Friday, July 4, 2014

The broom outside my door ...

An old-fashioned straw broom stands outside my front door, next to the recycling containers and the bowl of dog toys.



However I don't think I'll  be using it for a few days as it has been commandeered for another purpose.


Hundreds (nay, perhaps THOUSANDS) of teeny, tiny, eensy, weensy, baby, Yellow Garden Spiders are using my broom as a nursery.


They cluster together (for warmth ? security ? comfort ? ) until some jerk human gently blows on them...


and then they scatter as fast as their microscopic legs will allow.


Some of them run an inch.  Some run as much as two or three inches, before,  like "drones" separated from the Borg collective, they feel drawn back to re-join their little cluster.


But rather than being  "Seven of nine", our little wayward drone,  might be "237 of 460",  as egg sacs can contain up to 1,200 eggs.


 I can't imagine the logistics involved in planning their family reunions !

11 comments:

  1. Oh how cute! A spider family reunion. Only you, Sybil. Only you... lol.

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  2. This is kinda creepy! I appreciate the job spiders do, but I would definitely be unsettled by the thought of hundreds of them so close together.

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    1. Karma, I just never got the "creeped out by bugs" genes. 'course I never got the "dress like a girly-girl" genes either.

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  3. You have my ultimate respect on this one. Much as I'd like to love spiders for their vital place in the food chain of life, I'm....an arachnophobe. It is about the only phobia I have, besides having my head underwater. I try really hard not to act like a nitwit in the presence of all those legs...but ultimately...I'm a nitwit.

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  5. I also have arachnophobia, made all the worse by spiders being attracted to my pheromones. You can ask anyone who has spent time with me, I am a spider magnet, a little Miss Muffet!

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    1. Somewhere a Spider researcher is wishing she had your pheromones. ;-)

      All my pheromones attract is Mosquitoes !

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  6. Joshua just loves finding these little spider clusters. They are SO cool.

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    1. Tell Joshua that they have moved off the broom and have made homes all over my deck. I think they're cool too !

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