the other visitor in this scene?

The other visitor is more clearly defined here

A bit easier to catch after she moved from behind the wettest part of the screen.

Which gives me two reasons to finally clean this window and remove the screen.  I never open this window anyway so why not?

IF YOU NOTICED YOU MIGHT ASK:  Why is there white tissue paper hanging in front of this window?  Well, I haven’t exactly made the shades planed to be installed under the cornice and valance I made last year.  Ergo, the tissue keeps the morning sun from blinding me while I work!

Perhaps instead of dreaming of spring I should use this down time to make those shades?  😉

 

 

Ultra short!

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Good Morning!

It is the crack of dawn as I sit here in front of the computer in my studio.  Outside my window grows a very large viburnum (Cardinal Candy by name).  It is always busy with birds during the daylight hours, but this morning it has one visitor.

A lovely Mockingbird who is singing a serenade, and seemingly, just for me.

Beautiful!