Our very own ending to Charlottes Web...but kind of creepy.

About 2 weeks ago we had a spate of perfect weather. Friday night we built up the first firepit of the season, bought some jumbo marshmallows and sat around, listening to the cicadas, roasting our treats and enjoying the perfect spring climate.

We were all sitting around in camping chairs, my youngest son in the chair that was next to our swing. My dad had come over to join us and was sitting on the swing.  A little before 8 he asked the boys if they wanted to walk him back to his car (He had parked about a mile away and walked over to get some exercise), and that he would maybe take them out for a treat and then bring them home. Of course they heard the word "treat" and immediately said yes.  after all, what 11 and 14 year old kids want to hang out with their parents? (especially parents who told them to quit throwing stuff into the fire. awwww, we're no fun!)

So hubby and I stayed outside, enjoying each others company, when all of the sudden I see Charles look over at the chair and swing and exclaim "Oh...my...goodness!"

I looked over and what we saw was amazing. creepy, definitely, but amazing.

Within 10 minutes of my dad and kids leaving, an unknown spider sac had hatched and all these little spiderlings were making their way into the world.  The chair that my son had been sitting in was a chair we had left outside on the back porch, and when we opened it up and cleaned off the sitting area, we completely overlooked the back. Apparently, a spider had helped herself to the canvas surface and made a large sac for her babies.

The Spider sac. How we missed that is beyond me.

These spiders started creating webs to climb from the sac to the large swing, which was about 2 -3 feet away.

Then then headed up the chain to the top of the swing frame.

Can you imagine how my son and dad would have freaked out if those spiders had done that while they were still sitting in their seats?? I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.

You can see all the silks they produced to start climbing up to the swing.

The spiders go marching one by one, hurrah! hurrah!

I had hubby hold up a trash bag to see the spiders a little better. 

Making their way up the swing to the top

Again, you can kind of see the strings and where they are headed to

Headed up the chain

Headed to the top of the swing set to fly away

At the top of the swing set. It was like they all knew to head up to fly away.

It was really kind of amazing watching these new spiders immediately kick into instinct mode and head onward and upward..

Timeline: Within a few minutes of my kids leaving they started hatching, and about an hour later when my dad and kids had come back they were all climbing up the swing chain to the top, most of them were out of the sac, just the stragglers emerging.
 We had tons of them.

They sat atop our swing set and released themselves into the wind.  It was like the ending of Charlottes Web...(Thanks E.B. White.).

["Goodbye! Goodbye!!"
Wilbur was frantic, where are you going children?
..."we are leaving here on the warm updraft, this is our moment for setting forth... we are going out into the world to make webs for ourselves...
but where?
wherever the wind takes us. high. low. near. far. east. west. north. south. we take the breeze, we go as we please...
cries of Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye! came weakly to Wilburs ears...]



It was kind of amazing, yet a little gross at the same time.   Goodbye our little spiders.

A really awesome crafter...TWISTED SPIDERS

So this past weekend I went to the Carolina Renaissance Festival and I found a booth that I had never seen before...TWISTED SPIDERS!!  This was their first year at our festival and I was so glad they joined us!! Admittedly I hate spiders. (yeah yeah I know they are good for the ecosystem blah blah blah. but seriously they just creep me out).  However these spiders were AMAZING.  they are all made from beads and wire. they came in all different sizes and colors.  I had mine made into a necklace.  Let me tell you I have had SO MANY COMPLIMENTS on it since purchasing and wearing it out and about.
I got to chatting with the owner and she is SUPER nice. I absolutely fell in love with these cute guys!!

Here are some of the pictures I took of it at home so you can REALLY see the beautiful color and sparkle to it.

to be honest I had a really hard time deciding which one to get. Each one was prettier than the last.  I wish I had gone back and gotten more. 

Check her out at Twisted Spiders

And out rolled the dead spiders

I am not much of a camper. In fact, my idea of "roughing it" is having to sleep at a HoJo instead of the Hampton Inn. The Great Outdoors really holds no magical allure for me.
About once a decade I try to go camping, thinking maybe I just didnt have the right circumstances. Every time I am bitterly disappointed and cursing the day I was born(as well as those around me for dragging me to this godforsaken wilderness) When It comes to camping I am a Laman and Lemuel kind of Gal(book of mormon reference). I murmur, I complain, I lose faith, I murmur some more. Then i see the light and it lasts only a little while and I go back to murmuring and complaining again. I didnt camp much as a kid. If we did go camping, we usually had a cabin of some sort. It was never the tent and sleeping bag king of experience.

In 1990, I went to Girls Camp. My age group went a few days ahead of time to do some backpacking and camping. I actually had a great time. THEN we joined all the other girls at this pit of hell campsite. EVERY SINGLE AGE GROUP (except ours) got nice, cooshy cabins and dorms with toilets, bunk beds, air conditioning etc. MY age group got to sleep in Spider infested Platform tents. I dont mean one or two spiders, I mean the inside and out were COVERED in Big ole Daddy Long Legs. We would brush them off,(jumping and doing the blech blech spider dance) clean out the tent and 2 hours later could hardly see the canvas through all the legs and bodies of these bugs. It was horrible. I had visions of being suffocated by these Daddy Long Legs. WELL, most of the girls decided that these platform tents were not for us. So we had the option of sleeping in leaky, pup tents. Which was fine...for a day. Then the rain started. It poured. It blew. It galed. it rained sideways. It was miserable. To make it worse, these tents leaked. Everything got soaked. Clothing, bedding, shoes, accessories etc. EVERYTHING was wet. Then it started to smell like laundry that had been left in the washing machine for too long. It was a rank, wet, mildewy, moldy kind of smell. My toothbrush started growing mold that I am quite positive could have cured strep throat. My contact lenses got all clouded up and I couldnt wear them anymore. I had it. It was the last straw. I came home 2 days early, only to hear "wimp". Whatever. I was sleeping in a warm dry bed, wearing clothes that smelled fresh and not having to worry about spiders carrying me off in my sleep. As I was trying to explain to my mother about these horrible conditions (she thought I was being over dramatic) I started unpacking my gear and backpack. The mildewy smell hit her nose and as I pulled out my belongings dead spiders were falling out everywhere. I was semi-vindicated.

I have been camping 2 times since that fateful girls camp experience.
1999(middle of the desert in Wyoming with winds that would knock you over and mosquitos so thick your arms would hit them as they swung while you walked) and last week (virginia beach...lets just say it rained...HARD. Leaky tent, mildewy clothing. It is all coming back to me why I hate camping)

As my dad says "I am a Koch. We Koch's are NOT campers...we are Hotelers".