killing time while I wait - post a picture

[egg_shell]

I did lots of piano practice today, ate dinner and now there's nothing better to do till time to leave for my music lesson so I thought I would post this picture I took today. I was stomping weeds down this afternoon on the path to the lake and looked down and saw this on my shoe. I imagine she's full of eggs?

Comments

[dark_phoenix54]

She probably full of blood! Hopefully from a deer, not you.

[egg_shell]

Ha! Not a tick thank goodness! If it was I'd kill it instantly. It's a marbled orb weaver spider. The kind that make beautiful webs in the woods. I just looked it up for more information and sometimes they call this variety the pumpkin orb weaver because of the bright orange color. The females are bigger than the males but both are big round bodied spiders. They lay their eggs in October in an egg sack and the babies come out in the spring. Maybe I should change the title from "Killing Time" to something else. Misleading. :-)

[gracegiver]

What a cool observation.

[egg_shell]

I had time to observe later when I was looking at the photo. :-) I got her off my shoe pretty quick.

[0verjoy]

Oh wow, that's a neat spider. Such bright coloration!
I often wonder to myself when I see stuff like this: How often do I collect something like that on my shoe and not notice before it's gone? Wonderous things are happening all around us, and if I had to guess I'd bet I miss most of it. Nice catch!

[egg_shell]

When I'm in the woods I try to not pay attention to distractions like spider webs in my face, or scratches on my arms and legs. Just keep going. So I miss things (that are happening right on my body) at times I'm sure. :-)

I've seen orb weaver spiders before that are really big but this might have been the largest ever!