09 August 2003 20:27
it is raining outside, a steady shower. i went out on the front porch to watch it move east, across the valley. the sun is setting, drawing a rainbow out of the farm buildings that lie in the bottom of the valley. stephanie noticed a single strand of spider webbing stretching from the rose bush to the large planter six feet away. amazingly taunt, you could easily draw the middle eighteen inches towards you and release, it would spring back to position without rebound. spider webs are amazing structures (provided the builder has departed, i am not fond of their looks). at work the other day there was one from the nose gear door of a kingair to the ground, the main web perhaps twenty inches in diameter, with the support strands up to three feet long. very lightly misted with the fog that was rolling in the hangar door, you could touch two or three of the individual strands with a fingertip. these were sticky, and would adhere to your finger until they formed almost an equilateral triangle with their former position. once stretched, they sagged slightly, but the surrounding strands remained undisturbed. superb architecture.it is raining, with the sun setting through the tall grass in the field above our house...
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