Wolf Spiders!

So, for Mother's Day, I asked my hubby to please bring me some mulch...but NOT bulk mulch because then I would have a pile to contend with and it would involve much more labor on my part.  I didn't relish the thought of deciding where to put the pile; shoveling the pile; all the trips back and forth to the pile

(you get my drift, here)...

So, what did he bring me?  Bulk mulch, of course!  (Gee!  Thanks, honey!)

I decided to just shut up and make it work...maybe after just a little groaning and complaining.  After all, it was much better mulch then what I am accustomed to, which is what the county chips up from pruning roadsides, and leaves in massive heaps for us when we tell them it's ok to deposit some on our farm.  (Just can't say no to free mulch.)   But what I completely forgot about, was that no matter the quality of mulch, if it's in a heap, you will most likely get a few of these:

Wolf spiders!

 I had scooped up some mulch with my hands and thrown it into a 5 gallon bucket.  I just needed a little bit to put some in the tops of some flower pots.  I was happily reaching into the bucket for mulch and was almost to the bottom of the bucket when I happened to look in.

Although I didn't relish the thought that I had been playing keep away with this spider, I'm certain that she was much more afraid than I was.  After all...she had her babies with her!  Wolf spiders are kind of really cool in that they attach their egg sacks to their spinnerets and carry them around with them to guard.  They even hunt this way.  After the babies emerge from the sack, they will climb up her legs and ride around on her abdomen for a time.  (I can't imagine carrying around hundreds of offspring!) 

After terrifying her some more with my camera, I let her out into my garden.

She had a hard time getting over this dried stem with the egg sack in tow.

She was very gentle with it.

After eventually winning her battle with the stem, she found a nice leaf to crawl under to hide from me. 

I can't blame her one bit!