shewasavisitor

On Friday evening, walking home from dinner, E almost walked into a black widow spider’s web! It was nighttime and the web was constructed in a lean-to manner; the middle of the sidewalk was connected to halfway up the fence of the building we were walking around (Warner). E stopped in his tracks, backed up, and called me over. Sure enough, in the middle of the web, was sitting Ms. Death herself. Upside down so we could see her red hourglass authenticity marking!

This was E’s first encounter with the BWS and my third. I’d seen my first in Hollywood just hangin’ out on a concrete fence in the shade. I told E about her and that weekend we took a stroll through the same ‘hood to perhaps catch another look – no avail!

My second encounter with the BWS was much closer to home. It was during the first week I’d returned and as I was gussying up the balcony garden, I caught a glimpse of our Lady Of The Night running away through some flowerpots. I remembered the first BWS I’d seen and figured this spider was likely one of the same.

E has a much bigger fascination with spiders than I do. My first and second sightings caused no more than a second look whereas E went crazy with fascination and wonder on Friday. Much Googling and reading-out-loud and Youtube-ing was done upon our return home that night.

I really dig these next few characters. Look what I spotted in The Hills this morning!

We couldn’t stop talking about it. Something has eaten away the tail and head (or it had been hit by a car) which made its immediate identity difficult. Upon much Googling and reading-out-loud and Youtube-ing we are at this point settled on Bark Scorpion. I knew it was a scorpion the second I almost stepped on it!

This guy was about two inches long, super fat, and very well dressed in his Sunday morning best as he was hurrying along. He’s a Darkling Beetle:

Southern California summer evenings provide the chance to hear a chorus of beetle whirring and chirping. It’s so exotic and tropical. Here’s a photo I took in September of a Ten-Lined June Beetle:

And here is a photo I obviously did not take of a Fig Beetle. These things make the neatest noises and on my evening runs a couple of them almost flew right into me:

“Fig Beetle” pretty much answers the time-old question “if you could be any animal, what animal would you be?” as I cannot stop eating figs and there’s a real classiness to all that metallic armour. I could totally pull that off.

If all of this has bugged you out, here’s something a little more soft-core:

This fuzzy little guy’s going to grow up to be a Tiger Moth! Google one of those for a good time.