10/24/2016

Brave Sneelock is back!


Phidippus audax spiders were celebrating fall in North Texas just like me. The weather finally gets below eighty degrees and you just want to run through the grass, sun yourself, play peek-a-boo on the metal railing down by the dam, and show off your iridescent green fangs. When one Bold and/or Daring Jumper dragged a captured bee off between the cactus spines while two skipper butterflies watched, I was pretty sure there was going to be a jumping spider BBQ tailgate party. According to iNaturalist these spiders are audaciousFor jumping spiders these are large, the females up to 3/4 inch long, and they get extra style points for black and white fur, stripes, and spots. They also like to be YouTube stars.

Sneelock is probably my favorite Dr. Seuss character, ahead of even the Pale Green Pants:

Through pots full of lots of big Stickle-Bush Trees
Slides a man! What a man! On his Roller-Skate-Skis!...

© 2014-2016 Nancy L. Ruder

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