After backing out of the drive this morning (making sure not to hit any stray dogs, walkers or church attenders zipping off to services) I started down the street only to see a tangle of long insect-ish legs and antennae on the windshield. I could just see the palm-sized crawler out of the corner of my eye.
The first thought is always "Is that thing inside or outside?" [My dear MC watched a woman flip her SUV on a back road who explained the accident in one word, "SPIDER."]
The creature was outside. And it was a beauty - what we used to call a blister bug, one of the "true bugs" (we learned all about them when the children were in biology - heaven forbid you call an insect a "bug" unless it was one of the "true bugs" easily identified by the triangular shape on its back). And it clung to the windshield as I headed off to catch up on a project.
I wondered how long he would ride with me and decided to take care to drive within the limits (I must say I do have a bit of a reputation although I do not rise to the level of a "scoff-law.") Still, I took care and my hitchhiker continued along with me until the speed limit rises at the edge of town, just as we passed the McDonalds. Perhaps the aerodynamics of the car were too much. Perhaps he had a craving for a Big Mac or Happy Meal. Whatever the case, he flew away and I suspect my speed might have inched just a little higher as I hurried down the road.
My project continued in pieces today - interrupted by chores and a family lunch (perhaps the best meat loaf I have ever made). Each time I left the building today I was in the midst of a flurry of cottonwood seeds floating in the air. They are lovely and strange. They pile up in small drifts just as does the snow. But the sun was bright and the day hot. There was no mistaking these flakes. And I am inevitably laid low by them - a reaction that almost negates my delight in the fluttering.
NOTES:
* The wildflowers are incredible - bluebonnets, foxglove, firewheels and more!
* Images of true bugs: https://www.google.com/search?q=true+bug&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=b8x9UbOHMqnQ2QXWmYGgAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEYQsAQ&biw=1120&bih=746
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