red hourglass

This morning I devoted myself to removing a shrub that had started out as a weed near the street and driveway; I'm not certain what it was but I think it was some sort of olive tree. Every now and then through the years I had had to cut it back and figured it was time to get rid of it altogether. Being that our ground is a pretty hard and sticky silty clay, I knew that working when the soil was fairly moist from the recent rains was the best time.

It took quite awhile of slowly chipping away at the clayey soil and using my loppers to cut away the roots as I exposed them. I don't even know why I'm describing all this; I guess I'm just exhausted. Anyway, as I was working I noticed a spider walking amidst the leaf litter. It was an impressive looking thing and I wondered if it was a black widow. Luckily I was wearing gloves and had different hand tools handy, and I managed to flip it upside down enough to see if it had the distinct red hourglass on the bottom of its abdomen. It did.

I figured it wasn't bothering me and it was minding its own business a good distance from the house so I got it on my hand shovel (I don't actually remember what I used) and moved it safely away from where I was kneeling. I'll have to be a little more weary of working in that area from now on though, since there are several more of these olive tree-looking shrubs growing in the same area.