Today is the day I dread: I have to go into the lab and scrub fly bottles and do some general clean up. Responsibilities, yo. Shininess will ensue.
Also, we went on a mini-adventure last night, waiting until full darkness fell and then prowled around our house with a UV lamp and headlights. Unfortunately, I was disappointed — lots of active spiders, but they were all grass spiders. Grass spiders are all over the place, and they sort of take over every summer, but I just can’t get excited about them.
Check out the outside of your house — I bet you’ve got lots of funnel webs around with these shy guys hiding within them.
I’ve been doing some outdoor construction this week, and covered my friend’s lawn in a fine layer of sawdust. It made all the grass spider webs stand out clearly. Yes indeed, there are a gazillion of the little guys.
A new song possibility? Not Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen, but Fly-Bottle-Blue-Bottle-Fly?
With just a headlight I can find dozens (hundreds?) of spiders staring at me at night. They’re eyes glow, most of them green, I assume they are the grass spiders PZ is talking about, but I wonder if the occasional red glowing eyes are a different species?
If you’re an arachnophobe don’t do this, you’ll never sit in the grass again.
The Doc wrote”Also, we went on a mini-adventure last night, waiting until full darkness fell and then prowled around our house with a UV lamp and headlights.”
Glen Larson could use that to draw a great cartoon .
Is that a grass spider? Looks a bit like the house spiders that put the shits up me .Sometimes i find a pretty red/caramel coloured spider .They have huge fangs and feed on Wood Lice (Pill Bugs ) .And according to a book i have called The Natural History of The Garden ,there is a spider that lives in houses that shoots out strands of silk to tie down it prey .
Headlights? Go out early in the morning when the dew hasn’t evaporated, and (at least around here) you’ll see ’em all over.
Makes me feel very guilty at mowing time, but it only takes pulling off one tick to get over that.