I have not done my morning walk much recently, for a few reasons, but I did today. As I walked up Quinn Rd at the narrow part a car came the other way so I called the the dogs and held them till the car passed, but it didn't, it stopped and the lady inside, Dianne whom I have got to know as I walk past her house and see her walking also, wound the window down and asked me did I know who owned the paddock on the other side of the one full of big bales to our west, the paddock immediately to the north of the Puffing Billy line.
She had been walking there a little while ago with her grandson, along the railway line, when a noisy incident drew her attention. A bull fight no less. The bigger bull had knocked the smaller one down and was butting it and rolling it down the hill toward the dam while stopping now and again to lift up its forequarters and stomp on the poor hapless creature that was destined to die. Dianne was upset. I thought I knew who owned the land and she continued on to advise the farmer, although it was probably too late to affect the outcome.
Lib went to work and bought drinkable ice for the oldies at the nursing home. It wasn't a work day, no pay, she just did it because of the extreme heat we are enduring, and she cares for the oldies. I watered around home, then went to Nobelius Park to water things that have been planted in the last twelve months, as I have done every day for a couple of weeks. The whole thing is tiring, but what can you say? Australia is a hot dry place for much of the time. I watered at Hanna's on my way home and did a few little things I'd been itching to do at home before hitting the bathtub and then enjoying a delightful roast chook cooked in the crocky outside.
We were watching some crap on TV, there were numerous bugs flying about, and I noticed a big one on the wall near my left shoulder. I ignored it with the thought that this is all part of summer. Fortunately the movie 'Castaway' came on the satellite so i settled back to enjoy. I reckon that is a great movie.
Gord alerted me to another show going on, on the wall to my left shoulder where the big bug had settled. A Huntsman spider had come down from behind a mural, a big one about 1500 by 1500 that Lib brought back from Peru, and seized it by the abdomen. The bug kicked an fought, its long antennae in particular thrashing about. The spider had seven of its eight legs bracing on the wall, the other sticking up in the air, and had the bug seemingly in ts mouth, with what looked like small mandibles, extra to its legs, clamping down on it.
Slowly but surely, over about 45 minutes, the spider moved its grip up to the neck of the bug and it eventually ceased struggling and was immobile. The spider then took it up under the mural.
Nature is riveting.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hi Carey,
I enjoy reading your blogs. I like the way that you describe things in a relatively down to earth way but still develop a great degree of meaning. Keep it up!
I assume that it as the mural that was 1500 x 1500 and not the Huntsman spider! I know that these spiders are frightening and can look enormous but a 1.5 metre x 1.5 metre spider would be something to behold. In case it was the spider, can you please send me some of the wine that you are drinking so I can enjoy the same type of experience.
Yes Bruce it's a large mural. Perhaps mural is not the right word. It's a tapestry which we had 'framed' between two large sheets of perspex or plastic screwed together and hung on the wall. There's another cloth one hanging above our bed and I often wonder what's behind it as I lay down at night.
Hope you have made full recovery from op.
Post a Comment