Far Cartouche

Circus of the Spineless is about to be launched.

It is! It is! Circus of the Spineless #1 is up in all it's creeping slithering, fluttering fury!!
I mean Glory!
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The Spiders of Summer

Late last spring I finally got a digital camera.

Way back in the dawn of time, when computers were only used by dinosaurs, and at that only for servo-control, my weaselly little mind rebelled: I knew I could take silly pictures with computers, even if I had to create the technology myself. I embarked upon a decades long tangent, which took me far away from silly pictures, and strapped the iron mask of a career to my face.

Late last spring I finally got a digital camera, discovered the spiders in my back yard, and started posting some pictures in my photoblog Middle-Fork.
Below is a slightly annotated link to each image. I'm less than an amateur in understanding spiders - if anything here is wrong I'd love to be corrected. All of the pictures mentioned are on one page in the archive of spiders.

At the beginning, enjoying the daisies, I discovered this shiny character. Searching further, over the next few days, I found another one with a meal handy, and one without. This one has a ladybug.

Next I discovered a miniature version, just waiting to spring into action.

Then one day, on this gloriously purple weed, I found a goldenrod spider supping on a bee. They were buried inside the globe of budlets, and throughout the rest of the afternoon I slowly snipped some away, letting more and even more sunlight in on the scene. The spider was not happy, and kept scooting backwards into the forest of stemlets.

A few days later I found this critter on a prodigious volunteer plant next to the house. Later, inspecting the roses, I spotted this spider running around on the ground. I picked it up when it perched on a petal, and set it on a yellow rose. I believe I dumped some dirt on it.

Came the day the garden spiders reign supreme. They are everywhere, and work quickly. I caught this bee wrapping operation in action. This is the same spider, but a different bee.

The next day must have been Spider Valentine's Day for all the web twitching and ancy-dancing going on.

Of course, the grass spiders are lurking. I first noticed this fine specimen, but never saw it again.
This creature is established about a foot in the air in an out-of-the-mammal's-ways weed. Here's another shot.

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It's starting to be chill; there are orange boughs in the maple. I expect the spider boom towns will be pulling up stakes soon.

28 Sept Update: Not a spider, but this charming bee mimic flew in for a visit today.