Elsa: 🎵 🎶 {humming and breaking into the song The Farmer In the Dell}…”oh, a hunting we will go, a hunting we will go…hi-ho, the derry-o, a hunting we will go…”

The Mom: {check on the Ninja} Good morning, Elsa, what in the world are you doing?

Elsa: Just singing a little ditty I heard the other day…

The Mom: You realize that you changed the actual lyrics of the song?

Elsa: Ahem…my blog, my lyrics/songs.

The Mom: {rolling her eyes} Oh dear, we haven’t even begun to write this week’s post and already you’ve starting in being a pill.

Elsa: Like I said, my blog. How many times do I have to remind you? Sheesh, I wish you’d get it, Mom.

 The Mom: Ok, ok, {throwing her arms up in defeat}…I surrender. But you need to introduce us, first.

Elsa: Oh yeah, oops, I forgot. {Clearing her throat} Welcome to another edition of Nature Friday where we join our pals Rosy and Sunny from LLB in Our Backyard. Don’t forget to click on the link to see pics from around Blogville. There, you happy now?

The Mom: Better now that you’ve told people what’s going on. If you’re going to be a writer, you need a introductory beginning, you just can’t come waltzing into a room humming and singing without setting the stage. By the way, what’s this hunting thing that you’re singing about anyway.

Elsa: {getting excited} Well I just heard a story about the tarantula migration in Southeast Colorado and I thought, let’s go hunting for those buggers!

The Mom: Umm, hate to break it to you, but you do know we don’t hunt tarantulas?

Elsa: Wait, wha…why the dog not?

The Mom: Sweetie, first of all, this migration is near La Junta, Colorado which is not that close to us. It’s even further than Grandpa’s house. Second, why in the world would you want to disrupt the males in their annual nature crawl across southeast Colorado for their mating season?

Elsa: Hmm, good point, I’m not sure I want to ride all the way down to La Junta. I mean they do have the very best cantaloupe around, but watching a bunch of horny tarantulas skitter across the highway ain’t my idea of a good time. Besides, I can get my cantaloupe fix from the grocery store. I hear there’s a pretty good crop this year and did I mention cantaloupe is my favorite special treat? Hint, hint.

The Mom: Yes, I know, I’ll pick you up another one this weekend but you can still share a photo of the hairy legged spiders, who just happen to be more terrified of us than we are of them.

Elsa: Umm, speak for yourself but okay, I will share a couple of pics. I can just hear the howling from my readers. It may be the start of the Halloween season judging by all the gear I’m seeing in stores, but as a general rule, most people are not fans of spiders in general, and even less on tarantulas.

The Mom: I know, but they are quite fascinating creatures. My daughter kept a few of them as pets when she was in junior high. Did you know that very year, a mass migration of tarantulas shows up in southeast Colorado, with most of them being male tarantulas, looking to mate with females who burrow in the prairies.

Elsa: Whoa…that is pretty fast. Probably scares the bejesus out of most people.

The Mom: Uh huh, true enough. Most of them in Colorado are the Oklahoma Brown Tarantula, with their mating season happening from September through October. Tarantulas are found throughout the southwestern United States, including southern Colorado. Those found in Colorado are usually dark brown to black and can travel as far as twenty miles in search of a mature female. Tarantula mating is one of the strangers animal reproduction rituals. It is unlike anything else seen in the animal kingdom yet the males don’t live long after mating while females can live 20 years because they seldom leave the area around their burrows while the males tend to roam around.

While tarantulas can bite, their venom is not fatal to humans and is comparable to a bee sting. More likely, they will defend themselves by ‘shooting’ body hairs, resulting in itching.

Elsa: Ok, so that is sort of fascinating so I guess I’m glad we’re not hunting them. But I doubt any of my readers want to hear you wax on about them anymore. It’s been a less than stellar week in terms of photos due to the heat but I’m going to do my best. Let’s move on from the creepy-crawly, shall we?

The Mom: Fine by me. You’re the one who wanted to go-a-hunting.

Elsa: Let’s not get technical, ok? First I’m going to share some photos from my visit with my Grandpa last weekend. It’s always fun to spend time with him and even more fun because it was his birthday. I guess his favorite gift was that his beloved Colorado Buffaloes upset TCU on Saturday. We’ve been coming down from that high all week. Talk about college football hype though. Seems like the whole doggone town has lost their minds hopping on the Buffs bandwagon.

The Mom: Yes, it’s been a ‘little crazy’ watching otherwise normal people go ga-ga. Tomorrow’s game against long time arch-rival, Nebraska will be c-r-a-z-y and a big test for the new coach We have our paws crossed. So what was your second favorite part of our Pueblo visit?

Elsa: Well it was a veritable sniff-fest the whole weekend! I mean I found LOADS of bunnies, quail, a rattlesnake carcass and my absolute favorite, an antler. Too bad it was attached to the skull. I noticed you got pretty choked up over that.

The Mom: I was mostly concerned when you tried to bring one of the rib and leg bones  home (not shown here).

Elsa: Yeah, that was not fair, I mean, I need bones to keep my teeth clean. What better way than chewing on a real live antler?

The Mom: Roadkill is not the way to go. But at least we saw a cool sunrise and a slug of sunflowers along our morning walks.

Elsa: It was so early when we went out, I didn’t even get a chance to say wake up good morning to the mules and donkeys that live across the road from Grandpa. I’d rather have checked them out than some dumb sunflowers.

The Mom: Stop being a brat, Elsa. Once we came home we did see a few signs than autumn is nearing. Take a look at this acorn.

Elsa: I only noticed them because the squirrels have been going up and down this oak tree in our yard like maniacs. One of these days, they are not going to get away from me!

The Mom: As long I have you on a leash, they’re pretty safe.

Elsa: You’re such a killjoy, Mom, you know that?

The Mom: It’s for your own good. You wouldn’t want to get rabies now, would you? So what else do you have from around our neighborhood?

Elsa: Well there were a couple of flowers that I spied that were kind of cool. Can we give the wood rose to Rosy, huh, can we?

The Mom: I’m sure Rosy would like that pretty pink flower. Looks like the stores are gearing up for Halloween already judging by all these tiny gourds from the market.

Elsa: Yeah, I noticed our neighbor has started decorating early. He even put up a ‘suggestion box.’

The Mom: Yeah, I always enjoy his yard decor. People come from miles around to see how he arranges them.

Elsa: It’s a clear sign we’re moving toward autumn when he drags out the skellies. Clearly he’s planning on upping their presence. I saw a new critter next to the suggestion box (out of view). A turtle…he was pretty cute.

The Mom: Yeah, he’s pretty clever. Should be a fun autumn. And because it’s the home opener for the local pro football team who shall remain nameless, we are sharing a cloud formation someone sent in to Channel 7. Looks a little like the horse head on their helmets.

Elsa: We send our congrats to the Detroit Lion fans who came from behind late in the last night’s opener and beat Kansas City. You weren’t expecting that, were you?

The Mom: Truthfully, I wasn’t but was happy for them. Should be in interesting football season all around. We’re going to have to get through the CU game first before I’m in pro mood.

Elsa: Ha! You’re still counting the days for hockey to start, you can’t fool me, Mom.

The Mom: True enough. But it’s going to be a busy sports weekend around the Ranch. Anything exciting plans for your weekend?

Elsa: I’m just waiting for the cool front to arrive late Sunday, early Monday. We hope you have a good weekend. But more importantly than a football win, we hope you are able to get out there and enjoy a slice of Nature.

Live, love, bark! 🐾