I am here to help with my eight legs!

  The day consisted of a bit more preparations for the tropical storm that is supposed to visit the Bayou during the middle of the night.  We ran the tie-downs for the dormer windows, latched gates to prevent them from banging and secured the last pieces of lawn furniture.  Since there was not much left to do, I busied myself cleaning up a few odds and ends in the yard.  We have one of those hose reels that is supposed to make life easier but, for me, it is a nuisance.  Quality workmanship is obviously a thing of the past as the reel is shoddily made.  It is far too light to be of much use as it wobbles around like a drunk sailor whenever you wind the hose.  Yes, I do put my foot on the hold but that does little good.  The crank is weak, as well, making it feel as if it will break with the least bit of stress.  So...I pull the hose with my hands, turn the crank for a few rounds, pull more hose, turn again and so on until the hose is at least somewhat neater.  Then as soon as I let go, the reel turns freely releasing about six feet of hose!  Alas!  All that work was for naught!

  It was while I was struggling with the hose that I met a new friend!  I guess I startled the poor soul by fighting an inanimate object (the reel) so a nice sized garden spider ventured onto my shoulder.  Perhaps the kind critter was offering help!  Not wanting to squish the beauty, work was halted while I let her crawl onto my hand.  Yes, ma'am!  I appreciate the offer but you need to stay up here on the wall so I will not hurt you by accident!  The spider left my hand and crawled back to her web.  (Yes, I really did talk with a spider.  No, she did not respond verbally.)

  I am one of these weird people who try to avoid harming any creature.  I figure this is their world just as much as it is mine.  Like this spider today, a bit of gentle encouragement to scoot out of the way is met with cooperation.  Hopefully, she will make it through the storm ok.  I am assuming she will take refuge under the edge of the roof and then rebuild her web in the morning.  She is definitely a  beauty!