Comments on: Misc Sunday photos

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 22:56:02 +0000

If that’s adobe — actual adobe, not the ’stucco over frame/block’, it would probably be a good idea to put something on the elm to kill it. Roundup does not do a very good job on elms. You might call your local garden society or agricultural extension office for advice (NMSU probably has one). Just trimming the elm, it will come back over and over – and the roots in your wall would get bigger and bigger each time. You won’t like what this eventually does to your house. I’m off to go cut those elms growing a foot from my adobe wall now…

By: Lisa B

Lisa B — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 02:34:50 +0000

I saw a few of those spiders in my yard at the last place I lived. They spun cocoon-like things around their prey. It was fascinating.

By: Trish

Trish — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 22:59:26 +0000

We have those spiders around here, too…Tennessee…only ours wear white gloves. Instead of X’s, they make a series of zigzags…like a bunch of Z’s. But if you look at those Z’s sideways, they could be N’s. When they were kids, my mother told her younger sister, Nancy, that if a writing spider writes your name, you will die. Well, since it was writing N’s, Nancy was terrified! She is still terrified of spiders to this day…she is in her 70’s. I like seeing these in the garden, much moreso than those nasty August spiders that build their webs at night across walkways and from trees…where you are prone to run into them! yuk.
Good luck with getting rid of the Elm tree in the wall…it kinda looks like Trumpet Vine! I would spray it with Roundup, to kill the whole sprout, rather than break it off and risk its return. But then, you didn’t ask me, did you?

By: ashley

ashley — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 21:13:40 +0000

Perhaps she has writer’s block at the moment. Or perhaps she’s writing the X’s using cuniform or some other alphabet.
We’re seeing lots of spiders right now in this part of the world (Seattle). I’ve always liked spiders — mostly because I hate flying bugs, but also because the webs are just so amazing to me. I always hate it when I have to disturb one.
Re: cotton. Last year I had the chance to drive thru southern Virginia & part of North Carolina on a visit to family. The cotton fields were just ready to be harvested. Bits of cotton were everywhere. On some roads the whiteness gathered along the ditches and low spots as if there had been a light fall of snow. Twas amazing.

By: jocole

jocole — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 19:34:26 +0000

hehehe, i would laugh so hard if i saw a sign that read “they eat bugs, thats why i like children”

By: Eric H

Eric H — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 17:48:05 +0000

They eat bugs, that is why I like spiders!
There is a similar sign about children on the door of our local HFS.

Do you mean, there is a sign like the one in the photo, or a sign that says, “They eat bugs, that is why I like children”?

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:09:50 +0000

I think what you have there is a black and yellow garden spider "Argiope aurantia". Yes, that's it! With a name, I find she's known as the writing spider because they put a bunch of "x"s in the centers of their webs. I went out to look at this one this morning. No x's. I guess she's illiterate.

By: Marguerite

Marguerite — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 14:25:32 +0000

I think what you have there is a black and yellow garden spider “Argiope aurantia”. They eat bugs, that is why I like spiders!
There is a similar sign about children on the door of our local HFS.

By: Rose Marie

Rose Marie — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 08:25:37 +0000

Kathleen, after the flowering of the cotton plant, the “boll” is formed. That is the green pod that expands as the cotton grows. Eventually, it turns a dark color as it dries and splits open, revealing the lovely cotton inside. Many years ago farmers fought off the “boll weevil” because it could ruin the crops. There was even a song about the boll weevil. This from a person who grew up in cotton country in Texas..many, many, many years ago!

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 04:21:19 +0000

I read about it in the paper. I worry because I think a good place to shoot people (to conceal a shooter) would be on the Triviz trail or at La Llorona and I run at both places. On the bike I feel like a target too. I don’t know whether I should ride to work on the ditches or by the street because the ditches may provide better cover for this guy -but then, he may pick the streets. I hope they catch this guy. I don’t want to end up dead and it’d be just my luck. Las Cruces is a small friendly place. Why would somebody pick a place like Las Cruces to do this? It’s weird. He must not be from around here.