The Cinderella Chronicles

Her prince will need to find 8 glass slippers. 

Right now she has to settle for ‘hoppers and crickets.

Today she is hanging like old washing on her golden web, pissed off, no doubt, with the incessant rain. Her entourage of two sneaky ‘husbands’ hang equally miserably. At first I thought she was dead, dangling there limply. I tossed a sacrificial cricket into her web. That woke her up smartly.

Cinderella is a golden orb spider. A couple of months ago she settled in the vegetable garden, a swimming pool conversion. 

Thanks to the ghastly quality of water in the Zululand bush veld the pool became a maintenance nightmare; progressed into a mossie breeding project, and is now a productive organic veggie garden. 

I consider her my secret weapon; Lindiwe calls her ‘Security’ for paying her way by keeping the ‘hopper population down.

She has quadrupled in size in two months, and grown into a formidable young lady. She is very beautiful. (Quite something coming from someone who suffers from arachnophobia).

We have become totally obsessive about her. Scouring the veggie garden for ‘hoppers, making sure she eats properly. Her every move is photographed. 

Silly really. 

Rob caught a large locust for her on his sugarcane farm 20 kms away. Clutching his unwilling passenger all the way home, he hurled it into her web. It went straight through. One locust free again. Probably eating my veggies as I type.

In fact I do believe that she has become lazy. Food comes to her too easily. Her web has become untidy and she needs to do some serious housekeeping. 

Her two fellas are so light footed she doesn’t even know they are there. Apparently they keep her distracted with food in order to mate. (Which we are providing. They can thank us.) She is unaware of her irresistible sexuality and has no idea that she is about to produce a sack full of screaming baby orbs, who will eat each other anyway.

It does worry me that she has moved out of the veggie garden onto the veranda, and she is getting bigger by the day. Her fellas show continuous interest in her, which means soon there will be more of them.

And I still suffer from arachnophobia. 

Perhaps it’s time to get a puppy.

Other blogs by Lois Kuhle:

SMOKE RINGS IN CUBA. A TWO WEEK JOURNEY FILLED WITH SALSA, SUNSHINE AND SILLY PEOPLE: http://smokeringsincuba.blogspot.com/2013/10/smoke-rings-in-cuba-journey-filled-with.html

'LIFE'S COOL'. MY NEAREST AND DEAREST BECAME THOSE THAT GRUNTED, BARKED OR BIT. http://milimanilifescool.blogspot.com/2013/12/i-n-2002-i-was-lucky-enough-to-be-given.html

COOL THOUGHTS – LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE: http://loiscoolthoughts.tumblr.com/

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