Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[CountryEscape]

I had so many wolf spiders in my house when I first moved here it was like a scary movie! I do fine with them outside usually, but that one kept going behind the next rock and then the next and that was ok, until the next "rock" was my knee! Eeek!
Toads are doing their unique squeaking tonight. My little Boston wanted to go outside, she likes to chase or pounce on them, but I told her they are busy tonight. Hopefully there will be some toad eggs to view in the near future.
The koi are getting after the parrots feather that I put along the outside edge of the pond. At first I thought they were just coming loose and were ending up in the skimmer, but then I noticed several stalks with no more "leaves" on them. Bad koi! Moved them to the stream. The ones in the waterfall and bog are doing very well at least!
Canna bulbs I planted a week ago this past weekend, are sprouting and coming up in the new bog! Got mixed colors, so that will be fun to see what colors I end up with.

 

[j.w]

Are wolf spiders poisonous? Sounds like a pretty big sized one. We've got some big ones around here, maybe they are the wolf ones.

Shame on your koi for eating the Parrots feather. My goldies don't bother it or if they do I don't notice the damage.
Do the Canna's last all year or do you have to pull them...........seems like you would have to there as I had one here and it froze toes or got soggied to death..................did we already have this conversation somewhere else on this forum or was that in another life?

 

[CountryEscape]

Haha, that was another life, silly JW!
Wolf spiders are very common in my area. They are fuzzy and BIG, sometimes with leggs the size of your fist! Yuck! In fact, if one follows you into your house, and you glance and see it, I've thought it was a mouse before, wooly and dark gray, same color.
Cannas will not make it through the cold, so have to lift the tubers or bulbs, just like the elephant ears. This year, though, I'm not going to try to keep the plants alive, but will dry them out like T'Man did in his post.
I ordered the parrots feather, and have some in my waterfall, both bogs, and have moved all that I put on the outside water edge in the koi pond to the stream or bogs for now at least.

 

[addy1]

Wolf spiders are not poisonous jw, it is neat to see them when they have babies, they carry the little ones around on their backs. They also carry their egg sac. I do my best to not hurt them, a great bug predator.

But they do need to stay outside, no thanks to moving into the house.

 

[CountryEscape]

I will be much more careful from now on when I see the big spiders outside. I love watching other spiders build their webs, quite the architects! Used to love the yellow and black striped garden spiders, but never see them anymore. My son wondered if the chemicals sprayed on fields has killed them off. I've never seen wolf spiders with babies on their backs either. Will pay attention to that, if I see another one outside. Inside, they are toast, cause I sprayed my whole house inside last weekend. Home Defense is wonderful stuff! Need to spray outside around the doors and windows and basement edge but has been too wet.

 

[pondlover]

We had this huge spider in my flower bed last year. I was told its a banana spider? But not positive. Whatever he was, I didn't like him.

 

[CountryEscape]

I would want to know what the other side of that spider looked like. What I always called a Garden Spider was yellow with black stripes. This might be the same spider. Last year my son and I found a spider similar to the yellow and black spiders, but it was not as colorful or as large. That's when we talked about not seeing them anymore. He figures all the chemicals used in farming have killed the bugs. Maybe there are some in town, though.
When I was a child, in grade school, we had huge evergreen trees outside the windows, pretty much blocked all view of the outside. But, every year there were tons of the garden spiders making their webs in between the trees, and I loved to daydream and watch them, instead of listening to the teacher. LOL

 

[j.w]

Spiders are cool to watch build there webs and grab their victims and suck the life outta them! I've always been intrigued by bugs in general. Grew up as an only child and at times they were some interesting friends to hang with,lol!

 

[addy1]

They are fine as long as they are not on me, or in my house, but I do like to watch them. One built a web over the lens of one of the cameras, it was fun to watch it scurry back and forth building it and eating bugs.

 

[j.w]

That's funny when they do that to the weather camera on tv sometimes! Trying to show the weather outside and here's this spider doing his web weaving. That's live tv for ya!

 

[pondlover]

Here is the front of the spider. I think it was 3-4" in size. It had a very unique web also. But it was a HUGE thing. LOL

 

[CountryEscape]

Woohoo, jackpot, PL!!! That is a Garden Spider! I just looked them up and sure enough, that's what it is. Lucky you. Now, I don't like spiders on me, but this guy will stay to his/her web and catch all kinds of bugs. They are the best spiders to have, in my opinion. I don't like the ones that hide behind and under things, and then scurry out. But, I typically like all types of bugs, too. When I was a child, I used to catch butterflies and mount them (kill them and put them on a cardboard to show off their wings). Now it seems cruel to kill them, but I was really good at it. In fact, my mom kept 4 of my biggest and best ones and put them in a glass frame for me when I was an adult. I'm sure the rest were not good anymore, but I'm thankful she did that for me. I have it hung in my bathroom.
I just hate bugs that sting or bite. All bees and hornets and wasps scare me. It is my phobia. Mosquitos I hate with a passion!

 

[pondlover]

So a Garden Spider is not poisonous? I was concerned the big guy was gonna make lots of little guys. I guess I didn't need to worry about that. I couldn't agree with you more on the bees hornets & wasps. We are already seeing alot of those. We have some barn swallows that have made our front porch their home for the last few years and return each spring, they are wonderful for eating mosquitos so we don't have big problem with them. I would love something that would eat those darn wasps, their sting hurts! My hubby says we should have bought stock in wasp killer last year. LOL

 

[CountryEscape]

Nope, they are not poisonous. If it makes lots of little guys, they will also make a big web between plants and stay there. Those types are good as far as I'm concerned, as long as they don't make their web in a door frame, which my big outside spiders tend to do ... and I walk face first into them going into the garage. LOL Only once a year does that happen, though, then I learn/remember to use the other doors.
I can put up with the wasps as long as they leave me alone. Bumble bees tend to next in walls and such, and can get very aggressive toward the end of the summer, when their brood is pretty large and they are caring for so many eggs. Same with yellow jackets, that nest in the ground. About 10 years ago, they were so bad that zillions of manufacturers had tops to snap on soda cans to keep them out. You don't hardly see them around anymore either! Again, must have something to do with the pesticides being widely used! I'm sure they have some good uses, but not sure what they are. Been chased so many times riding horses in the woods, rumble across a yellow jacket nest in the ground, and the race is on. They attack the belly and real legs of the horses, causing them to buck and run. And they also attack the humans on board. Can be very scary if it's toward the end of the summer and again, the nest is large. Lots of rain keeps them in check, as it drowns out the nest.

 

[addy1]

I was chased into the house by those yellow jackets, stung up and down my arms and chest, they had build a underground nest in my veg garden. I waited till a cool morning, got a bucket of dirt and buried them.