This is Torvi. She is the first orb weaver to show up this year. She has a web that spans the width of the whole back of the green house. That’s where i first found her and where she has hung out since. One day i was doing my regular warfare with the grasshoppers who manage to get inside the greenhouse through the vents. I was spraying this particular grasshopper with poison and it just wouldnt die. It kept jumping out of my reach or i would have just smashed it with the salt canister. Im blinded by my overwhelming and passionate hatred of grasshoppers when i realize that ive sprayed the window screen, spraying through to the other side, where torvi and her web are. I immediately panic. I hurry up and smash the grasshopper with the salt canister. I go outside and torvi has scurried up to the roof edge. I am unsure whether she did this to get away from the shrieking me or the poison. I have flashbacks to the pest control guy spraying the red femured orb weaver and then watching its guts explode from its body and washing it and giving it a little funeral service before burying it. I tell my neighbor and he says if its bothering me that much i can use dawn dish soap to wash the poison off the window screen and keep torvi safe from sudden gut implosion.
So, at 10 o clock at night i was outside with a bucket full of suds, a step stool, and a sponge, washing the window. I washed it thoroughly and torvi has now been alive for a full week after the poison spray mis-step. She thinks im nuts, im pretty sure, as she runs when she sees me, but that would be because i was acting pretty nuts shortly after i met her. The important thing is she’s alive, she’s beautiful, and she eats grasshoppers. 🙂
