It's a spider in a jar.
I put him there after finding him wandering around on my carpet.
I wanted to find out what kind of spider he was. He is brown so I was hoping he wasn't poisonous.
I found out he is a grass spider and according to BugGuide.net the male grass spiders "spend most of their adult life wandering in search of a mate. Shortly after mating, the male often dies."
So I am prolonging his life by keeping him in a jar. But since there is no way he will find a mate in there he isn't too happy. He's probably confused.
Grass spiders are really fast and usually live for about a year. The males don't winter well at all.
This guy has been the jar for about 20 minutes and is already depressed. He isn't moving like he was at first. I guess he's waiting for his chance to escape. I'll set him free soon (I think I'll let my youngest daughter see him first).
I don't mind spiders. I usually leave them alone if they appear harmless. In fact I have thought about getting a tarantula for me and Hawk but this idea has never been warmly received by other family members.
I'm not sure what the purpose of this post is. I guess I could talk about the incredible nature of learning. Learning is all around us and it is a good thing to do forever.
Or, I could talk about how prolonging a life isn't always the right thing to do. Oooo, that is a deep subject and I am not sure I want to go there. I will say there is a difference between prolonging and killing (the difference between me putting Spider in the jar or squishing him in the tissue). And I would say hastening goes right along with killing because it is an action.
Or maybe learning is kind of like living in the present. That is how we are supposed to live -- in the present. That is the closest way to live in an eternal way -- right this second. Not in the past (regret or wishing things would happen again), not in the future (worrying or excessive planning). Just right now. God has given us this incredible world that can open our eyes and our hearts to him.
Lest you think I am tough or something because the spider doesn't freak me out, if it had been a rodent of any kind I would have screamed and yelled and then grabbed all three of my cats and attempted to tell them to get the rodent (though this most likely wouldn't have worked).
Time to sign off. Do some research today about something you don't know about. It is a good good thing.