The Usurper, the King's Revenge, and the Gold Spider

It was lovely this morning. After the nasty heat, mugginess and on-and-off rainshowers and thunderstorms of the past several days, it was nice to have a bit of sunlight with the temperature and humidity right at a comfortable level. It was actually pleasant to be out there helping my wife hang up the laundry.

It was even better to have a bit of entertainment. His Royal Redness, Aka (the in-laws' old grandpa cat) was waiting by the in-laws' back door hoping to be let in (or, in lieu of that, to get his back scratched). Meanwhile, Tora (our kitten) was trying and failing to get him to play.

I remembered Agus suggesting that I post a picture of the two cats after my talking about them a couple of posts ago, so I ran and got my digicamera. Unfortunately, although Aka did his best to stand aloof and still as a statue, Tora did not. Trilling his invitation constantly, the little black-striped upstart did a sort of bow and then scooted around on the ground like a dog does when it is displaying submission. When Aka completely ignored him, he jumped up and began dancing around the larger cat, occasionally batting at his tail, but if Aka so much as turned his gaze on him, he dashed away like a shot before coming back and repeating the performance. On one occasion a nearby bird distracted Tora, causing him to pause and stare at the culprit. I raised my camera, but then Aka quietly put up a paw and gave the young whipper-snapper a casual cuff on the back of the head, sending him zipping away into the bushes like he'd been shot.

Time was running out, and I had already given up and was heading back to the house when something interesting happened. Tora had jumped up on a chunk of wood, basically a cross section of a tree, that Aka often uses as his perch. That was more than His Royal Redness' ego could bear. With a low "MRAAAGGHHHHRRR", Aka trotted over to the wood, jumped up on it, and jostled the insolent upstart off. As Tora ducked into the bushes once again, Aka struck a regal pose atop his reconquered throne, pointedly refusing to look at me no matter what I did or where I moved, and remained there until he was finally let in:



Tora, meanwhile, laid low in the bushes of the little garden (which seems like a jungle to him) looking rather annoyed:



Then, not to be outdone by the old fart, he scampered up into the little, well-pruned tree at the edge of the garden and then looked down upon the world from a higher position than Aka's:



Except for a single rotating ear, Aka didn't pay any attention to the youngster whatsoever. Neither did the impressive-looking witness that was caught directly between His Royal Redness' throne and Tora the Brave's tree:



It's a kogane-gumo (lit. "gold spider", the Australian variety of which is known as the "St. Andrews cross spider"), a common summertime visitor. They weave large, impressive-looking orb webs that are supported in the middle by stripes of white cross-bracing.



Here's a closeup of the spider showing those unique web crossbraces. Usually they are laid out in an X pattern, but the upper half appears to be missing. It's hard to tell from this picture, but this spider is pretty big. Its abdomen is about the size of the tip of my little finger, which is on the large side for this type of spider. It was amazing the way it was able to stay so still and so stable even while its web was being blown by the wind. This image also doesn't quite show how vividly colored this spider is. The stripes on its abdomen are bright yellow, and the surrounding spots as well as the bands on its legs are yellow-white. The large, orange circle is its spinnerets.

Yes, it all made for a good morning's entertainment...and then it was off to ye olde academy.