the bumble bee that could

as usual, when i'm resting on the couch after a day of work that started at 4 a.m., i tend to just zone out and listen to everything around me...wind chimes, breeze zipping by the loose ends of tin roof, rooster up on the hill top, kila the cat mewing from the bathroom window, aster snoring, and on this day the occasional bumble bee made it's way into the living room. i followed it with my eyes as my stare was directed towards the ceiling. it buzzed around only for a short while before the buzzing become hastened and intensified...i knew it had been caught in one of our house-pet daddy long legged spider webs.

side note: these spiders are very interesting to watch. i've seen one sac of eggs hatch and currently observing a second located in the corner of the shower. they are such itsy bitsy little airy things, bouncing up and down like on a trampoline. they are a human's best friend during fly and mosquito season.

i found the web where the bee was caught, and the web spinner who inhabited that space was just going at it with every ounce of urgency it could muster.

 and then....and then...and then that little bee's struggles finally paid off. he had freed himself enough from the the little cocoon that was starting to develop around his hind legs and wings.

 as soon as the spider realized what was happening, he high tailed it back to the corner where he was initially perched.

 and he sat there and watched from the shadows as that little bee continued to free himself. 

here, a wing is still entwined in web and the bee is actually spinning around in circles.

 struggling to liberate his sticky little legs

 ...almost there...

 at last! only a single thread of web was his attachment. at this point i felt it ok to help a little. the bee was obviously going to make it, and the spider obviously losing a meal. otherwise, spiders have to eat too!

so i lifted him to stable ground where he promptly flew into the lamp, perched on the warm tiffany glass, and cleaned himself. when it appeared he was done and resting, i scooped him into a jar and sent him on his little worker bee way.

the end.