Tarantula time


Texas bronw tarantula
This specimen was out for a stroll and agreed to be photograhped.

The other evening as Abigail and I were heading to ball practice via Hastings, we saw a tarantula sauntering across the road.  It was almost to the other side and we easily avoided it.  Then a few days ago Chris pointed out the one you see in the photo at the left.  It was headed for the piñon just south of the 2005 driveway.  Tarantulas are plentiful on SA but they are very shy and stay in their burrows all summer long.  Only long about this time of year do they seem to be taken with the urge to go walk-about.  I don’t know why that is.  These are females, I believe, and it is unlikely they are mate shopping.  They stand considerable risk from predators such as the tarantula hawk out in the open so what compels them to run that risk I don’t know.

Since this was another full week to devote to SA and there were no chicken houses to re-stain, I got quite a bit done.  Mainly I cleaned up under the southwest tree line.  You’ll recall there was considerable debris under the trees from the hail storm in May.  Also with the recent rains on top of the water I’ve been running down the irrigation ditch for the trees when it was so dry, the weeds were beginning to get out of hand.  That meant some trimming, lots of weed-eating and weed pulling plus a ton of raking.  Unfortunately it also included removing Abigail’s tree, a blue spruce given to her on her third Christmas because she asked for a tree.  It fought hard but finally succumbed to the drought.  Having raked the debris into piles, I loaded it in the pickup and hauled it to the brush site.  I’m satisfied with the way it turned out.  It will be much easier to maintain.  Next week I’ll start on the next segment.  Eventually the entire perimeter will have to be done.

It hasn’t been all work.  Thursday morning I went out to par 3 Preston West to try to improve my game a little.  My golf buddy Gary was in Red River so I was on my own.  First I hit a bucket of balls, then I practiced chipping and putting.  After that I played a round, by myself for the first nine holes, then with another fellow on the back nine.  He was from Fort Worth and was here visiting his parents.  He said he was a minister, mostly in Dubai, but did some other things involving sales and marketing apparently as cover.  Christian outreach is frowned upon in that part of the world.  He was a pleasant chap and I enjoyed playing with him.

There is a blossom on the plant in the aquarium.  It is about the size of my little finger from the middle knuckle and looks like certain lilies.  There is a white trumpet-shaped flower with a finger-like pistil in the middle.  That would be the part normally associated with nectar and pollen but what serves the function that bees provide in flowers exposed to the atmosphere?   Bear in mind this flower is completely submerged.  It doesn’t rise to the surface like a water lily.  I suppose there are aquatic insects that could do the pollenating and maybe they are drawn to nectar present in spite of the water.

This self-employment, I think it’s going to work out.  I don’t have a routine yet and it will probably vary according to the weather anyway.  No sense in getting started a 7 a.m. when it’s still dark and kind of chilly.  There is lots of work to be done and I still find I wish I could get more done, but I have about as much time as I do energy.  I just need to keep plugging away like I’ve been doing the last half-century.  But being able to vary my schedule according to my own whims is a real boon.

One thought on “Tarantula time

Comments are closed.