I understand the circle of life. Really I do. I know that lions chase and catch zebras and have them for dinner. (They can also take down a giraffe.) I know that cheetahs run fast and can attack gazelles without any thought as to how graceful and lovely those animals are.
I know that bigger fish eat smaller fish, and the birds who live in my neighborhood eat worms and insects. Local cats stalk baby birds, and mice and rats, too (although the loss of vermin is much less bothersome to me).
I get it. For me to enjoy a some members of the animal kingdom, I have to accept that they live off of other members of the animal kingdom. I just don’t want to see it happening right in front of me inside my kitchen window.
There’s a storm window pane on the window over my kitchen sink. David cleaned it when he got a bird feeder and hung it out there last Christmas. He caulked it up nicely to keep out the tiny moth caterpillars who consistently come in and morph into moths who can not then get out. (FYI-the butterfly caterpillars are too smart for that. Or too big. But I saw scads of moths over the months, caught between the storm window pane and the regular pane. Not one butterfly. Just saying.) Also, the caulk was to deter the spiders who kept sneaking in and building elaborate webs, which were no match for the moths, but messy, all the same.
The caulk was not enough. Well, it seems like it was enough for the moths, but not for the spiders. Almost from the start, there were wisps of cobwebs, clinging to one side of the window or the other. Frustrating. A few weeks ago, I raised the regular window, removed the storm window, and cleaned it up. I lowered the regular window and went outside and sprayed it down as well as I could to remove the webs. I let it dry, vacuumed out the sill, and put the storm pane back in place.
Of course, the spiders were back in no time, carefully putting up webs. Monday morning, here is what I saw:
This is a video of a spider, prowling around some sort of struggling bug, who’s trying to escape from a web!
Oh no you don’t! Not in my windowsill.
I opened the window and scooped the enmeshed bug up on a paper towel and took him outside and flicked him away. Then I went back inside and used the paper towel to TAKE CARE OF THAT SPIDER!!!
As long as the inner window was raised, I thought I should vacuum out the bottom. Here is what I found there:
YES!!! Those are carcasses! Insect carcasses!! LADYBUG carcasses!! Oh, the buganity!!
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)
All right. I’m going to try to let all the fauna in my world live their lives the way God planned for them to. Just not in my windowsill!
I love your story. For some reason the videos will not play on my computer. I am at work so maybe it is being blocked. Thank you so much for sharing your talents. Stratten had a great time last Sunday. Thank you for all you do for the children of Calvary. I couldn’t hardly get Stratten to leave he was having so much fun. I set the timer on my phone twice before I finally convinced him it was time to go.