Lunch!

James and I sat down at the table to eat our sandwiches for lunch awhile ago. Naturally, our jumping friend was on hand to join us. She seemed a bit puny, though, and I wondered if she was getting ready to curl up and leave us for spider heaven. I told James that if we caught her a fly, and she showed interest, then she's still good to go.

Amazingly, he stunned a victim in the garage, and I brought it in the house. I dropped the fly on the table in front of her, and she instantly perked up when it wiggled its legs. I ran for my camera but missed her pounce because I forgot to put in my memory card. Oh, well. But I did get plenty of shots of her eating the fly (see insect's red eyes?).

She's definitely enjoying her meal at our table. As for James and me, it's back to work!

P.S. My mother thinks our dinner mate looks like a "Gladys."

So Gladys it is!

Thursday, June 26, 2008–UPDATE– We tried offering Gladys a second fly a day or two later, and she wasn't interested. Instead, she was starting to curl up in a spider fetal position. Sure enough, she had passed on by the next morning.

We still miss our dinner companion at the table. However, on the dining room curtain, we're monitoring a silky nest, which contains an egg sac and dozens of tiny jumping spiderlings. I can't tell yet if they're of the jumping variety, but I suspect they are. We could have LOTS of little Gladys-es dispersing soon.