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A sharing of nature.
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on 2005-09-09 14:43:27 (edited 2005-09-09 14:47:12)
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Ranger This morning I was looking for something on a forum where we are regulars. I found a post Rin and I made last summer and I'd like to share it with you because living in the desert we are literally in natures backyard and she invades our home on a regular basis. Originally Posted by Ranger 20 Oct 04 Gonna set this up for you. Monday morning I walked into the laundry/store room and found Rin standing there frozen in place with a look of wonder on her face. What I saw (and I have seen many times before) caught her so strongly I had to shake Rin to get her attention. ---- Ok Rin, now you can tell them. Lady Rin wrote: Living here I have seen and gotten used to Black Widow spiders. In the desert the Bdub (as they are called) can reach the size of the end of your thumb and the live in every dark corner they can find. Their web is sort of tossed in to existance with an egg sack nearest the hidey spot where she lives. Monday morning I came it to get clean clothes from the dryer and when I turned to leave I saw hundreds of tiny filaments reaching from a Black Widows nest that I didn't even think was there (we destroy any we can find, Ky's job.). An egg sack had hatched and the filaments were the way the baby spiders leave the nest. There were hundreds of filaments with a baby spider on each one of them reaching everywhere, some of them even landed on me. They were so small you could barely see the baby Black Widows. I was entranced, frozen where I was just watching the hatching. I've never seen such an incredible site before. Ranger came out had to shake me out of my trance Then he cleaned them off of me and wiped out as much as he could find. It was incredible to see such a thing. Afterword by Ranger Black Widows have a very severe bite that can be lethal. I've been bitten by bdubs more than once and I may have acquirred an immunity. My partner Jerry got bit one night, multiple bites which is normal, He didn't have a reaction until late in the afternoon when he collapsed. The anti-venom costs $2500 and the emergency room bill came to almost 5,000. Another time my cousin Clarke was bit and he had an immediate reaction. If his girlfriend hadn't called the EMTs I think he would have died. One of the items I carry in my first aid kit is an EpiPen which used to tread aniphilactic shock from venomous bites. A black widow egg sack contains anywhere from 600-800 eggs and th ebaby spiders are to small to bite. Only about 1% survive. When I found her she had dozens of threads attached to her. Shot into the air they landed all over her and I had to spend a few minutes removing the. She was so caught up with the moment that it took a good hard shake to break her trance. Rattlesnakes, hawks, owls and Mt lions have visited our yard. That's life in the desert. Tell us of an experience you've had. BTW Just so you know, I know I have an account here, but forums are Rin's thing. so I use her account when I want to post to help her post count. Now there's still a piece of Olallieberry pie Rin made and I'm after it. #$*&# HTML  |
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Re: A sharing of nature.
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Spiders...brrrr, I hate spiders. I would totally freak out if something like that happened to me! As for experiences with nature, I love hiking on the Appalachian Trail. I've done stretches in the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, and my native Connecticut. One thing about hiking is that it always rains. It is inevitable. Away from houses and cars and civilization, you are really at the mercy of nature and the weather. And the f%^&ing mosquitoes of course. Surprisingly, repeated soakings have failed reduce my enthusiasm. I hope to someday take a summer off and hike the entire Appalachian Trail.  |
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Re: A sharing of nature.
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This reminds me of the time in elementary school. When me and friends were playing with a praying mantis. A teacher came and we all had to be still and quiet while I had the mantis crawling around my back. Mantis is my favorite insect. I had a pet tarantula long time ago. I used to hunt for bugs and such, this post made me remember some good times. Thx.  Jomunga eats your avatars. |
