A bit of Randomness

It occurs to me this would have made a good Halloween posting. You might remember the stunning shot I posted last year for Quotography. Some of you will probably move on quickly once you see the photo. But if you can get over your initial arachnophobia, you’ll see an amazing creature.

Yes, it is too an amazing creature.

And one that literally jumped into my house a few weeks ago when I opened the door to the garage. It’s known as a wolf spider, famous for its ability to jump. I have to admit, it’s a little disturbing when a spider of this size jumps in front of you…and I did jump back.

Sometimes mistaken as a brown recluse, a wolf is much bigger. Think tarantula but less hairy. The leg span of this one was probably almost 3 inches. Quite intimidating to those who are squeamish about spiders. But I’m not one of those people. Instead, I calmly went to the kitchen to get a glass. Much to Entrepreneur’s dismay, most of the time I’ll catch wayward spiders, wasps, ladybugs and beetles and return them to the out of doors. Flies and ants? All bets are off.

But back to the big, bad wolf. After encasing it under glass I got to look more closely at the intruder. While capable of biting, they only do so when threatened, and aren’t deadly to humans. In fact, they’re considered beneficial because they trap and eat other spiders. That may be a plus, as long as the hunting grounds are outside my house.

Why are they called wolf spiders you might ask? Well, because the family name is taken from the Greek word, Lycosidae, or “wolf.” Beyond that, I have no idea. Wikipedia says they’re robust and agile hunters with excellent eyesight. I guess that could explain the name.  Thankfully, they spend most of their time outside…which is where this one was headed after its photo session.

Just a bit of randomness in the middle of the week.