It’s not often that I roll out to the back field at home very early. Not that 9 a.m. is very early. I always have thought about people like Chip Haggett and Rock Radasch starting their day at Hodgdon’s at 3, 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning. They had half a day in while sugar plum fairies danced in my head!

But, on this particular morning, last week, I felt the power and grabbed a camera after two slices of bacon, and a cup of coffee (with almond milk and a dip of honey :-) I didn't exactly shoot out the back door but managed to stroll off into the morning sun in search of nothing, one of my favorite subjects.

In the back field, among the goldenrod, peeling birches, and dewy undergrowth, the interesting web offered above, appeared along one of our well-worn paths. The moisture from the day before and the overnight temperature change helped to catch the sunlight and make more outstanding a spider's work in progress. He or she was either making repairs from the previous winds and rain or maybe constructing a new facility. I don't really know. But it was cool enough to see and distinct enough to share.

The folks who print the Register may have other thoughts as the image involves considerable detail, something a web press on very porous newsprint finds challenging. It will be interesting to see how the print shows up.

I sort of studied this project for a bit hoping for a glimpse of the “clerk of the works.” Must have been coffee break time, or as we used to say back in the coal mining days, “a piece with molasses.” referring to a piece of bread with molasses and a chance to sit and take a break. To this day, when working around shipyard crews, I notice a pause in the action around 10 o'clock or so as folks take a breather, having been up since 4 a.m. in order to get to work by 6! Some workers driving as much as an hour and half, two coffees and a cream-filled donut away!

Spider webs are totally fascinating to me. I know the builder of this one would not be happy “caught incomplete.” Similar to a portrait made of someone with one eye open --- and I have made a few of those! But imagine what the webs must withstand. Wind, rain, other intruders and me. Bless its heart. I will check back some other “early” morning to inspect progress.