Garden Spiders are Back

It's late summer, so the late season garden spiders are making their appearance.  Wonder if that makes them a harbinger, although I only ever hear of harbingers of spring?

[image credit Gary, plus a spider who refused to give his name]

When I was a kid we'd catch bugs and toss them into the webs of these guys.  The spider would instantly pounce, bite the victim, and roll it up in a bundle of silk in what seemed to be only the blink of an eye.

Seems pretty gruesome to think about now, but that what kids did then (and still do).  Part of that whole "nature red in tooth and claw" thingy.

Ultrarunners Aren't the Only Tough Athletes

Lest we smugly think we have cornered the market on true grit in pursuit of our athletic goals, check this out.  Via the Bleacher Report this week:

Daniela Holmqvist is a rookie golfer on the Ladies European Tour, and also happens to be a cross between Chuck Norris and Bear Grylls.

Holmqvist was on the fourth hole at the Royal Canberra Golf Club on Tuesday during a pre-qualifier for the LPGA Tour's ISPS Handa Australian Open in Yarralumla, Australia.

She felt a sharp pain in her ankle. She looked down and noticed a spider with the markings of a Black Widow.

As Holmqvist's leg started to swell and the pain became intense, she made the quick decision to take matters into her own hands (she'd just been informed that a Black Widow bite can kill a child in as little as 30 minutes). She pulled a tee out of her pocket ("it was the only thing I had handy," she told Svensk Golf) and used it to cut open the wound so she could squeeze out the venom and keep it from spreading inside her body.

"A clear fluid came out," she said. "It wasn't the prettiest thing I've ever done, but I had to get as much of it out of me as possible."

Without skipping a beat, she then proceeded to finish her round, shooting a 74.

Our running group has an ongoing debate about whether golf and NASCAR are real sports.  Maybe they are and maybe they aren't, but what isn't debatable is Ms. Holmqvist's commitment to her sport (or "sport, if you will) and toughness in the face of adversity.

 

Christmas Tree, Spiders, and Ultrarunning

Late posting today.

The bride and I have the empty nest syndrome going today.  So we went ahead and exchanged our gifts to each other this morning--Christmas Eve--which is our custom.

The sun was streaming thru the windows and highlighted the cobwebs that evidently came from a batch of spiders hatching from our Concolor Fir.  Look at the shots to see if you can see the cobwebs.  I don't begrudge the spiders for trying, and I don't go out of my way to kill them.  I just am not a fan of the cobwebs in the sunlight.

Somebody once wrote (and I'm too lazy to Google it) that "Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant."  The writer was alluding to politics and back-room deals that never would be done, were a strong light to be shined upon the attempt.

Link to Ultrarunning?  After having run all night in a 100 miler, and your energy is tanking as you chug into the final miles, having the sun come up is absolutely the best disinfectant for purging negative thoughts and feelings.  You know you can finish!

 

World's Largest, Strongest Spider Webs

One of my favorite things, when I run trails, is to know that I'm the first one out there as evidenced by the fact that I keep running into spider webs.  However, I'm talking about "normal" spider webs such as we have here in southcentral PA (USA). 

How would you like to run into this baby?  From Boing Boing on 20 Sept:

This massive spider web in Madagascar was woven by Darwin's bark spider, a recently-discovered arachnid that uses its incredibly-strong silk, ten times tougter than Kevlar, to make the world's largest webs. These spiders are known to make orb webs in Andasibe-Mantadia National Park up to 2.8 meters square anchored by 25-meter threads.

Do we have any ulrarunners in Madagascar?