Bold!

It was another very chilly morning but I took my tea (and Jax) outside for a look around the garden.  When I returned to the deck, I noticed a small black spot on the table.  Closer inspection proved it to be a very cold Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus audax) one our most common jumpers and a personal favorite.  I moved the little guy (gal?) into the sun to warm up a bit then moved it to a pot of flowers so that it would have places to hide and hunt.  A couple of hours later, I wasn't able to find it again so maybe it...boldly jumped!

I used to be absolutely terrified of any and all spiders.  I was the one who threw a shoe at it while running in the opposite direction.  But things changed one day when I was on my patio trying out some magnifying extension tubes on a camera and happened to grab some shots of a jumping spider (different species).  When I saw it on my computer screen, I was a little smitten by the big cartoon eyes.  I also had some help from some special photographers here on Blip (Vodkaman and Jensphotos, to mention two) who posted wonderful photos and interesting information, all of which gradually changed my perception of spiders totally.   I actually had a little laugh as I found myself poking around in some hostas looking for nursery web spiders (which are not at all cute and cartoony like jumpers, but rather more fearsome looking and much larger).  I found two and will be watching them as they raise their broods of babies.  Unless, of course, the wrens find them...

I also saw my first robber fly of the season, one of the bumble bee mimics.  You can see how much they look like a bee, Click HERE.  And I found a very cold Orange Sided Horse Fly (click HERE) that posed for a few pics before I moved it into a patch of sun to warm up.  It was a male so I was in no danger of the painful bites that the females can deliver.  Sexual identification is all in the eyes...

I believe the Tree Swallows have finished laying as when I opened the box to check it, mama flew out - five perfect cream colored eggs in a nest of fluffy white feathers.  I will put a photo in Extra.  

A flurry of messages this morning among the four of us who are traveling to Brazil next month (!!) and our guide.  Trying to set up a video call to talk about some logistics for the trip.  He also sent a bunch of pictures and reels that he took last summer - wow!  Jaguars, here we come!

Finally, had a really nice FT chat with my parents this morning.  Dad's foot is slowly getting better and he has a follow up this upcoming week with the podiatrist. Fingers crossed.

xoxo
Debbi