Spider the super star

I found out online about this “Spider Pavilion” at the Museum of Natural History. I thought that would be a wonderful place for my spider, since I really couldn’t locate a nice place for her (Talk about being picky). I could simply drop her off, and they would pick it from there. I started imagining her in this wonderful exhibition where she could be the super star. She would wait behind a velvet curtain getting pulled back to showcase her majestic ugliness, and awe the crowd. She would be the pride of her children, and they would live there happily ever after and multiply and multiply and multiply…

I called the museum to give them the good news that I had the perfect match for them. I figured they would be flabbergasted just by the description of her. I was immediately transferred to the right department. The spider guy sounded very friendly and nice. Everything seemed wonderful until I asked them if she’ll be a part of the “Spider Pavilion”. The answer was “no”. The pavilion was closed, and I could bring her in, but she would be put in alcohol (alive) for exhibition.

Talk about shattered dreams. I was doing all this to save her, and all they could offer was her fossil in alcohol. Their next suggestion was to simply remove her from the lemon tree, and put her on any other shrub or tree in my yard away from traffic. The hundreds of babies will venture off to different directions, and maybe only a couple of them will stay put. He couldn’t emphasize enough though what wonderful creatures spiders were and that she was completely harmless; what a contrast. Why on earth would they kill them by putting them alive in alcohol if they are so magnificent?

Charlotte might not have gotten her super star show after all, but she's been quite an attraction for me. She deserves a happy ending and a nice new home away from harm's way. She'll be moving to a new location tomorrow if the weather permits. What better way to start off the New Year.

Baking failure :(

Well, I had promised everybody that I was going to bake my Granny's recipe today, so I did. I spent hours and hours on it. My back is still hurting terribly. And what do I get at the end? They all smell like eggs....urghhh.

This was my second time trying this. The first time came out really good, but I don't really know what went wrong where :( ... I wanted to cry.

Here is a picture of some of the cut pieces.

It looks good, but it's a stinker... still delicious though.

Any how, as for my poor little (well, not so little) spider, Charlotte ( I know, it's such an original name); We had really strong gusty winds. It caused some of the dried leaves of the lemon tree to fall on the web, and they tore it completely. The web is gone. I'm taking it as an omen that she should really get going. It's time for her to start weaving a new one... in a new home. Now if only I knew where to take her...?? I have an idea of how to do it, but don't really have a location for her. I think I'll try the local park. They have really nice large trees there, but what if she likes lemons? Maybe it has to be a fruit tree? Hmmm... who else has a lemon tree around here ?... nah, just kidding, I wouldn't do that to the ugly Mrs. I don't have very bug friendly neighbors.

Well, I promise to move her tomorrow, specially since the weather is going to get warmer than today. It'll still be a little cold for me; around 57 degrees... brrrrr, but hopefully it won't be as windy. I'll give the update tomorrow..... stay tuned.

The spider

Being a life saver enthusiast that I am, often I find myself in bizarre situations trying to save a creature's life here and there, or at least make it more comfortable for them.

My newest rescuee is this huge spider I found on my lemon tree. The discovery came rather as a shock. She was rather huge, and kind of creepy looking, no pun intended. My first thought was " she's got to go." that is until I found out through Google search that she was not poisonous.
 that was when the rescuer in me kicked in, and I wanted to come up with a plan to make sure no harm is done to the ugly fella.

Here is a picture of her on that day.

She gives you the chills, doesn't she? well, unless you are a bug enthusiast!

I don't know if you can see it in there, but that picture was taken on 11/24/2010. That was over a month ago. My worry at the time was the affects of the poison on the free-lemon-picking neighbors, but after I discovered she is harmless it quickly turned into a life saving plan to rescue her from harm's way.

One night shortly after her discovery I heard a faint voice calling my name coming from my front yard where the spider was. As the voice got closer, it became clearer that it was my neighbor of the house across from mine calling out to me. As soon as I opened the door, to my horror, I saw she was standing there with a few lemons in her hands. My head started spinning with different thoughts. Thought#1, " Is that the lemon with the spider on it?" Thought#2, " Is the spider somewhere on her head?" Thought#3, "Did she kill the spider?" Thought# 4, "Why is she foaming in the mouth?"... just kidding... she was just fine, but the thought of foam coming out of her mouth really did cross my mind.

She wanted to let me know that she was all alone and wanted to see if I would go keep her company. It's scary how little she knows about me. I don't know which scared me more, the thought of the spider in her head or spending my free time with her in their smoke filled house? I had to quickly give her an excuse of having to leave soon, so she would leave me alone. I did however tell her to look out for a big spider on the lemon tree that might be poisonous, and I took a flash light to show her where she was for precaution.

 She said, " Why don't you just kill it? I can do it for you if you're scared."

Again, very scary how little she knows about me. I said " oh no, please don't harm her. I'll relocate her soon to a safe place." I was thinking a safe place for the spider, but I'm sure she was thinking a safe lemon tree for the neighbors.

We went out with the flash light, so I could show her the lemon on which the spider was perching, but to my horror I couldn't see the spider anywhere. The huge web was there but no spider. Needless to count the number of my thoughts again. They were similar to the ones I already listed. The neighbor assured me that she doesn't even look at the lemons on that side, and that she always picks them from the opposite side of the tree. I just wanted to make sure she was aware of the spider's location (even though I wasn't sure if that's where she was any more). I couldn't really pay too much attention of what else the neighbor was saying. I kept looking for the darn spider under the ever disappearing light of the flash light, and had to from time to time run my hand over my head to make sure no uninvited guests have presented themselves over there. The neighbor's thoughts were more around a murder plot, and I had to make sure that she wouldn't harm the ugly thing until I came up with a plan. I couldn't find the spider any where around that lemon that night, but I found her back on her favorite spot the next day.  The neighbor's promise to not bother her wasn't very reassuring, so I had to think of something fast.

Is over a  month fast enough to come up with a plan? Well either way that spider is still on my tree. The circumstances have changed a bit though. She is not as fat and rounded as she used to be. As it turns out she was pregnant, with lots and lots and lots of mini ugly versions of herself. She has created this white sack covered with web and filled with eggs.

Here is a new picture of her taken today.

Can you see the difference of how much slimmer she is? She is a mommy now or will be one soon, not sure how that works. Now I have to come up with a plan to transport her and her babies (hundreds of them) to a safe location. That will take some planning. I will keep you posted on how it goes. Stay tuned.... to be continued.