At some point in my life I decided I liked being subjected to the elements to some degree. I never cared for air conditioning and in fact would prefer to spend the hottest days around plants that had just been watered.  I drive with the windows down most of the time and I don’t mind bugs.

I like to have the windows and doors open at home and don’t mind the neighbors cat sharing a meal with my own. We share our home with many lives.

I first dabbled in environmental partnerships of the insect type while living in Carmel NY. I had always allowed the critters to live in peace in our mutual space. One big reason is the animals often prevail. A king snake, squirrels, scorpions and  geckos have all lived in close proximity to me or my family at some point but the ants of Lake Carmel were special.

These were the smartest ants I had ever come across.  I kept my kitchen clean (for a single dad) and was pretty surprised when I poured a bowl of cereal for myself after the kids had gone to bed and found it full of ants. I totally freaked and went after them. I noticed right away they would run and hide. If I looked at them, they would move to a new location.  When I had killed all but the two most evasive, creative and durable combatants it was only a matter of time before they had exhausted their resources and finally been driven to surrender. It was on the splash panel behind the sink and the one with big one with the brown spot just came to a stop and turned to look at me. I could see this ant was different.

You always know when you meet the boss. At least if you are paying attention.
Big or small the leader is the leader for a reason regardless of the species. I knew I wasn’t mistaken when the other ant, who had slipped into the sink during the confusion tried only to reach his leader with no regard of his own safety.  Needless to say we had words, the boss and I that is, I got right in his face and laid down the law and let it be known that there would be no exceptions.  I wasn’t out to destroy the tribe I explained, only to protect my food and I made my point.

The next morning, I made sure to make a variety of staples available to my respected neighbors where they had entered my kitchen the day before. I had no further trouble.

That was a long time ago.

When I work on a creative endeavor like the track frames we just completed I like to collect all the materials I may want to use and put them in a box, one of several I keep for this purpose. I start and stop and jump from this to that, making BB shells and head tube specimens and all the while collecting ideas in the form of tangible items in boxes, tube boxes to be specific.  Many times I make several versions of a particular component before I find one that attracts my eye. Upon completion of the frame(s) some unused pieces remain.

These parts become seeds from which future designs. Designs that will be brought to the front at another time, on another frame.

One of the items I picked up early on was a tan colored spider. I don’t know what a spider would find interesting in a box of metal parts or a package of flour for that matter but this time it wasn’t a problem. Matt, my son is working at the shop these days so I guess I was feeding my family but only metaphorically and I didn’t object to the spider in the box.

She carefully wove her web in the corner as I added and removed pieces. In the course of conducting my business I am constantly upsetting the box but not the house guest. I did have to reach through a bit of web to remove the dropouts I had made early on but I tried to move slowly and with care. No objection was made during my intrusion and the damage was quickly repaired over night. I guess we are cool.

I am sure that I am as clueless to her objectives as she is to mine but I fully understand both our behaviors are linked to our existence and there isn’t a need to have the space only to myself, I can share, it’s ok with me. I don’t know but I believe. Watch as I stick my hand in the spider box.