Snake in the Grass

I am outside a lot, and particularly in my garden. I love digging in the dirt and helping things grow. Of course, there is a lot more than just plants and soil in my garden. For one thing, there are bugs. Lots of them. I am a little miffed about this, as they are eating up my plants. This is particularly annoying in the vegetable garden. I have yet to be able to pick any edible strawberries. As soon as they start to ripen the bugs get in them. Very annoying. I was hoping to grow things organically, but we have such a nasty bug problem that I don't think I have any other choice than to spray.

Another thing I have a lot of in my garden are spiders. Spiders everywhere! Normally, I am okay with these 8-legged critters. I leave them be, and hope they make a dent in the bug population (it doesn't seem to be working yet). But seriously, I there are times when I feel like I have come across every spider known to mankind! I have seen tiny spiders so small that I can just barely see them. Others are fairly large. Some have fancy markings, and others have no markings at all.

Again, I normally just leave them alone. But we have a major outbreak of Huntsman spiders (daddy long legs). While not dangerous to humans, there are just so many of them, that I end up squashing a few. There is one spider that I don't like. It is a fairly large spider, about the size of a penny, and has a very fat abdomen. The unusual thing is that it is all white - no markings that I can see at all. I have also not noticed any hairs. In essence, it is a naked spider, lol Kind of pretty to look at, but that is where the fun stops. The other day while I was out weeding, I cam across a good size specimen. Not wanting to kill it, I decided to pick it up on the end of my shovel (the big kind, not a little trowel) and set it out of the way. Well, I thought I had moved it, but it just seemed to have totally disappeared. I could not find it anywhere. I went about weeding again, and a few minutes later, I found it ON MY LEG!! I have no idea how it even got there. I brushed it off, and it disappeared again. Could not find it anywhere.

Just yesterday I found another one in a different area. it was pretty close to the house, so I decided it HAD to go (sorry folks, no spiders in the house. Except for Sheila, but she never comes out of her cage). I aimed carefully with my trowel and smashed it into the rock it was sitting on. But when I removed the trowel, it was gone! Completely disappeared. Again. I find it incredibely creepy for a spider to keep disappearing. Like it is invisible. Gives me the willies.

There is one critter that I always look for, and that I absolutely love. And that is the garter snake! I had no idea we even had any until I scared one out of my mulch pile. I love snakes. All snakes. I think they are beautiful and just cool little animals.

As I was letting the dog out a little bit ago, I happened to look down by my porch stoop and spotted a little garter snake sunning itself in an old seed tray. I quickly caught it (and it peed on me, lol), but I was excited to show Craig and Cameron. It was just a little guy, but so cute! Orion was not at all interested in it, thank goodness. But of course, I had to get some pictures! I promise this little guy was completely harmless to humans, and was not very big, so I felt safe in handling it.