Originally posted in 2011… but holds true today because this is exactly how I was feeling in the barn just this afternoon!  Enjoy!

If only I could train spiders to build barns and mend fences…

OMGosh.

Who let the spiders out?!

They are E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E!

Well, I really don’t see the little critters with my feeble eyesight but there is EVIDENCE of them everywhere.  Evidence in the form of webs covering every webable space in, around, throughout, on top of every nook and cranny of my barn.  “Let no space be left unwebbed!” is their battle cry.

The most amazing part to me is their tenacity to build where no spider has built before.  I’m so impressed with their never ending work ethic.  The spiders’ desire to improve the design, structure and holding power of each silky stitch fills me with pride.  And their productivity!  My word!  These little long legged contractors are prolific – both in construction and progeny.  There are tiny little webs and tiny little Daddy Longlegs everywhere!

Actually, as I hinted earlier, I cannot see the spiders and most of the webs without my glasses (to the dismay of Hubby and guests…) and I tend not to wear my glasses to the barn.  You see, if I wear my glasses on the way to the barn, the sun burns laser light into my pupils through the lenses.  I feel like an ant on the sidewalk being terrorized by a kid with a magnifying glass.

 

NOT SUCH A GOOD PLACE FOR A WEB, CHARLOTTE.

Anyway, yesterday I actually noticed a spider in the tack room sink.  Not because I noticed her before I turned on the water – I didn’t.  I noticed her after I turned on the water and she did her mad dash up her rope and onto the safety of the faucet.  Instead of harming her or doing spider relocation,  I took a photo as she calmed down and hung in her hammock in the sink – not the best location – once again.  It wasn’t until I transferred the photo onto my computer did I see the baby spider hanging on behind the biggin’.

Yup.  Life is simpler for me now without my glasses.  I miss a lot of the finer points but I’m also blissfully unaware.  I probably stick my hands into spider lairs all the time and don’t even know it.  I’m guessing all the jillions of spiders who live in my barn just pity me and move away out of kindness.  After all, I’m giving them a fabulous place to display their architectural talents without disturbing them – mostly.

SPIDY TOWN

I’m afraid, however, that one day I will lope down to the barn without realizing that the spiders had finally claimed the barn for themselves.  Truly, if the barn was shrouded in webbing,  I’d probably crash right through it blindly and wonder what just flew into my mouth.

But lately, the spiders have given me a break.  I guess they figure I need some help noticing them… kinda like putting a bell on the buddy in the blind horse’s pasture.  The spiders have started to decorate their webs with very obvious – even to me – leaves and dust.  At least, I think this new adornment is for me.  Unless they have some annual contest or something, I like to believe they are helping me out or sick of me wrecking their homes.

Spidy town is becoming very apparent.  Even to me.

LET THE SHROUD BEGIN

This morning, out of the corner of my eye I noticed what appeared to be a Spidy luxury penthouse adorned with twigs, entire grasshoppers and the newspaper.  I decided to follow the spider trails all around the inside of the barn.  I retrieved my glasses for this adventure and walked the silken trail.

It started in the wash rack.  They had incorporated all the shampoos as well as the washing instruments.  They had surrounded the metal D-rings and faucet, then back up the tack room door and into all the corners, up the beams, on top of the hay, down through every fence board, out around the garbage bin (this was where they did their most masterful work!) and then back up the fence boards and around the back of the barn.

Amazing.

Basically, they were well on their way to completely covering my barn and devouring it in a lovely spider condo conversion.

So, instead of going to work to swat down all of their diligent endeavors with my nasty old broom, I got my camera and contemplated what it must be like to be a spider in my barn.

LAST THOUGHTS:

I know I have to clean up the spidery mess.  But, I feel badly for all of their work… so I might wait until Winter comes.  After all, the decor might really work for Halloween and spiders tend to slow down production in the winter anyway.

I guess what I really feel about the little Long Legged invaders is that they keep down the fly population (all the the spiders are well fed) and they aren’t hurting me.  If anything, I tend to inadvertently burst through their webbing far more than any of them even appear on my radar.  I’m actually quite impressed and a bit in awe – to a degree.

To me, Spiders are solid workers and I respect that.  This day and age, that is hard to find.  They work every day, tirelessly, building.  Build Build Build Build Build.  That is their mantra.

If only I could teach them to finish the granny quarters and fix the fences…

 

EMERGENCY BUCKET FUND UPDATE!  All are safe!

Thank you for rushing to help these pregnant mares and fillies!  The money was raised and these 10 horses are safe and headed to their new Rescue home for rehabbing and adoption!  WAHOO!!