Friday, August 29, 2008

Elmer

Every late-summer, without fail we gain a new deck "pet." The pet is a big garden spider. The first indication is a web appears overnight. Then a couple weeks later when the sun goes down we finally get to see the web's owner. The spider's colors are always different. Last year's model was yellow and black striped.

Tonight I did yardwork until I couldn't see what I was doing anymore. While I was watering my deck flower pots I noticed this year's specimen sitting right in the middle of his abode. I always name them cuz they're so big it just seems like they deserve one. Bill thought he looked like a Harry, but Elmer seemed to fit better to me. I went inside, grabbed the little kids, my camera and a flashlight to try to get a picture. These are a little blurry, but aren't too bad considering my camera is crappy and it was pitch black out.

















At the exact moment I took the first picture, the dog brushed my leg with her wet nose. I about jumped out of my skin! As pretty as these are I still don't like 'em.

7 comments:

Lisa said...

Oh my gosh, thanks, now I'm not going to sleep tonight. Ewww. Down with Elmer. If he were at my house his little life would be ova'.

Melanie said...

But he only comes out after we've gone in and he isn't mean or naughty. He eats the bugs that wanna eat my plants! He's sort of a friend in a way.

Lisa said...

Seek help, fast. That thing is a friend to no one!

Gardner Momma said...

EWWWWW!! Oh - Gross. Nasty. Gives me shivers just thinking about it. What if your "friend" snuck in the house, crawled into your bed?!?! He would be a squashed friend at my house. We have HUGE bugs up at our house, but spiders are different. Ugh.

Melanie said...

Poor Elmer. Nobody understands him. He's just a lowly garden spider. However, I would definitely kill him if he ever wandered indoors.

Anonymous said...

The garden spiders don't WANT to be in your house, so you're safe. They really don't. And they actually eat the bad spiders and mosquitos and other annoying type insects. Trust me, I'm a spider HATER and I'd never kill one of these boys, no matter how ugly they are.

Melanie said...

Finally, someone who "gets" my Elmer friend. ;-)