American House Spider

I stepped out the front door this morning and nearly walked face first into this beauty - an American House Spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum). They're not especially dangerous to humans (though they may startle you quite a bit if you walk face first into them...)Actually they're really rather beneficial as they eat other pests like mosquitoes and roaches.

Luminous Spider Webs

If you look in the right shadowy corners you can sometimes find a luminous spider web...

Return of the Ohmygodkillitwithfire Spider

Here's another shot of the Garden Spider I found a while back. They look creepy and nasty, but they're pretty much harmless to humans.

Spider in the Garden

I found this spider in my garden this afternoon, crawling on the milkweed.  It is, I think, an Orbweaver - perhaps an Neoscona crucifera. 

He Was with the Wild Beasts

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. – Mark 1: 12 - 13

The unconquering Satan fled from him, leaving Jesus alone in the wilderness. His legs sagged beneath him and he fell to the ground, banging his knees and his shins against the sharp rocks. Blood flowed from the wounds and the wild animals who lived there smelled it and were drawn to it, to him.

First to arrive, a ghost of gnats, swarming in the dusky twilight. “Bless you, gnats,” Jesus said. “May you live upon the wind and be blown by the Spirit to places of rest.” The midges bobbed in the air and departed.

Then came feral dogs, wild, undomesticated, snarling and baring their cruel teeth, they approached. But Jesus blessed them too. “A dog’s tongue is a doctor’s tongue. Let us lick our wounds and threaten war no more.” The dogs lay down at his feet and slept.

Next a crepuscular moth, flitting here and there, alighted near him. “A blessing for you as well, little pest. Be pollinators. Be food. Be a blessing.”

A long eared fox clambered up the slope on silent hairless footpads. She yelped once and Jesus nodded to her. “Be subtle and be blessed, mother fox. Be quick and daring and be blessed.” Her ears flicked, aware of a noise, an approaching hum. She nodded her head once, twice, and then turned and fled into the darkness.

The buzzing grew louder and closer, a swarm of locusts. They clouded the air around Jesus’ face. “And how should I bless you, bringers of famine, and pestilence? How should I bless you bringers of havoc and devastation? How can I bless you? I do not know. But bless blessed nonetheless. Be blessed. And once more makes three, be blessed. Now go.” The swarm departed. The dogs at Jesus’ feet looked up and whimpered. “They are gone now,” he said to them, and they lay back down to sleep.

Now a large bodied raven swooped low, feeding on the slower locusts. The raven snatched up one with its beak, tossed it into the air and caught it in its mouth. “Karr-karr-khaharr!” it croaked.

Jesus smiled. “You are a most ambiguous creature, aren’t you? Unclean and uncouth, carrion eaters – detestable things - yet you bring comfort to the prophets. You neither sow nor reap, but God feeds you and your little ones.” Jesus held out his arm and the raven flew to him. It hopped up his arm toward his face and motioned as if to peck at Jesus’ eye, but Jesus cautioned the bird. “Be blessed, black one. Be blessed.” 

“Kara-khaharr-karr!” the raved cawed and then flew away.

Jesus gathered wood and lit a fire, for it was dark now, and cold.  He sat on a stone near the flames to warm himself.  And sitting there he saw, through the flickering flames, the glowing eyes of wolf.  “Here comes the desert prince, emblem of Benjamin. Come,” Jesus called to the wolf.  But it only snarled in response, and growled, low and threatening. Again, Jesus called to it. “Come. Sit here with me.” The wolf growled again and ran away. Jesus stoked the fire and pet the dogs still sleeping at his feet.

Moments later the wolf returned, walking slowly, hesitantly with its head low. “Come,” said Jesus, “rest here with me. You are welcome.” And the wolf lay down there with him.

A viper, drawn to the warmth of the fire, slithered out of the rocks. Jesus saw the venomous serpent and said, “You are welcomed and blessed, but you must do no evil or harm here.” Then the snake coiled itself on a stone and basked in the warmth of the fire.

A great fluttering of wings rustled overhead, and down came a large vulture with a raspy yawp. “Why should you come here, vulture?  There is no carcass, as you can see. I am not dead. Not yet. But even then why should you gather? But a blessing for you, nonetheless; eaters of carrion have their place.  Consume the corpses and keep the world clean. Be blessed.”  The vulture hopped first on one scraggy foot, then the other and then leaped into the air and flew away.

Then, out from under the rocks and sand, came a scorpion, golden in the firelight, with its venomous tail poised and claws extended. It was ready to strike and to sting. Jesus saw it and said, “Have you come to torment me? Shall I tread upon you?” The scorpion danced in the sand, waving its claws, rearing up in the firelight. “Again I ask you,” said Jesus patiently, “have you come to torment me? Even with your toxic venom you cannot kill me. Shall I stand and crush you with my heel?” The malignant scorpion repeated its threatening gestures.

It rushed toward Jesus on its eight legs, ready to pinch with its pinchers and sting with its toxic tail, but just then an angel appeared and crushed the belligerent scorpion. Jesus looked up at the angel who said, “I’ve been sent to wait on you, to minister to and care for you, but you seem to have things under control.”

Jesus smiled and motioned for the angel to join him at the fire.

The "Ohmygodkillitwithfire" Spider

The Garden Spider (or Yellow Garden Spider) Argiope aurantia looks scarier than it really is. They're fairly large spiders, but are mostly harmless. They eat insects and small lizards - but they are not aggressive and their venom is not dangerous to humans. I found this beauty at a rest stop along I-80 in Iowa.

Garden Spider by Jeff Carter on 500px

Garden Spider by Jeff Carter on 500px

Wolf Spider

I found this beauty earlier today as I was pulling out some supplies for my class.  It's a wolf spider (i'm pretty sure it is...) but I couldn't be specific about what species of wolf spider (there are about 125 different wolf spider species in North America alone.)

The wolf spider does not build a web to trap its prey.  Instead it hunts at night - rather like a wolf.  They tend to be solitary spiders -unlike wolves- often found, as this one was, near doors and windows.

Their bite, while painful, is not likely to be fatal.

The Boring Black Belly of the Tarantula

Yes, the tarantula is a terrible insect [sic].  It has only one fatal enemy, a hymenoptera, a so-called wasp with salmon colored wings.  The wasp is always the first to attack.  Once the wasp has attacked it becomes a battle to the end.  The wasp is always the winner, you see.  The tarantula has no escape.  To finish the battle, finally, she’ll sting the tarantula.  The tarantula’s stung and paralyzed by the wasp. The wasp will then disembowel it and put her larva there, you understand?  The tarantula remains alive while the larva is nourished by its flesh.  Thus the victim can do nothing to defend itself though aware of being disemboweled and eaten alive.

I’ve been watching horror movies this month – one each day and then writing some of my thoughts to share with you.  In an earlier post I noted how European films seem better in general than American horror films.

But (and there’s always a but, right?) they can’t all be good, I suppose.

The Italian giallo film Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) is a bit of a clunker.  There horror elements are there, certainly; the premise is particularly gruesome.  A mysterious killer is attacking women involved in a blackmail conspiracy.  He seizes his victims by paralyzing them with an acupuncture needle laced with poison and then slices open their bellies.  But Black Belly of the Tarantula never quite fulfills its potential.  It moves too slowly.

The soundtrack by Ennio Morricone is interesting, though.  It switches back and forth between an easy listening jazz and modern and disorienting horror cues. It's not as memorable as his music for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,  but it's pretty good.

I was bored, overall, by this movie but it did lead me to something really horrifying.

Those spider killing wasps are real.

Softer than Shadow and Quicker than Flies

Quietly he laughs and shaking his head

Creeps closer now

Closer to the foot of the bed

And softer than shadow and quicker than flies

His arms are all around me and his tongue in my eyes

"Be still be calm be quiet now my precious boy

Don't struggle like that or I will only love you more

For it's much too late to get away or turn on the light

The spiderman is having you for dinner tonight"

-The Cure-

I took this photo of a spider outside my garage door. I've walked through his web three times this week.

(Click on the picture to see it enlarged.)