Black Widow Spider

I went out into the garden prepared to get a picture of something tiny. For the first time that I can remember, I couldn't find anything. There weren't even any lizards and usually the place is teeming with them. I finally found a single bug, which I call a shield bug. Usually there are hundreds of them around, often amazing us with their feats of traveling around over all kinds of surfaces both horizontal and vertical while remaining firmly coupled. My camera died while I was trying to get a better macro shot but it obligingly waited for me to get a different camera and a very indifferent shot.

Dana saved the day by sending me a picture of a black widow spider, readily recognized by the red hourglass on her abdomen, suspended from her web on the front porch railing. Interestingly, while several species of black widows exist in North America, latrodectus hesperus  is the only species found in the Western U.S. In California it is 'a common desert spider that can survive very hot dry conditions.'They aren't agressive and only bite when they feel threatened (or if they are hungry and decide to eat their mates...hence their name). Their bites aren't usually fatal, but can cause some 'serious and uncomfortable symptoms.' Blipfoto wouldn't let me use it for the main picture, so I've put it in extras

John, who usually bounces out of bed at 6:30am didn't show his face until 9 this morning. It seems he woke at 3 or 4 in the morning with pain in his neck and took a TylenolPM. I told him that it wasn't such a good idea to take a sleeping pill after midnight and he said that there was only one left. I'll add that to the growing list of his non-sequitur  responses...

There is much concern about the growing spread of the Delta version of Covid amongst the unvaccinated, and there is now much debate about whether a booster will be needed. I think I'm going with the infectious disease expert who said, 'At this point, the most important booster we need is to get people vaccinated.'
 
It is now time to watch the first mountain stage of leTour in the Pyrenees. We were pleased that the American, Seb Koos won the last stage.