These tanks are huge. Somebody drew the short straw and had to climb inside each one to install the outlets. Thankfully this was done early in the day and in the shade, since temperatures went up to 105 degrees.
2 2500 water tanks, ready for setup.
Trenching to run pipe from gutter to water tanks.
Tanks are in place. Laying the pipe next. We'll have to paint those tanks white to keep the water cooler.
So the 2 2500 gallon water tanks for our 5500 gallon rain water collection system will be delivered tomorrow and the guys are coming to dig a trench from the gutters to them. We have decided that it was time to move Matilda (one of our many large Wolf spiders outside) out of the way. She had decided to build a nest burrow right where the digging was going to happen. After much adrenalin and squealing on my part, she is now sitting in a large Tupperware container with some soil, leaves and a box as a cave (they like dark places to hide in) and some water. It seemed hardly fair to throw her into the woods because she had a nest sack attached to her belly and would have been easy prey for some hungry bird – like a road runner. You can see in the picture how big the egg sac is and how it drags behind her body when she walks.
I just hope her young do not hatch in the next 2 days as I really don’t feel like herding hundreds of tiny wolf spiders out of my house.
Catching her was pretty easy and I am happy to report nobody got bitten. About a week ago she had put leaves and webbing over the entrance of her cave and that was a sure sign to me that she had laid some eggs. Female wolf spiders drag their egg sack around under their bellies. To catch her I poured lots of water over her nest hole and as it flooded she came out. I quickly scooped her up into a large pot and then into her container. She is sitting in our dark room, where she can de-stress.
The trenching should hopefully be done by Wednesday with all the tanks in place (if all goes well), and then I can put her back out there after we have reconstructed her burrow for her. I know we won’t do nearly as good a job so I hope she makes it.
He’s become quite comfortable with the luxuries of modern life, helping himself to little treats along the plants that still need to be planted. It’s just too darned hot to put these plants in the scorching earth, so they will have to wait for cooler weather.
No, that is not a moonshine bottle next to him. It's liquid fertilizer!
Just precious!
It’s only 12:00pm, and already Oliver our resident squirrel is hanging out around the bird bath. I startled him out of a snooze when I accidentally knocked the camera against the window. The birds could not give 2 hoots about me…
Cardinals and Squirrels cooling off
Getting ready for a shower in the bowel that is setup with a little sun powered fountain. They seem to love the running, splashing water.
Matilda is a very confident LARGE wolf spider hanging out in a hole just next to our septic tank. She does a wonderful job cleaning the area of other pesky insects such as crickets and grasshoppers.
How did we get to meet her, you may ask?
Well the story is long and involved. Yesterday we went out to a beautiful restaurant on the lake. After eating we were walking out and there was this stand with a woman holding a live tarantula in her hands. I was intrigued! She was teaching anyone passing by about these spiders. Did you know they do not attack and bite unless they are feeling threatened? And apparently they don’t feel threatened by anyone picking them up and handling them! Gently. They only object to pulling prodding and obvious mutilation. So I got to pet a tarantula! They are so soft. She then offered to have me hold her, and I eagerly (stupidly?) offered out my hand to hold this lovely creature. Was I intimidated you ask? – Heck yes!! But so cool! Actually yes, her legs and feet were cool on my hand.
The lady then picked her off and turned the beautiful spider around and we could stroke her belly too, which was equally soft. The lady has a business of going to schools and parties to teach children about these critters. She had found these guys in an area under construction around Travis lake and was going to keep them until construction was complete and then return them back into the wild.
I just loved this and it inspired me to go out and look for tarantulas in my own back yard at night…….So there I was with a flash light, tarantula hunting in my back yard at 10:30 at night.
I did not find one, but instead found this very large wolf spider. However, when I went to touch her back legs – she did not seem to have the same calm demeanor as her tarantula cousin had. Before I knew it, she turned around in a flash and touched my finger in warning with her head and then backed off. I jumped back, closely inspecting my finger to make sure all was well. (Which it was – thankfully). She was just warning me: “Hey lady – back off and take your quarter with you!”
She is big!! The male wolf spider is significantly smaller. We have a bunch of those here too, but they are not nearly as large – just the normal civilized size.
Further hunting sprees resulted in 3 more large females on my lot. None were as confident as Matilda.
This leads to my next story: Due to the drought we are setting up a rain water collection system in my back yard. Two 2500 gallon tanks will be placed in the area where Matilda currently holds reign. I didn’t want her killed and so have decided to catch her and keep her for the 3 days during construction. I went online and it is surprisingly easy to keep these critters. Just a container with some leaves, a hidy hole for shelter and a cricket or two with a wet sponge for water should do. Wish me luck! I have a feeling Matilda is not going to be too agreeable about her upcoming move. I will spend some time before hand explaining the whole reasoning to her. Maybe it will prepare her a bit….
A picture of Matilda’s sister – Maggie another very large wolf spider. About the same size as Matilda. Her domain is the front garden. I wish she would eat the grubs in my garden too.