Shelob and Frodo

Wednesday, September 27, 2017,

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Dear reader, after two flowery posts of, well, flowers, I felt we needed something a bit grittier. Something to keep us all grounded. I never promised anyone a rose garden, or all Asters either. Beauty comes in all shapes, even gruesome ones. I came across this scene in one of the fields at Avalon Park and Preserve. I had just seen a mother Goldfinch feeding one of her fledglings and I was thinking that was a cool thing to see when Mother Nature presented me with another treat.

20170908093300 (1)-5x7wtww30 This spider and her prey put me in mind of Shelob, the spider from the Lord of the Rings story. For those of you who didn’t read the books or see the movies, Shelob is a monstrous spider that pretty much captures and eats anyone or anything that comes her way. She captures Frodo, one of the heroes of the story and then she…. She tells you to read the book ’cause it’s a great tale.

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It Seemed Like A Good Idea…

Tuesday, December 14, 2010,

It seemed like a good idea. Just take this one bug from one jar and put it into another. Never mind that it was a tarantula in a jar marked “Cobalt Blue – Fast and aggressive.” Cobalt Blues, I learned, prefer a vertical environment as they like to live in tunnels beneath the ground, coming up for dinner as needed. Before he could be moved, however, he needed to be dug out of his old digs


Then it was just a matter of tipping him from the old jar into the new one.


Sometimes the best laid plans…well, you know.

He’s supposed to be inside that jar. Whoops.


And so it goes. Another adventure at Sweetbriar. It should be noted that I did nothing here but take photographs. Any stories alleging that I screamed like a girl are completely unfounded. I was already across the county line when this guy hit the floor. JK

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