Arachnophobia

We've had a spider infestation lately with the cooler weather.  Now, I am not squeamish when it comes to spiders because I am much bigger than they are. I don't go out of my way to kill them; however, if there is one in my sink or bath tub, it is unceremoniously washed down the drain.  In Colorado we probably have only one dangerous spider: the black widow, easily identified with her shiny black body, long spindly legs, and the red hourglass shaped spot on her belly. While not deadly, her bites are poisonous. My childhood friend's mom talked about being bitten by a black widow as a child when one was hiding in the toe of her shoe. Another deadly spider, the brown recluse, delivers a far more serious bite because the venom destroys the tissue around the bite, causing a serious wound. According to the Colorado State University Extension web site, the brown recluse does not live in Colorado, but other spiders are often mistaken for it. For a really good article on common garden spiders, check out Curbstone Valley Blog.

As for my spiders, they will be hanging around until sometime after Halloween.

Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet eating her curds and whey, when along came a great spider.

I love these spiders. I picked them up at the super market on an impulse. They light up the fireplace mantle, giving it a warm glow on these cool fall evenings.

October days bring such relief to the scorching heat of the summer. Today was a beautiful Indian Summer day when we were able to get one large project finished. (Indian summer, by the way, occurs when temps reach the 70s after the first frost). In the early summer, we dug out the spreaders in the front garden and then the summer got away from us. I hated the eye sore right in the front of the house. My fall bulbs arrived from White Flower Farms this week, so we set out to plant them, but first we had to clean up the garden bed to make it ready for the bulbs. Took most of the day. First the head gardener raked away the old bark mulch and spaded  the bed, digging up the daffodil bulbs previous owners had planted. Then he used the rototiller to break up the clods. He raked the bed level then top dressed it with compost. I have decided that I will plant roses there in the spring. Tomorrow we will plant the bulbs that arrived this week, along with the daffodils that we dug up as we worked the soil.

I keep writing "we," but it is always the head gardener who does the heavy lifting and digging. I offer a great deal of moral support and plenty of suggestions on how to dig a hole-- and document it all with my camera in hand, so that I can blog about it in the late evening. (I am so fortunate that he is a mellow guy).

Now we have clean slate for the new rose garden.

We raked away old mulch full of weed seeds. 

Quite a load of daffodil bulbs that we were able to save. I would imagine there is about a hundred dollars worth of bulbs. He also dug out the tiger lilies that just didn't seem to do well under the window. 

I am listening to the weather as I write. Snow. I will believe it when I see it. Rain Tuesday. Snow Wednesday. The mountains will get snow for sure, but hard to say about the the plains.

I just want to end tonight's post with Thank You to my followers who always post such kind and supportive comments. I have fallen a bit behind in my own commenting. Last week was a brutal grading marathon, and while I read my blogs every day, I don't always have the brain power to write wise, witty, generous comments, but I am reading and loving every single blog that I read. Happy week-end.