The Last Day of Fall (Sort of)

Sunday, November 1, 2015


I'm calling it the Last Day of Fall, because even though technically we're nearly two months away from that date, here in Vermont the weather doesn't always follow the calendar. In fact, it rarely does. As one New Englander put it, "We have eleven months of winter, and one month of awfully poor sleddin'..." Which is more true than most of us care to admit. :)

So, a couple of days ago when the sun was shining and it was warm enough not to wear a jacket, we all seized the opportunity and headed outside.


I see future warmth and comfort in this picture. I also see men who will soon be coming inside wanting something hearty to eat - something like chili, burritos, enchiladas, bread, bacon, pancakes, soup, lasagna, and coffee & donuts.

I love my job.


I also loved this job - pulling out the old bits of ferns and weeds and making the retaining wall look nice and clean again, the way retaining walls dream of looking.


Meanwhile, bro #2 and bro #3 were busy collecting a giant leaf pile. The yard went from being completely carpeted in leaves to looking beautiful and green again, which made for this wonderfully comfy and inviting place to jump into.

So of course Ibs & I jumped in. And as we had thought it would be, it was VERY comfortable and VERY pleasant to just lie there, feeling like we were engulfed in the very essence of Autumn.

We were settling lower and lower, smelling the wonderful nutty fragrance of the old leaves, and feeling the coolness drifting about us...


...when Ibs spotted the first spider. And then the second. And then the third. They were huge, fat, grey, hairy-legged, large-bottomed, big-toothed, menacing, and ill-mannered, and they apparently felt quite at home in our leaf pile.

I must give credit to Ibs for shooting out of there at a remarkable speed. She reached safety in a matter of milliseconds after one giant leap and a flurry of leaves.

I, on the other hand, was more inclined to be of the "Don't move fast, we should just ease out of here calmly" mindset. "Remember," I said to Ibs, to assure myself  remind her, "They're more scared of us than we are of them." I would like to know who came up with that idea. I'm sure it's true for somebody's spiders somewhere, but Vermont spiders don't appear to be scared of anything, and especially not of humans stuck in leaf piles. In fact, on the contrary, they seem to find humans (in leaf piles or out) highly amusing and extremely tasty.

At this point an unnamed sibling, who was not aware of the spiders, came onto the scene. "Wow, nice leaves!" he exclaimed, and then everything went into slow motion.

I saw one of the spiders - big, fat, and bad-tempered - balanced on a top leaf at the edge of the pile. I saw Sibling's foot go back. I knew what was going to happen. That foot was going to crash into the pile to give me a nice friendly shower of leaves. That nice friendly shower of leaves was going to contain a not so nice and not so friendly shower of spider, and I'M GETTING OUT OF HERE!!!

"Just a minute!!" I cried, but it was too late. The foot landed in the pile, the leaves flew into the air, the spider went who knows where, and Ems shot out of that pile in record time, with the help of the Sibling, who kindly reached out a hand to assist in the giant leap.

Wow. That was a close one! I hope those hairy intruders enjoy wintering in the leaf pile, which is now in the woods. I am happy to let them stay there. Both Ibs and I appreciate spiders in the right time and the right place, just not right next to our heads... :)

Happy Weekend, folks!

1 comment:

  1. I love this, Ems. =) Can just picture the situation, somehow. =) Siblings are the bestest!

    ReplyDelete

 
Design by Studio Mommy (© Copyright 2015)