Spiders and Snakes and Romance Don't Mix

For a blog, of course you have to have content. And photos help. So I went out on the acreage for about four hours--off and on--yesterday.

I erroneously thought I needed a spider picture to go with the quote the hero made about spider webs. So I searched—for hours—for a spider that would pose.

I found one, took its picture and returned to the house. That's the Reader's Digest version.

Seriously, imagine where you're standing and what you're kneeling around when you're out spider hunting. And then imagine you take the photo, don't move away, and look at the digital image and go.... Oh, there's a snake in the edge of the photo. You don't move your feet. And the above italicized version of my thoughts has been expanded and edited a huge, huge amount for clarity.

It took a considerably long time of double checking my feet and the image to realize I'd made a mistake. No snake. I am not particularly afraid of snakes but the ones the copper color of fall leaves--yes, I am terrified of them. This was a curled fall leaf at the edge of the photo with the flash reflecting it into a lovely snake sheen. 

And after all that searching and staring at webs, I decided my romance  does not need any spider picture to go with the hero's quote. It just doesn't mix well. Wasted time, but steps forward. Sometimes that's how you figure things out.

—About the snakes. It wasn't all imagined. Not all. Here's the picture I took earlier after looking down at my feet.

I do believe I had to back up a bit to take this photo of the snakeskin. And I had to calm myself and make sure it was the shed from a non-poisonous one. Somehow that reassured me. I have encountered the real deal--the ones with venom, when I've been out and about.

No, I'm not particularly scared of snakes but I do prefer them to introduce themselves from a long distance.


Oh, then I decided to take another picture of the snakeskin... He didn't need an introduction.