Along Came A Spider...

And the old me, who was a bit like Miss Muffet, would have run screaming into the house upon seeing this rather impressive spider near the back door this morning.  But the "new" me (the Blipper me) instead ran into the house to grab a macro lens.  Moments later, I could be seen lying flat on my stomach, stretched out on the three back steps in order to get an eye-to-eyes view.  Imagine seeing a spider out and about in December - I was thrilled!  (And my apologies to those of you who don't like spiders - I know 2020 has already been traumatic enough without throwing a spider at you...)

I had to tap into a couple of knowledge groups to id this big girl - she's a Funnel Spider in the Family Agelinedae and the Genus Coras.  The big dark things that look like boxing gloves are her pedipalps (palps for short) and they are almost like a pair of hands, functioning as sense organs and a way to convey food into their mouth.  In male spiders, they are also used to convey sperm to the female (don't ask).

First thing this morning, Hubs and I set out for the Motor Vehicle licensing station - the nearest one that's still open being about an hour away. Once there, the process was pretty organized and only took a little over an hour.  Everyone masked, and the areas of the agency were clearly marked off so that you were never within six feet of another person.  Still, I was happy when I was done as I wasn't comfortable being indoors with a bunch of strangers for that long.  Also, I am now a happy owner of a "Real ID" license which will be required to fly domestically sometime next year.

In other news of the day, we went out this afternoon and got our tree - a beautiful 7 foot Frazier Fir.  We always get it from the same place as they source their trees right across the state line in Pennsylvania and the trees are super fresh.  We will unload it later and I will probably decorate it tomorrow.  But starting tonight, the house will smell like Christmas.

Stay safe, be kind, be patient...

xo
Debbi