It was a bit cool for me to go dancing in it so early in the morning (I might yet), but that didn't stop this lovely from being out:
What she think's she's going to catch in the pouring rain is beyond me. Weeeellll, she is rather close to a hummingbird feeder, and the rain hasn't stopped them from zinging around in search of breakfast either...
It's not often that you get to see photos of the underside of an orb weaver, but that's all I could take given where she's hung her web on the edge of the deck, strung between a trellis and some irises on the deck railing. And it's quite interesting watching her: for one thing, there is cover nearby so she doesn't have to be out getting pummeled by the rain. But to allow for it, she's hanging by only her back feet, with her front legs straight down rather than resting at an angle on her web. I presume this posture is keeping at least some of the water off. (Freaked me out, though; thought I had taken photos of a dead spider for a minute until I saw her move.)
Update, 9:00pm: It continued to rain for hours today. Hours. And the precipitation could be measured in inches. Not traces, not tenths, but inches. Listen to the sound of Wren weeping with joy...
Here's another view of our weaver; she was still there this evening and didn't appear to have moved all day other than to shake off accumulating water drops and to reinforce the middle of her web where she was (literally) hanging out. I have an 8x10 of one of these beasties that I took years ago, but apparently from an angle where the actual shape of the spider was hidden. Weird looking thing, isn't it? (That's a water drop on its head. Its really flat--and furry--head.) And perhaps not so handsome when you are close enough to see the barbs on its legs, among other things. And where, exactly, are its eyes, anyway?
Alas, I didn't run around in the rain getting soaked to the skin. Nearly did so unintentionally, for I went shopping and at one point spent nearly a half an hour in the truck in a parking lot before I could get out without drowning. It was not, shall we say, anything like a good beach day. I wish I could have seen an overhead view of the causeway coming in from the Wildwoods; it looked like one solid line of traffic from the Garden State Parkway to the island itself. There really aren't all that many places for all of those people to go; as it was I didn't even attempt some of the stops I meant to make. What a sad commentary on our modern lifestyle: it's raining, let's go shopping. Forget walking the beach in the rain, or playing board games for a few hours, or *gasp* perhaps reading a book? (I had legitimate errands to run on my day off, thank you very much. The snake, at least, has thanked me for his nice fat mice...)
