USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Ringel05]

A terrifying spider episode (sorry so long in the telling) ​

Spent the morning on the zero turn and the afternoon on the tractor. And when I went to the remote back area that is a triangular wedge next to one of the creeks that flank the place on each side--anyway, I got stuck in the wedge. A huge ropelike vine-tree must've fallen or whatever vine trees do, I'm not certain, anyway, it got snaggled in the upper part of the canopy, which twisted the tractor into going down position, so in panic, I turned the key to off, and it stopped. When it stopped, something was sticking me in the back. Several dead trees were nearby, and the little maneuver I unwittingly did jerked a huge leafless limb with stiff points where small branches used to be. I spent 10 minutes trying to free myself from this awful situation, and being pitch dark in bright daylight is why I think the creek bed flanks a quasi-jungle with plants horrific. Of course, the meadow end of the wedge has amazing small wildflowers from February to October, because the shade keeps things cooler there than out in the 100-degree Farenheit open pastures on a hot afternoon. Anyhow, I got unwoven in about 10 minutes, then had to figure how to get the tractor that was now stuck between two quite firm trees that weren't there 2 years ago, or were so small I didn't notice them. I have no idea how the 3" diameter vine tree got there, because it wasn't there, either the last time I visited the wedge. One problem I encountered was that the neighbor had routed his part of the floodplain into two runnoff areas that broached the wedge area on the north fenceline, and some of the land next to the creek bottom had sunk, which is why the tractor slipped. And it was 6 feet lower in the two areas than it was in the meadowed area. The pine tree that had been 4 ft. high was now at least 30, and it was looking sickly with reddish patches like the other pines I lost during the drought of 2011. I just couldn't get out of there fast enough when suddenly!!! a 3" dark spider with horizontal uneven stripes parachuted down directly in front of me when I was trying to get uphill and out of the spring sink area, so in addition to a little panic from travelling uphill on a forty-five degree angle, here's the biggest, fattest spider I ever saw in my life giving me dirty looks and descending fast. I grabbed the thick piece of silk he or she had descended on, which made the spider real mad at me in particular, so I grabbed it once again and tossed the line to the side, and the spider followed. Whew! close call. You never know what kind of monster spider will go after you, and I will consider walking without destroying the spider's tree habitat from now on. Those little wildflowers in the wild woods are a magnet to me, and no less precious today than their predecessors in my memory. They were just ... magic. And beautiful.

So I got every part of the yard mowed that needed mowing, then all afternoon spent time on the Kubota with its 60" hay cutter, mowing around the fence lines, and through places where one might like to walk if so inclined. There were some really pretty lily-like flowers on branches rather than spikes like real lilies. They were all purple and so lovely going around the outside of the lake. It's only 14 acres but has 8 different worlds on it.

I never saw a spider that big that wasn't a tarantula. And I have no idea what it was, searched all over the internet for an hour, without finding it. Judging from its appearance and its fierce attitude, I'm guessing it a relative of wolf spiders, but I sure would like to have verified its name to see if its huge size was just an anomaly of having a growth hormone other spiders do not have, and its weird appearance which I have been unable to identify at any arachnid site. They'll tell you there are 1000 known type spiders in the wolf spider family, but I haven't found a website yet that identifies spiders with common and latin scientific names, and tells of their dangers of poison problems if they bite you. That spider scared me, but I tried to keep my head and spoke gently to the beast before sending him over the side onto safe ground, hopefully.

I believe the only spiders seriously dangerous to humans at least in the continguous 48 states are the brown recluse and the black widow, both small spiders. All others have mouths too small to harm humans--the grand daddy longlegs for instance are deadly poisonous but cannot harm humans, even babies, because their mouth is too small to penetrate human skin. They are deadly to other spiders especially and small insects though. if you have a lot of grand daddy longlegs, you won't need to worry about any other spiders being around. The tarantula looks vicious but they have to be really provoked or frightened to bite and their bite, while not harmless, is not deadly and easily treated with soap and water and a cold compress to take down any swelling. It rarely needs any kind of professional medical attention.

Evenso, I would not have wanted your spider coming at me either. Maybe he wouldn't hurt me but he likely could cause me to hurt myself. Did you get your tractor unstuck?

How about scorpions? I've read that some of those can be deadly to humans. Don't you guys have scorpions there?

Out of the 25 species of scorpions only the Bark Scorpion is venomous and a danger to humans, they're mostly found in Arizona and Southwest New Mexico. No one has died from one of their stings in over 40 years.

As I understand it, all scorpions are venomous, but in the US, only the Bark scorpion has a venom which is dangerous to humans. That may be what you were saying, I just wasn't entirely sure.

Yeah, I guess I can't be perfect ALL the time............

 

[beautress]

A terrifying spider episode (sorry so long in the telling) ​

Spent the morning on the zero turn and the afternoon on the tractor. And when I went to the remote back area that is a triangular wedge next to one of the creeks that flank the place on each side--anyway, I got stuck in the wedge. A huge ropelike vine-tree must've fallen or whatever vine trees do, I'm not certain, anyway, it got snaggled in the upper part of the canopy, which twisted the tractor into going down position, so in panic, I turned the key to off, and it stopped. When it stopped, something was sticking me in the back. Several dead trees were nearby, and the little maneuver I unwittingly did jerked a huge leafless limb with stiff points where small branches used to be. I spent 10 minutes trying to free myself from this awful situation, and being pitch dark in bright daylight is why I think the creek bed flanks a quasi-jungle with plants horrific. Of course, the meadow end of the wedge has amazing small wildflowers from February to October, because the shade keeps things cooler there than out in the 100-degree Farenheit open pastures on a hot afternoon. Anyhow, I got unwoven in about 10 minutes, then had to figure how to get the tractor that was now stuck between two quite firm trees that weren't there 2 years ago, or were so small I didn't notice them. I have no idea how the 3" diameter vine tree got there, because it wasn't there, either the last time I visited the wedge. One problem I encountered was that the neighbor had routed his part of the floodplain into two runnoff areas that broached the wedge area on the north fenceline, and some of the land next to the creek bottom had sunk, which is why the tractor slipped. And it was 6 feet lower in the two areas than it was in the meadowed area. The pine tree that had been 4 ft. high was now at least 30, and it was looking sickly with reddish patches like the other pines I lost during the drought of 2011. I just couldn't get out of there fast enough when suddenly!!! a 3" dark spider with horizontal uneven stripes parachuted down directly in front of me when I was trying to get uphill and out of the spring sink area, so in addition to a little panic from travelling uphill on a forty-five degree angle, here's the biggest, fattest spider I ever saw in my life giving me dirty looks and descending fast. I grabbed the thick piece of silk he or she had descended on, which made the spider real mad at me in particular, so I grabbed it once again and tossed the line to the side, and the spider followed. Whew! close call. You never know what kind of monster spider will go after you, and I will consider walking without destroying the spider's tree habitat from now on. Those little wildflowers in the wild woods are a magnet to me, and no less precious today than their predecessors in my memory. They were just ... magic. And beautiful.

So I got every part of the yard mowed that needed mowing, then all afternoon spent time on the Kubota with its 60" hay cutter, mowing around the fence lines, and through places where one might like to walk if so inclined. There were some really pretty lily-like flowers on branches rather than spikes like real lilies. They were all purple and so lovely going around the outside of the lake. It's only 14 acres but has 8 different worlds on it.

I never saw a spider that big that wasn't a tarantula. And I have no idea what it was, searched all over the internet for an hour, without finding it. Judging from its appearance and its fierce attitude, I'm guessing it a relative of wolf spiders, but I sure would like to have verified its name to see if its huge size was just an anomaly of having a growth hormone other spiders do not have, and its weird appearance which I have been unable to identify at any arachnid site. They'll tell you there are 1000 known type spiders in the wolf spider family, but I haven't found a website yet that identifies spiders with common and latin scientific names, and tells of their dangers of poison problems if they bite you. That spider scared me, but I tried to keep my head and spoke gently to the beast before sending him over the side onto safe ground, hopefully.

I believe the only spiders seriously dangerous to humans at least in the continguous 48 states are the brown recluse and the black widow, both small spiders. All others have mouths too small to harm humans--the grand daddy longlegs for instance are deadly poisonous but cannot harm humans, even babies, because their mouth is too small to penetrate human skin. They are deadly to other spiders especially and small insects though. if you have a lot of grand daddy longlegs, you won't need to worry about any other spiders being around. The tarantula looks vicious but they have to be really provoked or frightened to bite and their bite, while not harmless, is not deadly and easily treated with soap and water and a cold compress to take down any swelling. It rarely needs any kind of professional medical attention.

Evenso, I would not have wanted your spider coming at me either. Maybe he wouldn't hurt me but he likely could cause me to hurt myself. Did you get your tractor unstuck?

Yes, I got it unstuck, made my goal of seeing the wildflower area in full bloom (I love tiny wild scraggly blooms as well as monster roses and fields of Black-eyed Susans or Bluebonnets), and then returned to carefully get back in the now-unfamiliar sinks area which looked altogether different going back uphill out of two consecutive 6-foot sinks, but this time I didn't have to spend 10 minutes with an annoying stiff limb poking me in the back as I tried to remain calm when the spider scared the devil outta me.

I sent up a little prayer that the big spider was okay. After all, I destroyed his rope tree habitat, most likely, and it only follows that he or she was angry about that enough to throw me his or her certain evil eye. Oh, and there was a white and black big spider out front one year, and when I looked him up, indeed he was related to spiders that looked close like him and was poisonous with a liquefying property of some kind just short of being a flesh-eating bacteria since it was located to the immediate area of the bite. It, too was black, except its stripes were white, not yellow drab, and it wasn't near the size of my behemoth ghoul that wanted to send me a pain message in the worst way. I have a hunch getting bit by that one would've sent me to the ER. So I apologized, and he went along with the toss to the left side of the tractor and my hotfooting the tractor accelerator to get as far away from the sinks as possible. The back door of my house has a shower, and I was in it getting the worry of spiders, fleas, mites, and things that go bump in the night offa my skin in less than a minute of coming indoors. 9 hours on a tractor is a long time, and this happened during the latter part of the 9th hour.

 

[Dajjal]

 

[Foxfyre]

A terrifying spider episode (sorry so long in the telling) ​

Spent the morning on the zero turn and the afternoon on the tractor. And when I went to the remote back area that is a triangular wedge next to one of the creeks that flank the place on each side--anyway, I got stuck in the wedge. A huge ropelike vine-tree must've fallen or whatever vine trees do, I'm not certain, anyway, it got snaggled in the upper part of the canopy, which twisted the tractor into going down position, so in panic, I turned the key to off, and it stopped. When it stopped, something was sticking me in the back. Several dead trees were nearby, and the little maneuver I unwittingly did jerked a huge leafless limb with stiff points where small branches used to be. I spent 10 minutes trying to free myself from this awful situation, and being pitch dark in bright daylight is why I think the creek bed flanks a quasi-jungle with plants horrific. Of course, the meadow end of the wedge has amazing small wildflowers from February to October, because the shade keeps things cooler there than out in the 100-degree Farenheit open pastures on a hot afternoon. Anyhow, I got unwoven in about 10 minutes, then had to figure how to get the tractor that was now stuck between two quite firm trees that weren't there 2 years ago, or were so small I didn't notice them. I have no idea how the 3" diameter vine tree got there, because it wasn't there, either the last time I visited the wedge. One problem I encountered was that the neighbor had routed his part of the floodplain into two runnoff areas that broached the wedge area on the north fenceline, and some of the land next to the creek bottom had sunk, which is why the tractor slipped. And it was 6 feet lower in the two areas than it was in the meadowed area. The pine tree that had been 4 ft. high was now at least 30, and it was looking sickly with reddish patches like the other pines I lost during the drought of 2011. I just couldn't get out of there fast enough when suddenly!!! a 3" dark spider with horizontal uneven stripes parachuted down directly in front of me when I was trying to get uphill and out of the spring sink area, so in addition to a little panic from travelling uphill on a forty-five degree angle, here's the biggest, fattest spider I ever saw in my life giving me dirty looks and descending fast. I grabbed the thick piece of silk he or she had descended on, which made the spider real mad at me in particular, so I grabbed it once again and tossed the line to the side, and the spider followed. Whew! close call. You never know what kind of monster spider will go after you, and I will consider walking without destroying the spider's tree habitat from now on. Those little wildflowers in the wild woods are a magnet to me, and no less precious today than their predecessors in my memory. They were just ... magic. And beautiful.

So I got every part of the yard mowed that needed mowing, then all afternoon spent time on the Kubota with its 60" hay cutter, mowing around the fence lines, and through places where one might like to walk if so inclined. There were some really pretty lily-like flowers on branches rather than spikes like real lilies. They were all purple and so lovely going around the outside of the lake. It's only 14 acres but has 8 different worlds on it.

I never saw a spider that big that wasn't a tarantula. And I have no idea what it was, searched all over the internet for an hour, without finding it. Judging from its appearance and its fierce attitude, I'm guessing it a relative of wolf spiders, but I sure would like to have verified its name to see if its huge size was just an anomaly of having a growth hormone other spiders do not have, and its weird appearance which I have been unable to identify at any arachnid site. They'll tell you there are 1000 known type spiders in the wolf spider family, but I haven't found a website yet that identifies spiders with common and latin scientific names, and tells of their dangers of poison problems if they bite you. That spider scared me, but I tried to keep my head and spoke gently to the beast before sending him over the side onto safe ground, hopefully.

I believe the only spiders seriously dangerous to humans at least in the continguous 48 states are the brown recluse and the black widow, both small spiders. All others have mouths too small to harm humans--the grand daddy longlegs for instance are deadly poisonous but cannot harm humans, even babies, because their mouth is too small to penetrate human skin. They are deadly to other spiders especially and small insects though. if you have a lot of grand daddy longlegs, you won't need to worry about any other spiders being around. The tarantula looks vicious but they have to be really provoked or frightened to bite and their bite, while not harmless, is not deadly and easily treated with soap and water and a cold compress to take down any swelling. It rarely needs any kind of professional medical attention.

Evenso, I would not have wanted your spider coming at me either. Maybe he wouldn't hurt me but he likely could cause me to hurt myself. Did you get your tractor unstuck?

How about scorpions? I've read that some of those can be deadly to humans. Don't you guys have scorpions there?

I believe there is only one potentially deadly scorpion in the USA and that is the Bark Scorption that occasionally is found in desert areas of New Mexico but its habitat is mostly desert areas of Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. But we do have lots of scorpions, just most of them while they sting like crazy are not lethal.

Edit: And I now see I should have read the threa today before making this post.

 

[beautress]

A terrifying spider episode (sorry so long in the telling) ​

Spent the morning on the zero turn and the afternoon on the tractor. And when I went to the remote back area that is a triangular wedge next to one of the creeks that flank the place on each side--anyway, I got stuck in the wedge. A huge ropelike vine-tree must've fallen or whatever vine trees do, I'm not certain, anyway, it got snaggled in the upper part of the canopy, which twisted the tractor into going down position, so in panic, I turned the key to off, and it stopped. When it stopped, something was sticking me in the back. Several dead trees were nearby, and the little maneuver I unwittingly did jerked a huge leafless limb with stiff points where small branches used to be. I spent 10 minutes trying to free myself from this awful situation, and being pitch dark in bright daylight is why I think the creek bed flanks a quasi-jungle with plants horrific. Of course, the meadow end of the wedge has amazing small wildflowers from February to October, because the shade keeps things cooler there than out in the 100-degree Farenheit open pastures on a hot afternoon. Anyhow, I got unwoven in about 10 minutes, then had to figure how to get the tractor that was now stuck between two quite firm trees that weren't there 2 years ago, or were so small I didn't notice them. I have no idea how the 3" diameter vine tree got there, because it wasn't there, either the last time I visited the wedge. One problem I encountered was that the neighbor had routed his part of the floodplain into two runnoff areas that broached the wedge area on the north fenceline, and some of the land next to the creek bottom had sunk, which is why the tractor slipped. And it was 6 feet lower in the two areas than it was in the meadowed area. The pine tree that had been 4 ft. high was now at least 30, and it was looking sickly with reddish patches like the other pines I lost during the drought of 2011. I just couldn't get out of there fast enough when suddenly!!! a 3" dark spider with horizontal uneven stripes parachuted down directly in front of me when I was trying to get uphill and out of the spring sink area, so in addition to a little panic from travelling uphill on a forty-five degree angle, here's the biggest, fattest spider I ever saw in my life giving me dirty looks and descending fast. I grabbed the thick piece of silk he or she had descended on, which made the spider real mad at me in particular, so I grabbed it once again and tossed the line to the side, and the spider followed. Whew! close call. You never know what kind of monster spider will go after you, and I will consider walking without destroying the spider's tree habitat from now on. Those little wildflowers in the wild woods are a magnet to me, and no less precious today than their predecessors in my memory. They were just ... magic. And beautiful.

So I got every part of the yard mowed that needed mowing, then all afternoon spent time on the Kubota with its 60" hay cutter, mowing around the fence lines, and through places where one might like to walk if so inclined. There were some really pretty lily-like flowers on branches rather than spikes like real lilies. They were all purple and so lovely going around the outside of the lake. It's only 14 acres but has 8 different worlds on it.

I never saw a spider that big that wasn't a tarantula. And I have no idea what it was, searched all over the internet for an hour, without finding it. Judging from its appearance and its fierce attitude, I'm guessing it a relative of wolf spiders, but I sure would like to have verified its name to see if its huge size was just an anomaly of having a growth hormone other spiders do not have, and its weird appearance which I have been unable to identify at any arachnid site. They'll tell you there are 1000 known type spiders in the wolf spider family, but I haven't found a website yet that identifies spiders with common and latin scientific names, and tells of their dangers of poison problems if they bite you. That spider scared me, but I tried to keep my head and spoke gently to the beast before sending him over the side onto safe ground, hopefully.

I believe the only spiders seriously dangerous to humans at least in the continguous 48 states are the brown recluse and the black widow, both small spiders. All others have mouths too small to harm humans--the grand daddy longlegs for instance are deadly poisonous but cannot harm humans, even babies, because their mouth is too small to penetrate human skin. They are deadly to other spiders especially and small insects though. if you have a lot of grand daddy longlegs, you won't need to worry about any other spiders being around. The tarantula looks vicious but they have to be really provoked or frightened to bite and their bite, while not harmless, is not deadly and easily treated with soap and water and a cold compress to take down any swelling. It rarely needs any kind of professional medical attention.

Evenso, I would not have wanted your spider coming at me either. Maybe he wouldn't hurt me but he likely could cause me to hurt myself. Did you get your tractor unstuck?

How about scorpions? I've read that some of those can be deadly to humans. Don't you guys have scorpions there?

I believe there is only one potentially deadly scorpion in the USA and that is the Bark Scorption that occasionally is found in desert areas of New Mexico but its habitat is mostly desert areas of Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. But we do have lots of scorpions, just most of them while they sting like crazy are not lethal.

Edit: And I now see I should have read the threa today before making this post.

I looked up "Bark scorpion," because a pinkish colored one, almost invisible due to its transluscent bit me after I unwittingly and unseeingly stepped on him. It hurt like crazy, and I had a very bad sick stomach all night long, and its bite may have killed it by what I read. Young scorpions are very potent, and this one wasn't quite mature enough to hold back (or go for the gold). I bet a lot of people survive them, but the sore was there for almost 2 weeks. It healed well, though. But I did my share of sitting for a couple of days. That was about 10 years ago. lol
Unforgettable! My anathema matched some of the more transluscent "bark Scorpions" I found pictures of online:

I yelled. Haven't seen one around my house since then. Think he came in an upstairs window. That window has never been opened since. ​

 

[gallantwarrior]

No real threat from spiders here in the upper Ohio River valley. Copperheads are our only indigenous venomous snake.

As for spiders, the notorious barking wall spider would cause giggles whenever someone broke wind during the Boy Scout meetings.

We have a version of that called an Arctic Barking Spider. It frequents campfires, must be seeking the warmth.

 

[gallantwarrior]

A terrifying spider episode (sorry so long in the telling) ​

Spent the morning on the zero turn and the afternoon on the tractor. And when I went to the remote back area that is a triangular wedge next to one of the creeks that flank the place on each side--anyway, I got stuck in the wedge. A huge ropelike vine-tree must've fallen or whatever vine trees do, I'm not certain, anyway, it got snaggled in the upper part of the canopy, which twisted the tractor into going down position, so in panic, I turned the key to off, and it stopped. When it stopped, something was sticking me in the back. Several dead trees were nearby, and the little maneuver I unwittingly did jerked a huge leafless limb with stiff points where small branches used to be. I spent 10 minutes trying to free myself from this awful situation, and being pitch dark in bright daylight is why I think the creek bed flanks a quasi-jungle with plants horrific. Of course, the meadow end of the wedge has amazing small wildflowers from February to October, because the shade keeps things cooler there than out in the 100-degree Farenheit open pastures on a hot afternoon. Anyhow, I got unwoven in about 10 minutes, then had to figure how to get the tractor that was now stuck between two quite firm trees that weren't there 2 years ago, or were so small I didn't notice them. I have no idea how the 3" diameter vine tree got there, because it wasn't there, either the last time I visited the wedge. One problem I encountered was that the neighbor had routed his part of the floodplain into two runnoff areas that broached the wedge area on the north fenceline, and some of the land next to the creek bottom had sunk, which is why the tractor slipped. And it was 6 feet lower in the two areas than it was in the meadowed area. The pine tree that had been 4 ft. high was now at least 30, and it was looking sickly with reddish patches like the other pines I lost during the drought of 2011. I just couldn't get out of there fast enough when suddenly!!! a 3" dark spider with horizontal uneven stripes parachuted down directly in front of me when I was trying to get uphill and out of the spring sink area, so in addition to a little panic from travelling uphill on a forty-five degree angle, here's the biggest, fattest spider I ever saw in my life giving me dirty looks and descending fast. I grabbed the thick piece of silk he or she had descended on, which made the spider real mad at me in particular, so I grabbed it once again and tossed the line to the side, and the spider followed. Whew! close call. You never know what kind of monster spider will go after you, and I will consider walking without destroying the spider's tree habitat from now on. Those little wildflowers in the wild woods are a magnet to me, and no less precious today than their predecessors in my memory. They were just ... magic. And beautiful.

So I got every part of the yard mowed that needed mowing, then all afternoon spent time on the Kubota with its 60" hay cutter, mowing around the fence lines, and through places where one might like to walk if so inclined. There were some really pretty lily-like flowers on branches rather than spikes like real lilies. They were all purple and so lovely going around the outside of the lake. It's only 14 acres but has 8 different worlds on it.

I never saw a spider that big that wasn't a tarantula. And I have no idea what it was, searched all over the internet for an hour, without finding it. Judging from its appearance and its fierce attitude, I'm guessing it a relative of wolf spiders, but I sure would like to have verified its name to see if its huge size was just an anomaly of having a growth hormone other spiders do not have, and its weird appearance which I have been unable to identify at any arachnid site. They'll tell you there are 1000 known type spiders in the wolf spider family, but I haven't found a website yet that identifies spiders with common and latin scientific names, and tells of their dangers of poison problems if they bite you. That spider scared me, but I tried to keep my head and spoke gently to the beast before sending him over the side onto safe ground, hopefully.

I believe the only spiders seriously dangerous to humans at least in the continguous 48 states are the brown recluse and the black widow, both small spiders. All others have mouths too small to harm humans--the grand daddy longlegs for instance are deadly poisonous but cannot harm humans, even babies, because their mouth is too small to penetrate human skin. They are deadly to other spiders especially and small insects though. if you have a lot of grand daddy longlegs, you won't need to worry about any other spiders being around. The tarantula looks vicious but they have to be really provoked or frightened to bite and their bite, while not harmless, is not deadly and easily treated with soap and water and a cold compress to take down any swelling. It rarely needs any kind of professional medical attention.

Evenso, I would not have wanted your spider coming at me either. Maybe he wouldn't hurt me but he likely could cause me to hurt myself. Did you get your tractor unstuck?

How about scorpions? I've read that some of those can be deadly to humans. Don't you guys have scorpions there?

I believe there is only one potentially deadly scorpion in the USA and that is the Bark Scorption that occasionally is found in desert areas of New Mexico but its habitat is mostly desert areas of Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. But we do have lots of scorpions, just most of them while they sting like crazy are not lethal.

Edit: And I now see I should have read the threa today before making this post.

I looked up "Bark scorpion," because a pinkish colored one, almost invisible due to its transluscent bit me after I unwittingly and unseeingly stepped on him. It hurt like crazy, and I had a very bad sick stomach all night long, and its bite may have killed it by what I read. Young scorpions are very potent, and this one wasn't quite mature enough to hold back (or go for the gold). I bet a lot of people survive them, but the sore was there for almost 2 weeks. It healed well, though. But I did my share of sitting for a couple of days. That was about 10 years ago. lol
Unforgettable! My anathema matched some of the more transluscent "bark Scorpions" I found pictures of online:

I yelled. Haven't seen one around my house since then. Think he came in an upstairs window. That window has never been opened since. ​

You can keep all your scorpions, too!

 

[gallantwarrior]

Still no sign of rain, not even a wisp of cloud. The wind is picking up, though, and maybe some rain will come down off the mountain.
I got a lot of those little, nagging jobs done today. Fixed the gates on the girls' goat pen. Moved some kennel panels up from the boys' pen. Re-wired the solar power so I can keep the 12V fan in my composting toilet working (pretty rank if you don't keep the ventilation going). Finished loading the trailer for a run to the landfill, clearing out a bunch of debris. I'll be heading to town to dump the load and do a few errands around town. Gotta pay a few of the partner's bills. Maybe eat breakfast at our regular watering hole...
Burn another day, I guess.

 

[beautress]

Gotta choose songs for karaoke Tues. We do one if everyone shows, 2 if half show up, and if just 5 - 8 of us show up, 3 or 4.

Let the River Run by Carly Simon is almost ready (almost)
Banana Boat sung by Harry Bellafonte is almost ready (pretty close)
A Whiter Shade of Pale ( Procol Harum) is not ready, but I wanna sometime...
I can't Smile without you (Barry Manilow) ready but not emotionally ready for that one... yet.
Straight Shooter by the Mamas and the Papas is just about there.
Could sing Toto's Africa again, but it's hard to change every she and her to he and his. Oh, well.
I'd give anything to sing Rhiannon, but while I was listening to the music, I didn't pay any attention to the words, so that's going to take at least one more week... or two... maybe four(?)
If I get busy with a quilt, I could always sing Shambala (3 dog nite) because it's so perfect with small yodels no one else does in our group. Haven't used it in a year, just about, but for a while it was often as every other month. I just got burnt out on that song
If there's too much moody music being sung one night, I throw in some laughter when possible with one of my favorite cut-up songs, "Don't worrry, be happy" by Bobby McFerrin, and ham it up kind of like what was done on my favorite video of it, and if you haven't heard this version, get ready to laugh your butt off:

Decisions, decisions.
​

Hope everybody has a great evening.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

Well I was trying to find some info on spiders to add......but just looking at all the pictures gave me the heeby jeebies like they were all crawling on me....so I had to give that up. Sorry Beautress


But on a more positive note......I did mange to get another pic of the Mama & babies. Unfortunately I'm a lousy photographer.

 

[beautress]

Well I was trying to find some info on spiders to add......but just looking at all the pictures gave me the heeby jeebies like they were all crawling on me....so I had to give that up. Sorry Beautress


But on a more positive note......I did mange to get another pic of the Mama & babies. Unfortunately I'm a lousy photographer.


View attachment 274023

CUTE CITY, JustAnother! Sorry for being such a wussie the other day about that monster spider, but it looked determined to get me good, and I was all tangled up with my huge tractor in the sinks with an orange-colored flesh rope 3" in diameter that was the large rope hanging low enough to wrap around the tractor that was spinning out of control going down into the creek bed that likely was 2' of mud waiting to sink the monster tires on my tractor, and I wanted none of it. Before someone could pull it out of the muck, they'd have to put several tons of shale to boost up the level of the soil from the 2 sink areas that had formed in this wet year, which started in 2018 and just didn't stop raining on my property. I guess that's what I get for praying for rain to revive the tall pines in the piney woods region I've grown to love so well on account of the lake out back that sports a pair of great white egrets that were once an endangered species. That may not go away, I'm not certain.

 

[Dajjal]

For justanothernut. I worked on your picture but I cannot sharpen it more as I do not have photoshop installed on this computer, so it is still out of focus.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

Well I was trying to find some info on spiders to add......but just looking at all the pictures gave me the heeby jeebies like they were all crawling on me....so I had to give that up. Sorry Beautress


But on a more positive note......I did mange to get another pic of the Mama & babies. Unfortunately I'm a lousy photographer.


View attachment 274023

CUTE CITY, JustAnother! Sorry for being such a wussie the other day about that monster spider, but it looked determined to get me good, and I was all tangled up with my huge tractor in the sinks with an orange-colored flesh rope 3" in diameter that was the large rope hanging low enough to wrap around the tractor that was spinning out of control going down into the creek bed that likely was 2' of mud waiting to sink the monster tires on my tractor, and I wanted none of it. Before someone could pull it out of the muck, they'd have to put several tons of shale to boost up the level of the soil from the 2 sink areas that had formed in this wet year, which started in 2018 and just didn't stop raining on my property. I guess that's what I get for praying for rain to revive the tall pines in the piney woods region I've grown to love so well on account of the lake out back that sports a pair of great white egrets that were once an endangered species. That may not go away, I'm not certain.

No need to be sorry. You probably handled the situation better than I would have. I do NOT like spiders & snakes and have been known to do some pretty bizarre moves to get out of their paths. And a whole lot of screaming & whooping & hollering

 

[Foxfyre]

A terrifying spider episode (sorry so long in the telling) ​

Spent the morning on the zero turn and the afternoon on the tractor. And when I went to the remote back area that is a triangular wedge next to one of the creeks that flank the place on each side--anyway, I got stuck in the wedge. A huge ropelike vine-tree must've fallen or whatever vine trees do, I'm not certain, anyway, it got snaggled in the upper part of the canopy, which twisted the tractor into going down position, so in panic, I turned the key to off, and it stopped. When it stopped, something was sticking me in the back. Several dead trees were nearby, and the little maneuver I unwittingly did jerked a huge leafless limb with stiff points where small branches used to be. I spent 10 minutes trying to free myself from this awful situation, and being pitch dark in bright daylight is why I think the creek bed flanks a quasi-jungle with plants horrific. Of course, the meadow end of the wedge has amazing small wildflowers from February to October, because the shade keeps things cooler there than out in the 100-degree Farenheit open pastures on a hot afternoon. Anyhow, I got unwoven in about 10 minutes, then had to figure how to get the tractor that was now stuck between two quite firm trees that weren't there 2 years ago, or were so small I didn't notice them. I have no idea how the 3" diameter vine tree got there, because it wasn't there, either the last time I visited the wedge. One problem I encountered was that the neighbor had routed his part of the floodplain into two runnoff areas that broached the wedge area on the north fenceline, and some of the land next to the creek bottom had sunk, which is why the tractor slipped. And it was 6 feet lower in the two areas than it was in the meadowed area. The pine tree that had been 4 ft. high was now at least 30, and it was looking sickly with reddish patches like the other pines I lost during the drought of 2011. I just couldn't get out of there fast enough when suddenly!!! a 3" dark spider with horizontal uneven stripes parachuted down directly in front of me when I was trying to get uphill and out of the spring sink area, so in addition to a little panic from travelling uphill on a forty-five degree angle, here's the biggest, fattest spider I ever saw in my life giving me dirty looks and descending fast. I grabbed the thick piece of silk he or she had descended on, which made the spider real mad at me in particular, so I grabbed it once again and tossed the line to the side, and the spider followed. Whew! close call. You never know what kind of monster spider will go after you, and I will consider walking without destroying the spider's tree habitat from now on. Those little wildflowers in the wild woods are a magnet to me, and no less precious today than their predecessors in my memory. They were just ... magic. And beautiful.

So I got every part of the yard mowed that needed mowing, then all afternoon spent time on the Kubota with its 60" hay cutter, mowing around the fence lines, and through places where one might like to walk if so inclined. There were some really pretty lily-like flowers on branches rather than spikes like real lilies. They were all purple and so lovely going around the outside of the lake. It's only 14 acres but has 8 different worlds on it.

I never saw a spider that big that wasn't a tarantula. And I have no idea what it was, searched all over the internet for an hour, without finding it. Judging from its appearance and its fierce attitude, I'm guessing it a relative of wolf spiders, but I sure would like to have verified its name to see if its huge size was just an anomaly of having a growth hormone other spiders do not have, and its weird appearance which I have been unable to identify at any arachnid site. They'll tell you there are 1000 known type spiders in the wolf spider family, but I haven't found a website yet that identifies spiders with common and latin scientific names, and tells of their dangers of poison problems if they bite you. That spider scared me, but I tried to keep my head and spoke gently to the beast before sending him over the side onto safe ground, hopefully.

I believe the only spiders seriously dangerous to humans at least in the continguous 48 states are the brown recluse and the black widow, both small spiders. All others have mouths too small to harm humans--the grand daddy longlegs for instance are deadly poisonous but cannot harm humans, even babies, because their mouth is too small to penetrate human skin. They are deadly to other spiders especially and small insects though. if you have a lot of grand daddy longlegs, you won't need to worry about any other spiders being around. The tarantula looks vicious but they have to be really provoked or frightened to bite and their bite, while not harmless, is not deadly and easily treated with soap and water and a cold compress to take down any swelling. It rarely needs any kind of professional medical attention.

Evenso, I would not have wanted your spider coming at me either. Maybe he wouldn't hurt me but he likely could cause me to hurt myself. Did you get your tractor unstuck?

It seems the daddy long legs being extremely venomous is a myth: Are Daddy Longlegs Really the Most Venomous Spiders In the World?
Is a Daddy Longlegs a Danger to Humans?

I didn't recall ever hearing that particular claim before, so I looked it up.

Interesting. I probably stand corrected though I have been around daddy longlegs all my life, played with them as a kid, and was never ever bitten by one. Up on the mountain they were everywhere, but we never saw any other spider. Maybe they aren't as poisonous as I thought to other spiders? But this extensive article by Livescience seems to contradict itself that they 1) are not not venemous but 2) kill spiders caught in their webs with a deadly bite? Who knows. At any rate I do not fear them.
Daddy Longlegs: Spiders & Other Critters | Live Science

I do give the scorpions and vinegaroons a wide berth and prefer not to live with any spiders or other insects in the house regardless of how harmless. The only bad snakes we have are numerous types of rattlesnakes. Lots and lots of good snakes too. The western coral snake, venomous, is found only in the southwestern tip of New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. No water moccasins or copperheads in New Mexico that I know of.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

For justanothernut. I worked on your picture but I cannot sharpen it more as I do not have photoshop installed on this computer, so it is still out of focus.

View attachment 274034

But you did bring it in closer and is easier to see them. Thank you.

 

[Dajjal]

 

[Montrovant]

A terrifying spider episode (sorry so long in the telling) ​

Spent the morning on the zero turn and the afternoon on the tractor. And when I went to the remote back area that is a triangular wedge next to one of the creeks that flank the place on each side--anyway, I got stuck in the wedge. A huge ropelike vine-tree must've fallen or whatever vine trees do, I'm not certain, anyway, it got snaggled in the upper part of the canopy, which twisted the tractor into going down position, so in panic, I turned the key to off, and it stopped. When it stopped, something was sticking me in the back. Several dead trees were nearby, and the little maneuver I unwittingly did jerked a huge leafless limb with stiff points where small branches used to be. I spent 10 minutes trying to free myself from this awful situation, and being pitch dark in bright daylight is why I think the creek bed flanks a quasi-jungle with plants horrific. Of course, the meadow end of the wedge has amazing small wildflowers from February to October, because the shade keeps things cooler there than out in the 100-degree Farenheit open pastures on a hot afternoon. Anyhow, I got unwoven in about 10 minutes, then had to figure how to get the tractor that was now stuck between two quite firm trees that weren't there 2 years ago, or were so small I didn't notice them. I have no idea how the 3" diameter vine tree got there, because it wasn't there, either the last time I visited the wedge. One problem I encountered was that the neighbor had routed his part of the floodplain into two runnoff areas that broached the wedge area on the north fenceline, and some of the land next to the creek bottom had sunk, which is why the tractor slipped. And it was 6 feet lower in the two areas than it was in the meadowed area. The pine tree that had been 4 ft. high was now at least 30, and it was looking sickly with reddish patches like the other pines I lost during the drought of 2011. I just couldn't get out of there fast enough when suddenly!!! a 3" dark spider with horizontal uneven stripes parachuted down directly in front of me when I was trying to get uphill and out of the spring sink area, so in addition to a little panic from travelling uphill on a forty-five degree angle, here's the biggest, fattest spider I ever saw in my life giving me dirty looks and descending fast. I grabbed the thick piece of silk he or she had descended on, which made the spider real mad at me in particular, so I grabbed it once again and tossed the line to the side, and the spider followed. Whew! close call. You never know what kind of monster spider will go after you, and I will consider walking without destroying the spider's tree habitat from now on. Those little wildflowers in the wild woods are a magnet to me, and no less precious today than their predecessors in my memory. They were just ... magic. And beautiful.

So I got every part of the yard mowed that needed mowing, then all afternoon spent time on the Kubota with its 60" hay cutter, mowing around the fence lines, and through places where one might like to walk if so inclined. There were some really pretty lily-like flowers on branches rather than spikes like real lilies. They were all purple and so lovely going around the outside of the lake. It's only 14 acres but has 8 different worlds on it.

I never saw a spider that big that wasn't a tarantula. And I have no idea what it was, searched all over the internet for an hour, without finding it. Judging from its appearance and its fierce attitude, I'm guessing it a relative of wolf spiders, but I sure would like to have verified its name to see if its huge size was just an anomaly of having a growth hormone other spiders do not have, and its weird appearance which I have been unable to identify at any arachnid site. They'll tell you there are 1000 known type spiders in the wolf spider family, but I haven't found a website yet that identifies spiders with common and latin scientific names, and tells of their dangers of poison problems if they bite you. That spider scared me, but I tried to keep my head and spoke gently to the beast before sending him over the side onto safe ground, hopefully.

I believe the only spiders seriously dangerous to humans at least in the continguous 48 states are the brown recluse and the black widow, both small spiders. All others have mouths too small to harm humans--the grand daddy longlegs for instance are deadly poisonous but cannot harm humans, even babies, because their mouth is too small to penetrate human skin. They are deadly to other spiders especially and small insects though. if you have a lot of grand daddy longlegs, you won't need to worry about any other spiders being around. The tarantula looks vicious but they have to be really provoked or frightened to bite and their bite, while not harmless, is not deadly and easily treated with soap and water and a cold compress to take down any swelling. It rarely needs any kind of professional medical attention.

Evenso, I would not have wanted your spider coming at me either. Maybe he wouldn't hurt me but he likely could cause me to hurt myself. Did you get your tractor unstuck?

It seems the daddy long legs being extremely venomous is a myth: Are Daddy Longlegs Really the Most Venomous Spiders In the World?
Is a Daddy Longlegs a Danger to Humans?

I didn't recall ever hearing that particular claim before, so I looked it up.

Interesting. I probably stand corrected though I have been around daddy longlegs all my life, played with them as a kid, and was never ever bitten by one. Up on the mountain they were everywhere, but we never saw any other spider. Maybe they aren't as poisonous as I thought to other spiders? But this extensive article by Livescience seems to contradict itself that they 1) are not not venemous but 2) kill spiders caught in their webs with a deadly bite? Who knows. At any rate I do not fear them.
Daddy Longlegs: Spiders & Other Critters | Live Science

I do give the scorpions and vinegaroons a wide berth and prefer not to live with any spiders or other insects in the house regardless of how harmless. The only bad snakes we have are numerous types of rattlesnakes. Lots and lots of good snakes too. The western coral snake, venomous, is found only in the southwestern tip of New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. No water moccasins or copperheads in New Mexico that I know of.

You have to keep in mind there there are daddy long legs that are not spiders, and daddy long legs that are. The spiders are venomous apparently, although not really harmful to humans. The non-spiders are not venomous.

So harvestmen = not spiders = not venomous.

These are what I think of when I think daddy long legs.

Cellar spiders = spiders = venomous but not dangerous to humans.

I did not realize these were also called daddy long legs.

 

[saveliberty]

Interesting. I probably stand corrected though I have been around daddy longlegs all my life, played with them as a kid, and was never ever bitten by one. Up on the mountain they were everywhere, but we never saw any other spider. Maybe they aren't as poisonous as I thought to other spiders? But this extensive article by Livescience seems to contradict itself that they 1) are not not venemous but 2) kill spiders caught in their webs with a deadly bite? Who knows. At any rate I do not fear them.
Daddy Longlegs: Spiders & Other Critters | Live Science

I do give the scorpions and vinegaroons a wide berth and prefer not to live with any spiders or other insects in the house regardless of how harmless. The only bad snakes we have are numerous types of rattlesnakes. Lots and lots of good snakes too. The western coral snake, venomous, is found only in the southwestern tip of New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. No water moccasins or copperheads in New Mexico that I know of.

Their fangs are not long enough to penetrate human skin.

 

[saveliberty]

Sorry about the fuzziness. Hands shake now sometimes especially when in flareup mode. They weren't shaking when I painted these last night but they ae now. Hence...fuzzy pic.

Probably couldn't trust me to number the back in paint. Too bad you can't lithograph rocks.

 

[Foxfyre]

Interesting. I probably stand corrected though I have been around daddy longlegs all my life, played with them as a kid, and was never ever bitten by one. Up on the mountain they were everywhere, but we never saw any other spider. Maybe they aren't as poisonous as I thought to other spiders? But this extensive article by Livescience seems to contradict itself that they 1) are not not venemous but 2) kill spiders caught in their webs with a deadly bite? Who knows. At any rate I do not fear them.
Daddy Longlegs: Spiders & Other Critters | Live Science

I do give the scorpions and vinegaroons a wide berth and prefer not to live with any spiders or other insects in the house regardless of how harmless. The only bad snakes we have are numerous types of rattlesnakes. Lots and lots of good snakes too. The western coral snake, venomous, is found only in the southwestern tip of New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. No water moccasins or copperheads in New Mexico that I know of.

Their fangs are not long enough to penetrate human skin.

Well as Montro's research showed, one of the critters called daddy longlegs actually can bite a person but it isn't harmful. I don't think the round bodied ones that are common around here can even bite. At least I've never heard of one biting a person. But they sure do clear out a lot of other critters we don't want hanging around. I don't know if it is true but I've been told for like forever that if you have a number of daddy longlegs in the house you don't have to worry about poisonous spiders.