When I left the Big City the other day to travel to The
Platz for some deer hunting I noticed a diminutive, joint-legged invertebrate
on the hood of the GMC. I didn’t think
much of it at the time as I was busy loading dogs, cooler and box into the SUV. Besides, who should be surprised
about spiders living in a heated, underground parking garage? With near constant temperatures, plenty of
space to weave a web, no winds or rain, a food supply of other bugs – it’s a
good life – much better than that of a wilder cave-dwelling spider. This was a thoroughly urban spider. A hipster in the spider world. And I digress.
It hadn’t occurred to me at the time if Mr. Spider
would stay or flee the motor vehicle. It
was a forgone conclusion that a choice to stay would be at his own peril. A small critter like this could be whooshed
by the slipstream from the hood of the vehicle at freeway speeds and squashed. Like a bug. Such mundane bug-world matters of life and
death do not ordinarily occupy space between my ears or consume the precious
bandwidth remaining in my brain. Until
133 miles later when I found this…
Yup! One and the same. I had stopped for gas at the Red Rocket and as I was cleaning the front glass there was the arachnid - sunning himself on the right front fender. Not paying me any mind he continued sunning himself. And I continued about cleaning the glass - wondering all the while how this little guy hung on for dear life at 70+ miles per hour. And why? Was this a high-tech spider migration? That theory made little sense as any self-respecting spider would prefer to travel south. Pulling the receipt from the pump I casually walked around the truck to give him another look and as I approached he scooted over to the space between the front quarter panel and the hood over the engine compartment and disappeared. Mystery solved.
This was the elusive underground garage-dwelling spider that chooses to live in a four-wheeled General Motors Corporation condo. Smart critter to hide from the menace of high-speed travel beneath the hood.
Although you’d think he’d choose something quieter…
click on the spider to enlarge
Yup! One and the same. I had stopped for gas at the Red Rocket and as I was cleaning the front glass there was the arachnid - sunning himself on the right front fender. Not paying me any mind he continued sunning himself. And I continued about cleaning the glass - wondering all the while how this little guy hung on for dear life at 70+ miles per hour. And why? Was this a high-tech spider migration? That theory made little sense as any self-respecting spider would prefer to travel south. Pulling the receipt from the pump I casually walked around the truck to give him another look and as I approached he scooted over to the space between the front quarter panel and the hood over the engine compartment and disappeared. Mystery solved.
This was the elusive underground garage-dwelling spider that chooses to live in a four-wheeled General Motors Corporation condo. Smart critter to hide from the menace of high-speed travel beneath the hood.
Although you’d think he’d choose something quieter…
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment