Spiders & Flies

My wife is weird! There's no two doubts about it, actually 'sick' is a better word some might think. I know she is a biologist and has a fascination with the natural world, I know she's interested in insects, birds, and mammals. But these last few months have proved an eye opener. Let me enlighten the reader.

We have a fancy new kitchen, it has huge great picture windows and they look down the garden so she can study the wildlife....quite normal so far. This is a farming community and where there are farms there is livestock, where there is livestock there is shite, where there is shite there are flies...thousands of the f***ers. So an electric fly trap has been purchased, an 'insectocuter' as it's called. An ultraviolet light tempts the flies towards it and as they pass through a metal grid to presumably shag the light, they're zapped. However, the electrical currant on original models of the 'insectocuter' was to powerful and the flies would explode, which is quite unpleasant, if not messy also. On modern versions the currant is much less powerful and the flies are stunned and break-dance about on their backs in the collecting tray till they die. For my wife this is an ideal opportunity, so she's straight in there pulling them out. Why?....well the reason follows.

It's been there a year or two now...the subject of today's image that is. In the corner of our fireplace is a spider's web. It has become a pet. Not mine I hasten to add because I'm frightened of them (what a poof! ...yes I know). Now I don't know how long these bastards live and I don't much care, what I do know is it's just hatched off a third cluster of baby spiders this year because it is having live flies dropped into it's web every day while a gleeful and fascinated woman watches it encase its prey in webbing. Now that is seriously odd behaviour. When I questioned her on the matter I was told simply 'Dead ones are no good as she just kick them off the web, they have to be live'......There's no answer to that really except I am playing host and providing housing, warmth, and sustenance to the best nourished spider in North Yorkshire.