Weekend off!

I finally had a weekend off! I needed a weekend off to get away from work, from my house, from everything. The weather wasn't 100% cooperative, but I take what I can get!I went to the lake on Friday night with my Dad. About 15 minutes from the lake house Dutch decided that he was going to sit on my lap in the front seat of the van. The whole ride up he was fidgety, trying to sit as close to the window on the driver's side that he could. Finally I figured it out! My parents had purchased replacement screen sliders for the doors. They were in the van, up against the door and when they rattle the sound like... GATES! So, we let Dutch stay up front with me because he was clearly scared. Then he got to get an ice cream cone from McDonald's. He felt better after that, it was a good distraction.Saturday morning we went for a hike. It was supposed to be a geocaching trip, but with only luck of finding 1 out of the 4 I had downloaded, it was more of an exploratory hike. We went to the other side of the lake and went on the Ellis R. Hatch trail in the wildlife management area. This has been here for quite a while, close to the lake, and we have never even known about it.This area contains a pond - well, a stream. It used to be a pond but the man made earthen dam had a leak in 2004 so now it is reduced to a stream. It was pretty neat to see what a pond looks like drained - where the stumps are, big rocks, the contours of the bottom of the pond. Very neat!

This was the first part of the pond system that we saw first. Still had quite a bit of water in it.

My dad and Dutch decided to go explore the middle of the big pond. Dutch needed a drink!

A view from the corner of the "pond".

A view of the "pond" from the end. It looks like it was a pretty good sized pond!

Dutch became very tired and collapsed in the mud. This scared me because he has never done this before. It wasn't hot out and the walk to this point was not that far...

If you have a fear of spiders, stop reading here!

I found this spider by accident! I was taking a picture of this pretty flower. I looked back as I started to walk away and noticed that the yellow pollen area of the flower had moved. Hmmmm... I had never seen a goldenrod crab spider before! It is also called a goldenrod flower spider. I think that this yellow one is a female. When James and I went back on Sunday this spider had the flower petal closed at the end, perhaps hiding her egg ball.

This is the picture from Sunday. Notice that she is eating and that the petal is closed up with a small piece of web showing.
I scared her and she put her lunch down. These spiders do not attack humans and are not harmful to humans. These spiders do not spin webs to catch food, they pretend to be part of the flower and attract insects with their markings. Then, when the pray is close enough, the goldenrod crab spider pounces on the insect.


The goldenrod crab spider is not always yellow. The yellow color is a pigment produced by the spider if they feel that the color best suits the flower they are using as a house. Apparently the spider can also be white or whiteish. It takes only a few days for the spider to turn from yellow to white, but up to 2 weeks for it to turn from white to yellow. It takes time to produce that yellow pigment! Well, I became curious when James and I were walking from the yellow spider to the next geocache and I thought I would peek at a white flower along the way. Guess what! A white goldenrod crab spider! I knew that if there was one spider there had to be more!
What you lookin' at?

So Proud

James and I have been together for over a year and a half now. It seems as time is just flying by. I guess that is what happens when you have fun! James and I do not get to spend a lot of time together when we are at home due to our work schedules, but we do try to make the best of it when we have time off together. We are already planning our summer activities - painting, yard sale, sailing, family visits, and just enjoying each other.

One of our goals for the next 6 months is to be more physically fit. So, we each purchased some new running shoes! And... yes, we actually went running. We have only been once together, but I have gone on my own and James has been taking Dutch for more walks. We have plans to go running every Sunday, rain or shine. We are both 30 now, so there is no turning back on our health and well being. Plus, we will be in St. John in 6 months so we need to get our butt in gear!

I am very proud of James for making the changes he has been making to better our lives together. Someday we will hopefully have kids and we need to be healthy enough to support them financially, emotionally and physically.

James, you are my best friend and the love of my life. I truly appreciate you and look forward to all of the time we spend together.