In three hours and fifteen minutes summer gives way to Autumn and I am so pleased with myself. I set this summer as a time to get a number of projects done that I have been putting off. I promised myself I would get them complete before summer ends. I have accomplished that goal. I just completed the final project about an hour ago. I had a sheetrock taping job on the ceiling of the laundry that needed to be done. Several years ago the gasket in the overflow drain of the bathtub disintegrated. Teagan was at an age where she loved to fill the tub for her baths and water poured down the overflow drain damaging the ceiling of the laundry below. I replaced the gasket in the overflow drain immediately but only now have worked on the damaged ceiling.
This summer presented lots of interesting happenings. One evening after dark Teagan and I were heading home from Grandpa’s house. Just as we were approaching the end of Spring Creek Rd about to enter highway 141 Teagan started flailing her arms around and screaming. As we were coasting to a stop Teagan bailed out of the truck before I stopped. What the heck. She detected a huge garden spider crawling across her shoulder and spiders are the one creatures that freak her out. I had all I could do to get Teagan back into the truck so we could go home. The following days I spent a lot of time trying to located that spider who was busy weaving webs all across the inside of the cab. Finally one day I spotted it and was able to remove it. What a headache. Now I just hope she didn’t plant an egg sac somewhere and next spring I find a hundred garden spiders crawling around the cab.
All spiders are carnivores that prey primarily on insects. Black and yellow garden spiders find their prey by sensing vibrations in the web. At night, females consume the sticky strands of the web and spin new ones. On average, the garden spider lives for about one year. Females usually die in the first hard frost after mating. If temperatures prevent this, females may live several years, but males usually die after mating. Garden spider populations are stable.However, if you try to handle a garden spider, it may bite. These spiders are big, so the bite may hurt, but it’s not dangerous or harmful. Garden spiders make for a healthy garden by eating insects.
A year or so ago Sam printed this silly character for me with his 3D printer. Recently Latah made a beard for him out of our ca,t Teach’s. hair. I couldn’t resist applying it. Sam also printed the red blocks Rocktopuss is sitting on.
When I need a break from projects I will read James Michner’s book, “The Source,” which I had read years ago as it is my all time favorite book. I don’t think people read Michner much anymore but he was the top read author for many years. “The Source,” has over 1000 pages and very small print. I will be with this book for awhile. The story is basically the history of the Jews.
The rest of my family are pretty much back to routine. Jeannette and Sophie have a tradition of visiting a friend in northern Montana for a few days. They left for this years event at five o’clock this morning. Save travels ladies. Jason recently took off three days from work to help set up their Parish’s Quilt Fair which is St Mary’s main fund raiser. The last I heard from Jason he was heading out to get the soup for the fair started. Sophie is still taking riding lessons and is working on her photography.
Sam is learning to weld. Good for you Sam. Now is the time to learn as many new skills as you can.
Jasoon’s gang recently pressed cider, processing the apples from their trees as they do every year.
As for Taylor, he is a hard guy to keep up with or to catch on a photo. Out of the blue he will be off to the coast or enjoying himself, sitting in a hot springs somewhere, with friends. He might be gone all day Saturday prowling through the back country with a buddy when he isn’t delivering Teagan or Latah somewhere or picking them up. Teagan and Latah are back on routine with sports and school. Recently they had a series of field days at school. Teagan’s entire class rafted the White Salmon. Latah was on a survival trek with her class, setting up shelters and gathering wild food. Teagan is playing soccer and Latah volleyball again this year. Teagan had to bring her favorite at home meal to school one day. She chose to make lasagna. Latah busied herself making muffins just for the fun of it.
