Unidentified Texas Tarantula

It has been mentioned many times in this blog that I do not travel without my camera on the passenger seat. It has been very handy even for a trip to the grocery store. Yesterday, while looking for a pair of falcons that have for the past two years called an old water tower in a local cemetery their home, I see this object on the roadway ahead  of me moving in the center of the roadway. I stop, get out of the car with my camera in hand and walk behind this moving object until I see the largest spider that I have ever seen.

 Then, I see this big F-150 or F-250 coming down the road at me. Waving my hands, the truck stops,puts down the window and before the lady could think me crazy, I pointed to the spider in front of her  as I said that I was trying to rescue this spider to a tree before it got run over. She jumped out of the truck and with less caution than I would exercise was using her phone to take a picture at very close range. She said that she had not seen one like the one on the roadway in a while, gets in her truck and drives around the spider as I call out to her that her tires were clear.

I'm still walking behind this spider following it as long as it was on the roadway as another car approached. Doing the same hand wave as before, I got the car to stop before the tires rolled over the spider. This time, however, the spider moved under the car and was in front of the rear tire on the drivers side. I ask the guy if he could back up slowly about a foot. I used a tree branch about two feet long to get the spider to attack the stick as I moved the stick with the spider holding on away from the gentleman's car. He was surprised to see such a large spider. His passenger was trying to get him to put up the window because she didn't like spiders. I thanked the man and they drove on.  With the spider on the stick I move him to a nearby tree and he readily climbes onto the tree trunk and moves  to the fork in the main trunk where the spider stops and appeared to be well adjusted. With that rescue done, I'm on the way home. Here is a couple of images of what I discovered and  is commonly called a Texas Tarantula, though I am trying to id the species more at the Texas A&M extension service for Texas critters.

Several weeks ago I say my first armadillo in a roadway that had been run over by a car. This year alone, spotted in nature, were a coyote, a bald eagle and a water snake, on her clutch of eggs that were washed into the lake during a heavy rain event;an American Muskrat, the armadillo  and now, the tarantula. It's most likely because of the returning drought conditions that is bringing these rarely seen critters out in more populated areas.

When first seen on roadway

A Texas tarantula male. Males have two hooks on their front two legs and they are venomous.

 

Calling all Rock Climbers

The outside set-up for training

Until yesterday, I didn't know such a place existed in the Metroplex. It was a discovery that I had not expected or anticipated finding. After talking with the owner for a bit, he gave me a tour inside the facility.

In the foothills outside Denver, there is a concert venue named Red Rocks. It got its name from the two towering rock formations at the entrance of the facility. Recalling my first experience watching rock climbers enjoying their hobby/sport was a mine burn. Since then, everytime the combination of those two words appearing together or is heard together, the mental picture of that day at Red Rocks pops into view. It is  as clear today in my mind as it was those many years ago.

Looking upward inside that 110 foot silo yesterday  also reminded me of something I said in a post several months ago  that: " one thing I would not do is climb out on an I-beam several hundred feet above grade to get a image of an ironworker sitting on that beam eating his lunch sandwich" as my old AP friend,Steve Dodrill did.. Never-the-less the facility has six such "rooms" plus the outside scaling wall set-up. The owner is a wilderness adventures outrigger in Frisco,Texas and uses the training facility  to teach leadership,team building and personal adventure skills. The North Texas Outdoor Pursuit Center is the official name of the facility in the old Blanton Grain Towers in downtown Carrollton,Texas. The Green Line's Carrollton Station is a football field North of the facility. Here are a couple of shots of the facility.

Entrance on the West Side of the Blanton Towers
 

This is the West Side view of the Blanton Grain Towers. They rise 110 feet. Each silo is a training center. The microwave repeaters are just a value added service of the facility
 

 

More Trinity Development Evident

Looking East up Singleton Blvd toward downtown



The Sylvan Avenue Bridge Project Is Underway

The stainless Steel tanks would suggest a micro brewery--maybe?

Since the  opening of the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, the area West of the bridge along Singleton Boulevard has increased its development. The new Trinity Commons Project is already showing new stonework,sidewalks and even something that looks like a new micro brewery. This area is getting ready to pop economically and commands watching closely.

Eagles at White Rock

For those that missed the rare view....here is one. The pair were fishing near the dam/spilway. This is looking Northeast from  Garland Road at the spilway toward Winfrey Point.