A Living Magazine - Day 188 - Homecoming - Brown Recluse And Drying Out

In the morning I woke up to this guy...

I'd mentioned a few days ago on Facebook that a mid sized spider had come into the tent from the rain and was "not a threat". Well... This larger-than-average, male brown recluse could have made my life a living hell if I had chanced to accidentally roll over on him.

When I captured and let him run free outside the tent, I had no idea who I was dealing with.  Maybe that was a good thing at the time. Also, I'm pretty sure that he did not scamper in from this area, but was transported back on my pack after it was stowed and then retrieved at the University 16 Cinema the evening before.

It is very important to me that folks don't overreact to the potential consequences that I barely avoided. And, god knows, I don't want to reverse any headway I've made in my unofficial "be kind to spiders" campaign. Even with this near-miss, I would never have killed him even if I had known the species (unless he'd bitten me--in which case I would need to have him dead and available for positive identification at an emergency room). He was/is STILL an innocent creature who didn't want to be there and wasn't out to get me.

True to my resolution from the morning before, I disassembled the tent, stuffed the tarp in a plastic bag to protect other things in the pack, and made a plan to dry it all as best I could later that day. The air was very warm (nearing 80° F), and while still very muggy the sun was forecasted to make a cameo appearance in late afternoon.

I worked at Starbucks, glad to have it open again on this Saturday, the day after Christmas. I was - and still am, as I write this now - two posts behind. But I had been able to not fall further, which kept my hope for getting caught up before I headed out of town on Friday of this week (1/1).

When I'd finished my work, I left for Burger King to get a chicken sandwich (one of the few fast foods now that won't disturb my digestive system). Along the way, I passed the Goodwill and decided to donate my now-unneeded wireless keyboard, specifically informing them that it was brand new, contained fresh batteries and where the USB sensor was stored. I hoped that someone would get some good use from it. If I need to buy a keyboard again it will likely be the same model. After consuming my daily meal, I went back to the small clearing near the campsite to dry my stuff...

While things were airing out, I took some shots of the beautiful coming of the evening...

Light touching the treetops.

Deer tracks, probably from a this last week.

Quiet critters, are deer. I've seen none of them here, only evidence of them passing through.

Orange clouds churning in the evening sky.

Gulf waters, suspended in the air.

Things weren't completely dry by the time I felt the need to get them back to the site. But, they were much improved. The decision to remove the tent for the afternoon, shake out all the stuff, and set it back up, was a good one. It allowed the small termites to be "dusted" off, and I was able to remove the dirt and pine needles from the interior. 

When I returned to the campsite, I saw that the male orb weaver (that I named Laboriosis - for "hard worker" ) had constructed a brand new web after my thoughtless destruction of his last one. Somehow, he had attached threads to the ground - some five feet below - as well as to two other adjacent trees in only about five hours. He even had two captured meals to build his energy back up. For a little guy, he could really get the job done. Although some rain - which had passed over the area earlier in the day while I worked inside - had taken a toll on a few of his guy wires, it was a remarkable and impressive feat...    

Sorry for the blurry image. My camera's macro setting has difficulties in

focusing on spider webs, because of the tendency to catch backgrounds.

In short, my wildlife photography will need an upgrade some

day to better capture these most-interesting creatures.

Things were pretty settled by the time night fell. The mostly-full moon was rising, following a lunar pattern that had not occurred since 1977 (coincidentally, when the FIRST Star Wars had come out). This allowed for our beautiful full moon on Christmas eve, for those in the world privileged enough to not have had storm clouds above their heads--angels notwithstanding...  

Yes, that blob is a moon through a densely packed woods of very soaked pine trees.

I guess my astronomical photography could be filed along with my spider attempts.

I retired to my sleeping bag at around 8:15 pm, and fired up the ebook I'd been reading. I fell asleep while reading and the tablet shut itself off after its preprogrammed twenty minutes.

This would be a night of some of the most bizarre dreams I had yet experienced on this Journey; ones that will be described in tomorrow's post. Suffice it to say that my hypothesis for these strange night visions probably have to do with the upcoming wallk out of Athens, and toward my much-longed for home state of Maine.

_______________________________________________________________________

PLEASE CLICK ON OUR SPONSOR ADS BELOW FOR GREAT DEALS!

_______________________________________________________________________