Tag Archives: life in the south

Welcome to Spider Gulch!

This time of year we go from living in The Cabin to living in The Cabin in Spider Gulch without even moving. Spider season hits pretty much overnight. The spiders that “grace” us with their presence every year are Golden Orb Weavers and, they are EVERYWHERE. Female Golden Orb Weavers are more colorful than the males and are a great deal larger than the males. The females build large webs and there are usually a few small brown males living in the webs. (Apparently this keeps them from getting eaten.🤷‍♀️)

I didn’t know until this year that the females actually molt as they grow. Now, I didn’t learn this fact from researching Golden Orb Weavers; I learned it from Kenn’s daily Spider Update. “Ooooh. The spider outside the kitchen window (or bay window, or sliding glass door, or wherever) has molted again. She’s really getting big!” I shuddered just typing that. I have never been a fan of spiders; something about those eight legs just creeps me out. I have not witnessed the evidence of the molting, nor do I need to. Ick. Just ick.

Since the spiders are everywhere, we really have to watch where we’re going. The first person through the front door in the mornings needs to look carefully before leaving because there is a high probability that a web has been spun across the doorway overnight. Failure to check before exiting may result in a face full of web and/or spider. They also like to spin webs across the base of the staircase leading to the carport; I just take the long way around from the front of the deck in a effort to avoid webs. If one of these spiders gets on me, I will just expire on the spot. So, if I disappear, you know what happened,🕷️🕸️

On a completely unrelated note, we also have a plethora of tiny toads this year. Making it safely through the spider gauntlet to reach the carport means watching our step so we don’t crush baby toads.

Can you find the toad?

I enjoy living in a rural setting, surrounded by wildlife; I’m just not a fan of arachnids. So, do you have spider season where you live?

Friday Funnies

We never have a white Christmas, but usually it’s at least cool. Mother Nature decided prank us this year and Christmas day was almost 80 degrees.🙄 So much for my new Christmas sweatshirt! I had to compromise and wear a long-sleeved tee.

Oh, and next Tuesday the high is projected to be 47 degrees. Winter in the south is never dull!

❄️❄️❄️❄️‼️

Y’all, we got snow! *twirls like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music* There was a chance of snow a few weeks ago, but it didn’t make it this far south. Now, many of you may live in areas where snow is a fact of life, but around here, it’s as rare as hen’s teeth. (The last time we had snow at our house was 2018.) When the forecast hints that we may get snow and/or frozen precipitation, I become a big kid. While I may be calm on the outside, on the inside, I’m all pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease. So, when snow was predicted for January 21st, all of my fingers and toes were crossed. It started snowing shortly after lunch and continued through the next morning. We ended with a respectable four inches, and, for once, we didn’t get a layer of sleet to top it off.

Yes, that four inches shut everything down for a couple of days, which makes northerners snort and roll their eyes. However, we have reasons for our caution. Here in the South, we don’t have snow tires or equipment to clear the roads. Okay, Atlanta has sixty snow plows, but the rest of us just have to wait for everything to melt. However, the biggest reason for us to stay off the roads is because we don’t know how to drive in the snow; it’s best for everyone if we just stay home.

In true southern weather fashion, last Wednesday, we had snow on the ground, and this Wednesday, the temperature is expected to be seventy degrees (Fahrenheit).🙄 I know we’ll have a few more cold snaps before spring, but I doubt we’ll have more snow. So, I’ll leave you with a few photos.

The snow was too powdery for a snowman, so I made a snow angel instead.
Already the top contender for our 2025 Christmas card.

Dante. Was. Wrong.

According to Dante’s Inferno, there are nine levels of hell. I’m here to tell you that Dante was wrong; there are actually ten levels. The tenth level is August in the state of Georgia. True, here in the South we don’t have four seasons, we have two-ish. But August… August is special.

Image from ifunny.com

August is the month in which we need gills. We open the door and step outside only to hit a wall of air so thick it’s hard to breath. And no, you never get used to it. I’ve lived in Georgia my entire life, which is rapidly approaching sixty (!) years and August always sucks. It’s easy to check the temperature and think “Hey, it’s only 79F this morning!” However, when the humidity level is over 90%, even 79 degrees is miserable. When the humidity level is high, sweat doesn’t even have its normal cooling effect because it doesn’t evaporate. Now that my part-time job has me working outside most days, I wear a long-sleeved shirt to help prevent sunburn. (The shirt is in addition to sunscreen. Fair skin is no joke.) Yes, the shirt is light-weight and a wicking material. It doesn’t matter. Wearing long-sleeves in the summer is the pits. When I get home at the end of the day, every stitch of clothing is soaking wet.

Kenn has a new coworker this summer. He asked her a couple of months ago if she was prepared for a Georgia summer. She responded “Oh, yeah. I’m from Washington state. It gets hot there too.” Little did she know… By July, I think she was beginning to re-think her life choices. “OMG! Is it always like this in the summer?” To which the answer is a cheery “Yes, but its just getting started. Just wait until August.” A dry heat really is different. (Cue Hudson from Aliens.)

If you need me, I’ll be over here counting the days until September when the weather begins to change and the hope of cooler temperatures keeps me going.

What is your least favorite season and why?