The Tangled Mess

  I have always been fascinated by spiders and spider webs.  Not that I particularly wish to find them in the Little Bayou House but I have been known to not kill them.  It is a fact that I will gently catch and move a spider if it is deemed bothersome.  Spiders are good.  They eat other critters that infest homes.  To my way of thinking, it is far better to have a couple of spiders than a house full of roaches, fleas or other creep-crawly critters.  Don't get me wrong here!  I will occasionally kill a spider.  Brown recluses or any of the widows are on the "evil" list.  I was bitten years ago by a black widow and do not wish to repeat that!  To be honest, I get bit by some sort of spider almost weekly but the widow did the most harm.  

  Another facet of the world of spiders that I adore is their webs.  While I admit that (again) I am not fond of them in the house, outside is a different story.  The webs are interesting.  Let a light fog or misty rain fall upon the Bayou and every web is a jewel-encrusted decoration!  The sheer strength of the webs to hold so much water is impressive.  Most of the spider webs are of the orb type.  The spiders will string webs between two trees, in the marsh or even on the side of the house, itself.  Once the fog rolls in, the webs catch the drips and hold them tight.  Occasionally, I will come across a web of one of the "tangle-web" spiders.  These are the ones that build webs with no particular design other than a mass of sticky silks.  Think cobwebs here.  The tangle-web spider family includes the pretty docile house spiders, several species of the yard spiders AND the widows.

 Walking after the rain the other night, I came across a tangle-web.  One of the common yard spiders that created its web between some twigs and grasses.  The spider was not to be found.  The web had been abandoned during the torrential downpour.  With the spider gone, I was able to confidently examine the web without fear of disturbing my little friend.  Yep, it was definitely a tangled mess!  It was easy to see how a hapless bug could become ensnared in this mess!  

  The web was left intact just on the outside chance that Friend Spider was going to return.  Perhaps with the next hike the spider can be identified and photographed but, for now, the web was my interesting find of  the day.