Goodbye, Charlotte

I never really expected to write so much on here about spiders.  But, hey, I live on a farm in Texas.  There are spiders everywhere.  And since I introduced my little (make that, huge) morning friend in my last post, I am going to need to finish the story.  Before we left on a short vacation last week, I went out to milk the gals, and to my horror, this is what greeted me (please excuse the poor quality of the photo–I didn’t have my camera with me; just my phone):

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I have never seen anything quite like it.  I couldn’t figure out what had happened.  It looked like another gigantic spider had come and attacked Charlotte, and she was hanging there apparently dead. The other spider appeared to be dead as well.  It was blowing around in the wind, apparently very lightweight.  I stood there for a few minutes, trying to see if there was any life left in either spider, but they were just hanging there, Charlotte’s legs heavy and limp; the invader blowing around in the breeze.  I took a shovel, and tried to tap the spider’s web to see if there would be any movement. Nothing moved except the brown spider, as the breeze continued to push it this way and that. Finally, I used the shovel to take down the web, since it seemed that the spider was dead.  The lightweight brown spider kind of flew away in the wind, and Charlotte dropped to the ground, where her legs began to move a bit.  She was obviously not actually dead, but was on her way out for sure.  I tried to pick her up with the shovel (because I sure wasn’t going to touch her with my bare hands), when this little lady came over:

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And just like that, Charlotte became part of Chicken Little’s breakfast!  Ah, the drama of farm life!

I later did a little research and discovered that my spider was an “argiope aurantia,” also known as the yellow (or black and yellow) garden spider, or a writing spider (so the name “Charlotte” was fitting for her).  I also discovered that she was indeed, female.  I read that the male argiope aurantia is smaller and brown.  I am guessing that the brown spider that was blowing in the wind was the male.  After mating, the male of this species dies within 15 minutes, and the female sometimes even eats the male.  I don’t know exactly what happened for sure, but I guess that maybe the male fought with Charlotte and she died in the process as well.  I wish I had a better picture to add to the internet collection I found, because I didn’t see anything at all like it in my searches.  I may still add the photo just because it’s so unique.

All that remains of the web that used to hang above me as I milked my goats are a few stray strands blowing gently in the wind.  I can’t say I really miss ducking under that web with it’s rather large occupant, and I certainly don’t miss wondering if she will descend upon my head at any moment while I am milking.  But when I see those remaining strands, I think of that monstrous spider every morning.  Kind of crazy, but it’s true.  Just like the rest of my life!

I’ll leave you with my favorite (and completely unrelated to this post) quote from last week by one of my younger boys.  My 8-year-old said to me one afternoon, “Hey, mom, we should go to a spa today! Because, sometimes I just want to relax!”  Yeah, me too, buddy.  Me, too.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

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