There was a spider...

Well I mean he isn't just any spider.  To the glancing eye, he would be sort of ugly with an out of proportion brown body with black spots.   But I spent Saturday morning with him out on the porch while he was building his third web in the same exact place.  I like to have my coffee out on the stoop and he always seems oblivious to my presence, instead working himself into a frenzy. 

 The web itself begins on my house and extends diagonally to a rectangular planter sitting on the pavement.  As I mentioned, he spent most of the early morning at it and I sat beside him just watching his work for about an hour, maybe 90 minutes.  You sort of get lost in the moment as you watch this.  The determination he has to continue to rebuild knowing that the process could very well begin over again should wind speed change or perhaps if a stupid human decided to just knock it down.

So it's Thursday now and he's been what seems to be a week without food.  The wind has been fairly rough, and instead of insects, those white puffy things that come from dandelions have attached itself to many parts of the web.  I've deduced that his overall intention is to have the web clear of debris as to almost look invisible to potential bugs.

 I've also decided that the spider has OCD as he will hide under the siding of my house, however whenever the wind blows especially hard, he'll come out again and look over his masterpiece and make any corrections he feels are necessary.  To me, the web looked just fine..to him a disaster.

 I decided finally to give him a hand.  I believe that when any living thing puts forth an effort, they should be assisted.  The old adage of "God helps those who help themselves' and all.  Although I tend to think that it is we who come to the assistance of those who are putting forth the effort to grow as people.  We stand behind the underdog because we know they are putting in as much heart and energy as the overdog. 

I caught a couple of flies that were hanging out by my outside light and while still alive gently placed them both on the web.  I felt a sense of accomplishment in this.  Like I had intervened in the survival of the fittest.  That generations of spiders born from this one would all have the same difficulties in catching prey.  

 So a minute passes and he comes out from his hiding spot to inspect what has landed.  He does a couple of laps around both of them and then systematically removes both flies from the webbing.  They both drop into the flowerbed and then take off.

And I'm just standing there transfixed, wondering what the hell just happened.  Here's this spider who hasn't caught shit in at least a week tossing two living flies off his web.   I honestly think he was quite pissed off about the whole thing.

 Soon after, he wheeled around a couple of times and made repairs from the gaps left by the flies.  The web itself shaped like a hexagon stood vigilant as a blast of wind came through.  Once it died down, he went to each point in the structure to ensure integrity and then promptly went back to his hiding spot under the siding.