After the personal news I just got, I’m not up for taking on the daily chronicle of my country’s demise. So a bit of God’s stuff, instead: the audacious jumping spider.
https://leeduigon.com/2015/05/01/the-audacious-jumping-spider/
I don’t know why they call these critters “audacious.” The ones in our garden are very quick to hide when they see you coming.
Hi, Mr. Nature here, with more of God’s stuff that always works.
If your garden is blessed, it may be inhabited by one or more of these, the Audacious Jumping Spider, Phidippus audax. They hunt harmful insects by sight, and to catch them when they see them, they jump. If you look closely at the spider in the video, you’ll be able to see her two largest eyes (she has a couple of smaller ones, too).
The “audacious” tag is a misnomer. When one of these spiders sees you coming, he or she will promptly seek a hiding place. I like that quality in a spider. I wish more people had it.