Beauty In Nature

Isn’t nature fascinating? Those specks look yellow in my photo, but in real life I swear they are pure gold. I wish I had gotten a before-picture because I saw this little caterpillar when it first decided to latch onto this ledge on our front porch. I didn’t pay too much attention because I see those little guys all over the place (my mom specifically plants milkweed all over the yard for the Monarch butterflies), but today the gold flecks on this beautiful green cocoon really struck me. I suddenly found it completely awe inspiring. That fat little caterpillar went from a stripedy little sausage to a curled up little emerald and gold specked gem. Where does he keep all that green? And what purpose does the gold serve? It made me want to share with you my other encounters with nature lately.

I found this little guy resting on top of my laptop several days ago. He blended right in at first. I was probably typing away for five minutes before I noticed the reptile whose space I was invading. I gently lifted my computer (after photographing him, of course) and brought it outside where he hopped into the bushes.

My mom took this one, and I will admit looking at that spider still gives me the heebie jeebies. 

Here’s the thing, a couple months ago there was a big-ass spider in my room. I discovered it while in the shower (it was a big-ass, peeping Tom spider.. the worst kind, if you ask me) and I freaked the eff out. I ran butt naked out of my bathroom and into the hall bathroom because I hadn’t even rinsed the shampoo out of my hair yet! So of course by the time I was done showering and had pumped myself up enough to go back into my bedroom.. it was gone. I spent the next three nights sleeping in my sister’s old room and I bug bombed my room. Yes, I am, in fact, a big baby.

Anyway, after cleaning and vacuuming, the spider was still nowhere to be found… until I saw Ziggy rolling around the couch with that look of sheer bliss on her face that can mean only one thing: she found a dead animal to play with. Sure enough she had spider legs sticking out of her mouth.

Then just a couple weeks ago I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. It looked like Ziggy was playing with a tennis ball, but the tennis ball had eight legs and was a far less pleasing color. She did not seem to mind. I flipped out, of course, but before I could make sure the spider wouldn’t bite her, she whacked it with her paw, stunning it just enough for me to get it with my shoe. Now that’s what I call teamwork.

Look, I appreciate spiders (because of the whole eating mosquitoes thing) and I hate killing any living creature, but I’m gonna be honest, spiders scare the poop out of me and they do not need to be living in my abode.

This photo was actually taken a little over a week ago on Ziggy’s third spider encounter (yes, a bug bomb is definitely in order for this house), where according to my mom, Zigz spotted and chased this sucker from the living room, to the backyard and into the bushes.

Seriously, guys, do I not have the best dog ever? She may be terrified of kittens and the doorbell, but you can bet your bottom dollar she’s gonna protect me from those spiders.