Autumnal Effects

I am careful of spiders. Someone told me at just the right moment in my childhood that killing a spider is bad luck, and that, as carnivores, spiders are usually busy trying to kill bugs that we like even less, so... I try not to mess up their work. I have never intentionally killed a spider. Mosquitoes? Moths? You bet. But not spiders.

Yesterday morning, on the way out of the house, we accidentally walked right through an impressive web, leaving it in tatters. D was upset. I explained to him that the spider would probably make another web that we could look for the next morning.

This morning, the new web was even bigger than the one we'd accidentally destroyed.

Why does it need to be so big, D wanted to know. Well, spiders have to work pretty hard to catch their breakfast and lunch and dinner every day, I said. And as the weather gets cooler, fewer bugs are flying around for them to catch. So maybe in the fall their webs need to be bigger.

As is so often the case, I was making things up. I have no idea if autumnal spider webs are bigger than summer webs. But it does seem as though late-flowering plants go through a burst of productivity just as we head towards that first defining frost.

How about you? Are you experiencing a fall-induced burst of productivity? Are you squirreling away your acorns? Or are you planning to proceed directly to hibernation?

(Check out Mama Says Om for more musings on fall.)