Each fall, I look forward to the orb spiders spinning great webs over a span of several feet across some opening. They catch insects in those webs, lay their eggs and die, having provided for the continuation of a cycle that has gone on for millennia.
I’ve blogged before about the engineering that goes into these webs and the massive undertaking that it is for the spider to create these marvels of nature. I even blogged one year about a spider that created a horizontal web across our little fish pond in our back yard just inches above the water…I would have given my eye teeth (one of which has a crown on it anyway) to see her do that. I still wonder how it got done.
But this year the spiders weren’t that plentiful. The wife didn’t have to leave the garage door open (or closed) in order to not disturb a web. No sidewalk was taken up with a web across it. I only saw a single web in my yard…at the southeast corner. And it was there only one day as far as I know.
I don’t know if the harsh dry summer had anything to do with the dearth of spiders, or if it was something else that kept their numbers down. I do know that I missed seeing them this year, and usually have three or four webs at any given time in the fall, even in my smallish yard.
The cycles of nature, reproduction, population, weather, and so on are continuing miracles to watch and track. Many people, I suppose, don’t care for such observations, preferring the television, the I Pad, or something else to occupy their time. And I must admit I spend my share of time on the computer and watch some TV. But there’s just something about seeing the intricacy and fragility of the natural world, right alongside the toughness and resilience of the same that causes a sort of worshipful attitude in my soul. I am at once humbled and amazed at what I see, even in today’s modern world, of the beauty and spectacular wisdom that is a part of this universe and a part of my present tense experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment