Sunday morning, I realized that the orb spider outside my front door was gone. The Spider Queen had been very productive last week, capturing some very large insects, but she was no longer lurking underneath a dried blossom like some eight-legged rose hip. Apparently, she has spun her last web and left the start of the next generation.
I left the web in place to admire the symmetry of it while I did some pruning in the yard.
It wasn’t until the sun had set that I thought about how the next generation of orb spiders would arrive. (Thanks to http://australianmuseum.net.au/Garden-Orb-Weaving-Spiders for confirming my memories from Charlotte’s Web.) Horror struck me.
(8:22:14 PM) eve: YARG
(8:22:19 PM) eve: During autumn, the spiderlings disperse by ballooning (floating on the breeze using small silk strands as “balloons”)
(8:22:22 PM) eve: no no no
(8:22:25 PM) Lil: Lawl
(8:22:27 PM) eve: gotta pull down that web first thing tomorrow
(8:22:29 PM) eve: srsly
(8:22:35 PM) eve: NO SPIDERLINGS
(8:22:38 PM) eve: ORC LIFT ALL OVER AGAIN
(8:22:46 PM) Lil: Lol http://www.balloonfestivals.com/images/hot-air-balloons.jpg
(8:22:49 PM) eve: ::traumatized, gibbers::
(8:22:58 PM) Lil: FLY CHEEZY BREAD BE FREE
All of the big, fat orb spiders around work have mysteriously vanished, too. I expect lots of balloons. Nice mental image yes? THE TEEMING.