Backyard Nature Walk

Today I went on a walk. I like taking walks, but I tend to freak myself out if I go alone. Initially, it's the fear of rapists that gets me. But then I hear things creak and see things move and start imagining how I'm going to get back home if I get bit by a rattlesnake because you're supposed to minimize movement so the venom doesn't spread. Don't get me wrong. I love the outdoors. But when I am alone in the woods, I start to get a little irrational.

So when I stepped on a leaf today and nearly gave myself a heart attack at the sound of it, I told myself to quit being a sissy. All I've seen today is a rabbit, a lizard, and a giant butterfly.

Nothing to be scared of.

But then I started to notice an extraordinary number of spiderwebs. Not only were they extraordinary in number, but they were extra extraordinary in size. We're talking 10-15 feet across, easy. I sometimes like to venture off the path a little bit, walk down by the stream, have some alone time. But after nearly walking into a giant, big-enough-to-catch-a-human spiderweb more than once, I decided to stick to the trail.

Nice and safe on the trail. All I'm seeing are flowers...

bugs...

mushrooms...

and then, right there in the middle of the nice safe trail: the giant beast of the forest, Aragog! Now I know what kind of monster was making those larger than life webs! This thing was dead and it still freaked me out.

Ugh.