Welcome Rain. And Spiders

The Weather Dogs obliged after I asked for a reasonable amount of rain for the garden. They didn't, unfortunately, divert it from NSW or Queensland. They just sent us our own bit of rain and kept on frolicking in the flooded chaos they have wreaked on large stretches of land to the north of us.

According to my (unofficial!) rain gauge we had 4.5 ml for the whole of February. We had 8.5 ml on March 1st, and it was on March 1st and not February 28th - I read the gauge later in the afternoon instead of first thing in the morning. So far this month we've had 28 ml. The vegetables are very happy. Except that the rain has brought the snails out and they are feasting on the runner bean plants. I wouldn't mind (well, I probably would!) but the bean plants have only just started producing beans and I want Jim and me to eat them, not the snails.

We have a rather beautiful spider in one of the bean beds.  I hadn't seen a spider like it before. I believe it is a St Andrew's Cross spider, which I hadn't heard of until I went looking to see what kind of spider it was. It keeps a nice and tidy web, captures lots of flies and doesn't move around much or get in my way. 

I thought the rain might have induced it to move on
but it's still there this morning

This is unlike the other delinquent spidery residents of the garden. I am forever walking into or through spiders' webs that appear untidily all over the place.  There was one across the outside of the laundry door the other morning which I didn't notice until I walked through it. If only they weren't so sticky! My eye still hasn't forgiven me for being brushed with sticky spider's silk.

After 3 days of very welcome rain, today is a lovely, sunny, warm day. It is tempting to abandon everything and to go out to play in the garden. Alas, the sunshine has shown that the delinquent spiders aren't only confined to the garden. They appear to be spreading their webby love all around the house as well!