I call the spiders here on the lake and in the forest, Halloween Spiders because a LOT of big, juicy spiders come out in October and create HUGE perfectly sculpted webs all over everything... on the ferns, across the trees, between chairs on the deck, across the handrails on the steps, essentially everywhere. You can see their webs really well in the mornings when the dew is still resting on them. They sparkle!
I've had to lose some of my fear of spiders, although don't get me wrong, if a spider is crawling down my arm I'm gonna scream like a child. lol! But I've become much more accustomed to the fact that they live here around us - we do live in a forest after all.
The spiders seemed to be ramping up early this year and I started seeing them here and there about mid-September. There were just a few random ones, nothing like Halloween Spiders. October 1st rolls around and as if the spiders know that I call them Halloween Spiders, boom - they are EVERYWHERE!
Last October, I watched a spider war outside of my upstairs window (the one I look out of in front of my desk). A big fat juicy spider, a la Nacho Libre, vs. a long spindly spider - going with the theme, I named him Esqueleto. I really thought there was no way Esqueleto could win against the healthy weight of Nacho, but the fight was intense. One spider would approach the other, shoot some webs across their spider body... the other would break out of the webs and shoot back. This went on for an hour - yes, I watched the whole thing. I even took photos, although they were pretty terrible with the zoom lens set way too close on my iPhone. In the end, you may not believe it, but Esqueleto, the long spindly spider won! He defeated the fat juicy Nacho spider, wrapped him entirely in his webs, and awaited his final breath.
Esqueleto retreated to the eve of the house while he waited for Nacho to die - keeping a safe distance in case anything happened. Eventually, Nacho died and Esqueleto slowly devoured him - or whatever spiders do to other spiders - I did give up watching after the fight was over.
You may be wondering why I am telling you this story now and not last year. The reason is that it is happening again RIGHT NOW!! Two spiders, going to war, fighting outside of the window in front of my desk. Of course, I understand that it's two new spiders and rightfully so, I must give them new fighter's names, but I swear that it is almost to the day that a year ago Nacho and Esqueleto fought to the death outside of my window. I'm wondering if this is an annual thing? I'm also wondering if they choose the location - in front of my window at my desk - so that they have an audience? Only time will tell... we shall see what October 2019 brings in the saga of the Spider Wars.
