Ummmm ..... Did he have to say that ?

Yesterday, while on my way out to the car to take Spike for a walk, I saw movement in the street. There ... in the middle of the road ... were a couple of tiny birds, less than two inches in size, slowly hobbling across the street. I approached - they got startled - and it immediately became apparent they were too young to fly. With a car heading in our direction - I shooed them across to safety. Once in the grass and in the shade - their tiny bodies breathed a sigh of relief - glad to be off the hot blacktop. My dear sweet kind neighbor looked at me curiously, so I told him about the tiny birds I had just rescued from the road. In his soft gentle drawl he said "Oh really - Tom's cat will probably be having them for lunch."

UGH !! Mother Nature presents lots of challenges to wildlife babies ... Good Luck little guys !!

Rescuing 'Hairy'

Let me tell you first, that Hairy is a Hairy Jumping Spider. My first encounter with this guy was today, when I headed out my front door to put some mail in the mailbox for the postman. I saw a black 'blob' in one of my solar lights.
It was Hairy. The solar light was in the sun ~ so the inside of that fixture had to be pretty warm. I decided to assess the situation, carefully picking up the light, finding no opening big enough for this creature to get in or out through. And then I got a closer look at HIM. I do not 'hate' spiders, but they are also not high on my "isn't that cute" list either. I could not let him stay in there. Look at the pathetic eyes !! (only later, when looking his species up online did I find out he has a row of FOUR eyes, the a row with two smaller eyes below the four AND then another row of two small eyes below that. Three rows .. eight eyes. UGH)

The movement of the solar light in my hand must have been a bit too much for the spider .. and he stared at me.
THEN .. apparently tired of the movement and a camera lense aimed at him ... Hairy turned his back on me ...
SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE ~~ I bravely grasped the copper top of the solar light, and s-l-o-w-l-y unscrewed it from the fixture to free the spider. As I lifted the top, anticipating a black scurry ... I saw that the fixture was SEALED. Uh Oh.... So I went in the house and got a screwdriver and a ball ping hammer. If the first did not work .. I would resort to the second.

I gently pried one quarter of the top off. Startled, Hairy ran to the other side. Being quite analytical, I went to the side he was on and pried off another quarter of the panel, assuming the creature would scamper to the first side and run off. No. He ran to the bottom of the fixture.

My hope was to salvage the solar light despite the necessary modifications being made to it. So I turned it upside down and SHOOK. It took a bit, but Hairy made his way to the opening and made a grand exit onto the porch ... THEN HE JUMPED.
What Had I Done To HIM ?? He jumped again and again until he reached the base of my flowerpot. He stopped, and paused, then started to climb up the side.
As I watched, Hairy suddenly turned toward me and let me see the gratitude in his eyes. I packed up my tools, reassembled the solar light, placed it back in its spot, and went in the house, content I had done my good deed for the day. He may be an insignificant creature, but no way could I have left him trapped to die. Bye Hairy .. you have just been immortalized forever on my blog....

Outdoors Again ....

The warm weather is again upon us and the critters and I are spending more time outside. We are a solitary trio ... but in solitude, the eyes and ears capture more of what nature has to offer. And it offers a feast of treasures ....

Duri lurking around as I tend my flowers ....

Some beautiful gold bugs ... caught in the act of making MORE beautiful gold bugs : )

A family of woodchucks .... at least a half dozen of them, who hid if Spike and I got too close.

A brazen little bird who hopped along near Spike and me during our walk ...


There are many more photos on my camera of the wonder's of nature ... but the complexities of technology make it too tedious a task to upload & share at this time.