Two Things I Found in my Garden Today

This is a Golden (or Yellow) Garden Spider. I've never seen such a thing in Minnesota. She looks like some crazy tropical arachnid, not something you'd see setting up house in the land of bland food and cornfields. The coolest thing about this spider is the zig-zag web pattern to the left. It's called a stabilimentum and it has deep purpose, as you might expect from Mommy Nature. Go read about it.


This is my very own Golden Girl. She's moving to NYC a week from tomorrow and will be living in a cute (albeit tiny) apartment with two other friends in Brooklyn. Her roommate found a baby cockroach on the kitchen counter today. I'm wondering if we shouldn't just pack that other golden girl in her suitcase to do battle with the cockroaches. She looks like she could handle them.

Good luck Hannah! We love you!