Garden spider and Sedum

 

Earlier this year I remember someone remarking how quiet it is around here.  I thought it was a bit strange at the time.  There were birds chirping, the wind in the leaves, a background hum of insects.  It is getting much quieter as we get closer to winter.  Even the insects have gone.  I don't think it was the frost that got them to go underground.  The bees were gone two weeks before and I realized the crickets and grasshoppers weren't around either.  When I sat on the deck it was just me, Whip, and the garden spider in the sedum.  The spider has spread his web across the top of numerous plants and just sits in the middle of the web waiting.  I see that a milkweed tuft has caught at one edge of the web and flutters whenever there is a breeze.  Bet it drives the spider nuts.