If a Spider Was a Southern Belle!

  Son and I are continuing our yard work/shed cleaning.  I shift from the yard and fence building to help him with the shed cleaning when he is not doing construction on the loft.  I have to admit that he and I are a pretty good team!  Together, we accomplish a lot each day.  By the end of the day, however, this old lady is exhausted...purely exhausted!

  It was during a bit of cleaning in the shed that we found our "friend of the day".  Son had called for my assistance in moving a large workbench so I stopped painting the fence and headed to lend a hand.  Once we pulled the workbench out from the wall, he squeezed behind it to retrieve items that had somehow fallen to the floor over the years.  While he was there, I noticed something black about six inches from his hand.  "Umm. that is a rather large spider." I said.  He looked up and agreed.  "Yup." was the only comment.  He kept working.  I decided that the spider deserved a little more attention so I grabbed the camera and took a few photos.  After Son wiggled back out from the cubbyhole, I found a small slat of about two inches wide by two feet long and tried to coax the spider onto it.  I knew we were going to be spraying for bugs in the shed and did not wish to harm our new friend.  The spider reluctantly climbed aboard and went for a ride.  She never attempted any getaway nor showed any aggression.   She acted the part of the perfect "Southern Belle"...very gracious, sweet and even tempered.   

  I moved the sweet spider to the canebrake where I hope she will be happy.  There are plenty of bugs there so she will find food easily.  I did, however, have a few guilt pangs about disrupting her life and wish I could have left her in the shed.  These spiders do a marvelous job at eating anything they can overpower.  While I am not up on my spiders, I believe this is a Southern Black House Spider and a well-fed one at that.  She would have easily filled my hand...if I were brave enough to hold her.  

Why Is My Rooftop So Weird?

  Son went up to do a bit of "spring cleaning" on the rooftop.  Once a year, he climbs up on both the shed and the house roofs and sweeps off all of the accumulated leaves and pine straw.  This bit of cleanup was my job before he decided that I was probably a bit too old to be clamoring around on the housetop.  It did not bother me as the shed roof is a gentle slope and the part of the house where the leaves amass is also a bit flatter than the steep pitch of the main house.  Still, I was ever so happy to hand over my broom as long as he does not keep it as that would not fly..hehe!  (Just kidding...I think.)  

  Being as this is an annual thing, I never think much about it but last year (in April), he swept the house roof and made a weird find.  Under the leaves, he saw a slight glimmer and when he investigated, he found our old filleting knife.  This was one that we kept on the pier.  It was old and rusty and only used to cut bait.  How it came to rest upon the housetop is still a mystery.  He assumed that perhaps an osprey or other large bird carried it there.  The idea is plausible...I guess.  

  Today, he did the rooftop spring cleaning a bit earlier since we have had so much rain.  He figured that the soggy leaves accumulating on the roof was not a good idea so up he went to sweep (or shove, as the case was).  While clearing the same spot where he found the knife last year, he found another mystery.  A short length of pipe was under the leaves.  When he brought it down, I instantly recognized it.  This was a piece of an old metal arbor that I had used as a decoration at the local elementary school some twenty five years ago! Why was that up there?  How did it get there?  Why was it still around here in the first place?  The pipe is about the same length as the filleting knife so is there some sort of connection?  Again...we have no answers to any of these and many more questions.  Is our packrat of a bird still toting off strange items?  Is there some critter intent on presenting us with odd gifts?  Why is my rooftop so weird that it collects oddities that should not be there?  The answers may never be known. Mysteries abound on the Bayou!