Lurking in the Bathroom and other business of life.

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This is a very busy week. The Cal-Am Goat show is on Saturday at the Fairgrounds in Plymouth and I have two "Best In Show" baskets to put together. I drove down to Elk Grove, yesterday, to pick up one of the two gourds that will be part of the wining baskets for the show.

These gourds will be filled with goat related items and wrapped in cellophane with a big, pretty bow.
I want to thank Mary Jane for the beautiful gourd on the right with the faux turquoise inlay and Silvia, for the goat basket gourd. I'm overwhelmed at the generosity of my gourd group and the support  they give to our Goat show every year. Silvia is the President of the California Gourd Association, a talented and involved artist.
Mary Jane is one of the most talented members of our gourd group. She makes instruments, lamps and dolls out of gourds. She does amazing and beautiful work.
Thank you both for the donation of these lovely gourds.
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When I was down in Elk Grove yesterday I had to go to Trader Joe's.

Which happens to be (Oh, my goodness!)  right next to .... HOME GOODS.

What an amazing marketing decision for this shopping center. I didn't know what to do first. Then , I came to my senses and went into Trader Joe's. I bought wine, bread, cashews, a couple of cards, artichokes, and because it was lunchtime.... I hope my sister and my cousin Suzi are reading this.... A SALAD. Yes, without you both telling me to eat more salad, I bought one. All by myself.

I ate all of it. It was actually very good, with its chicken, papaya, cabbage, carrot and a Thai Citrus dressing.
Not bad at all. I may have to buy this salad in bulk.

I topped the salad off with, of course, English Toffee.
After I sat in the shade of a tree in my car, and filled my body with SALAD, I spent a wonderful hour and a half of pure indulgence, in Home Goods. I bought some pillows, a big tin with a lid for the front porch and three planters for the  front yard. I will take some photos next week when I have the time to arrange everything.
I picked up some meds at Kaiser and drove back up to the hills.
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This morning I was groping around in the bathroom. You know how it is. I was getting ready to throw some water on my face so I could go for a walk before it got too hot. It's suppose to reach the high 80's today.
I was ready to wash my face when I saw something move under the felted soap in the tray.
Mind you. The Prospector's gone to town for some hay. The dogs were asleep in the Living room and I'm just standing in front of the sink... WITHOUT MY GLASSES ON.
I see movement under the soap. I got this "hair on the back of your neck" feeling and reached for my glasses. Yes, the warm weather is waking them up. THEY'RE BACK!!

How such a small thing can illicit such fear in me I will never know. I'm not afraid of snakes, mice, rats or wild animals but this little creepy crawler sends me into fits of fear that use to be almost debilitating.
No one was here to help. I could have called my husband to come home and dispatch this "monster" but he would have killed it and laughed at me. I was on my own..... and I couldn't let it crawl away, disappearing into the recesses of my bathroom only to show up in my bed tonight.... COULD  I?
Well,I want you to know that I pulled myself together and did the right thing. I went and got a glass jar. I moved the soap holder and , thank God, it didn't bolt away or JUMP ON TOP OF ME. It just sat there.
I carefully inverted the jar over the spider and it didn't move. It just sat there. Maybe something was wrong. Maybe SHE? was having babies right there under my felted soap. A little nest found... I don't know.... but, I'm sorry. That's just not going to happen in my bathroom.
I moved the jar and she crawled onto the side of it. I was doing well, but shaking a bit. I quickly slid the lid on and flipped the jar over. Now, she was moving. She was not happy.

This is what I call a BIG spider. I categorized spiders into: small, medium and large. This was large. Well, not as in "Tarantula" large, but definitely,"house spider" large.
I took her outside. Laid the jar in a flower pot....

She didn't move so I shook the jar and out she came.... Into the big world of wonderful places to hide and good things to eat.
I told her that she could live in my garden for as long as she liked but she was not to come back into my house. I told her to spread the word.

Goodbye little ( well, not so little...) one. Live long and prosper.
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I still have some places to tell you about on our trip to Reno, Nevada. I don't want to bore you with  a travel log but I do want to talk about the Keck Mining Museum at the University of Nevada, which was a wonderful place to visit.

Little Miss Muffet faces her Fears

A couple of weeks ago I told you about my visit to Sacramento to see my friend "C".  Then I was off to my sister's for a week and I almost forgot about THE INCIDENT.  First of all, I want you to take a good look at this photo that I took of an exceptionally beautiful Crepe Myrtle tree in the parking lot at "C"s apartment complex. Do you see that dark spot in the upper middle of the photo?

That is a very big SPIDER.
I was walking across the parking lot to my car and I saw this beautiful Crepe Myrtle tree in front of the car. I wanted to take a picture of the tree, so I unlocked the passenger side of the car and threw in everything except my Nikon and walk over to the curb near the tree. This is such an auto pilot thing for me to do that I sometimes don't think about where I'm walking. I just take the lens cap off and start shooting.
I stepped up onto the curb, looked through the camera and walked toward the tree. I often walk with my camera in front of my face and one of these days I'm going to trip on something and fall and break my neck. It's a really bad habit.
The tree was so beautiful with the afternoon sun filtering down through the branches. The iron fence and the stone pillars were behind the tree and I was busy framing the shot. All of a sudden I saw this dark blot  MOVING around in front of my lens. and at the same time I felt something touch my hand. I know the feeling of spider webs. My adrenaline is programed for SPIDER WEBS. I shot back into the parking lot and make a very strange noise. It's seems that I had been so busy trying to shoot this lovely tree that I failed to see this HUGE web in front of the tree and  the HUGE SPIDER preparing for dinner in the middle of it.
A man and woman that were getting into a car across the parking lot asked me what I was doing and walked over. I showed them the spider, pointing with my finger because I hadn't gotten my speech back yet. and he said..." OMG! That's a big spider.".... "Really?" I said as my voice quivered and restored itself. Then he said,. "It's a good thing you didn't run into it." My whole body vibrated at the thought. All I could say was "Yea.". If that spider had attached itself to me I would have been jumping up and down, running around and slapping myself all over that parking lot.... doing my famous Spider Dance. That's the dance I do at home when a spider crawls on me while I'm sitting quietly on the couch.

I was trying to be polite but my heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to have to sit down . I finally pulled myself together and we started talking about what kind of spider this might be. As far as I was concerned it was a BIG SPIDER. They said it was probably an Orb Weaver. They acted like they had studied these things in college. Do people actually study spiders as a major?
I decided to look calm and cool about all this so I took another picture....

 The web was a mess and she looked very annoyed. I guess all spiders look annoyed. I just never noticed before. She was moving all around trying to fix the web and there was a blob of white like a cotton ball above her. That could have been ME.
I do want you to know that I cropped these pictures in my Picasa 3 photo program. I was not this close to her. I'm sure I looked very professional but I was still in the parking space with a few feet between myself and her scary little body.  Then, as I took these pictures, I started to see her in a different light.

She was really quite beautiful. I thought to myself that her life must be a life of constantly putting things back together and looking for food.... and finding a mate....and having babies...and trying to make ends meet, so to speak. Not unlike most of us.

 Her abdomen looked like one of those big reflecting balls over a dance floor with glass pieces all over it that spins and reflects little bits of light on the dancers. She was really quite elegant.
The couple said goodbye and left. I was relieved that I could stop acting like I was all into this spider.... but  truth be known, I was finding her very interesting and maybe that's what has changed since this near death experience. I actually found a spider in the bathtub the other night, scooped it up into a plastic cup (with a lid on it of course) and took it outside. That's a breakthrough. I will even read more about them. But, I still don't want them touching me with their Apical claws or their Chelicerae. See, I looked that up.
I took a few photos of the Crepe Myrtle and headed for home. I think I saw her watching me as I pulled out of the parking space. She was probably glad to see me go. She was probably thinking.., "Clumsy old woman. First it's a bird, then it's a dragonfly and now this. Can't a spider ever get a break?"
So I leave you with two photos of the bottom of the Crepe Myrtle tree (Lagerstroemia Indica) because  I had to take my shot from  UNDERNEATH the web.

Look at the roots. Aren't they amazing? The tree bark becomes textured and slick as it sheds and grows.They are lovely little trees. This is a beautiful specimen.
Ms. spider wasn't attached to the tree. Her web was strung from the light standard to the iron fence. although she did have a neighbor on the other side of the tree that was attached. It's probably a good place at night because of the overhead light standard. Moths love to fly into those lights. I do hope she catches a lot of small insects. See? I understand her and the work involved with being a spider. I just want them to stay outside.... and quit running across the rug on warm summer nights... and never drop on me when I'm in bed.... and to stop sitting in my bathtub. Is that asking too much?