#130 - FAQ Part 2

After posting my FAQ entry last week, I received a message with a number of other good questions. I don’t check Facebook regularly and then only glance at my feed on my phone, so I missed that message until today. So here are the answers to Christie’s questions.

Christie asked, “Where/when was your first adventure out of the country?”

I had traveled extensively in the US and Canada from childhood to adulthood including a trip to Mexico many years ago but didn’t first get a passport until April 2006. My first trip out of North America was one month later and was my first trip to the UK, which I have now visited more than a dozen times. That was the first time I attended the British Tarantula Society Expedition. It was then held in the gymnasium of a school and I exhibited my new ARACHNOCULTURE magazine and a few American tarantula books including Marshall’s and Schultz’s. My first real adventure out of the country was in November 2006 when I joined Andrew Smith, Paul Carpenter, and Mark Carpenter in Costa Rica. I had first met Andrew when he spoke at the American Tarantula Society Conferences in Carlsbad and then Phoenix the following year. We had become fast friends and he invited me to be part of his Costa Rica team. It was my dream adventure and lived up to all my expectations. I’ll never forget finding 14 different tarantulas in that beautiful country. I’ll never forget traveling with Andrew, Paul and Paul’s brother Mark. As the sole American representative of a decidedly English tarantula hunting team, I enjoyed the Latin American landscape, people, and food, while getting additional international flavor from my Brit mates. I revisited Costa Rica with my stepfather in 2015 and had a third visit, again with my stepdad Joel, planned for a year ago that was canceled due to COVID-19. I look forward to returning when it is safe to reschedule.

For those interested in more about our Costa Rica 2006 expedition, I have a film on my YouTube channel chronicling our adventure: https://youtu.be/GCL4Yz0YZlo

What/who inspired you as a child to become who you are?

Both of my parents and my maternal grandmother. As a child, I was fortunate to go on month-long road trips across the U.S. and Canada. We camped in State and National Parks and it only furthered my love of wildlife. My mother was always particularly supportive and my father loved the outdoors and, in particular, birds. My grandma was a birder who spent countless hours on her screen porch with binoculars, and I recall her buying me one of my first serious snake books. All three were encouraging of my love of nature, and my mother was very accepting of my passion for creepy crawlies and keeping a roomful of them as pets.

What was your first love...music/Photography/Animals?

I’d have to say music and animals are tied as I started playing my first instrument - violin - when I was 9 years old and that is the same age I got my first pet snakes. I had already begun collecting insects and spiders in jars too. I later switched to guitar and much bigger snakes and spiders! Photography came later. I remember learning a bit when I was a kid from a friend who had a darkroom, and in high school, I took a photography class. I eventually got a film SLR but didn’t get serious until preparing for my 2006 Costa Rica trip. I was discouraged by the results. I shot maybe 20 rolls of film in Costa Rica, spent a load of money getting them processed, and was disappointed by many poor images. That’s when I decided to learn more and practice more. And that was my last trip with a film camera. Once I got digital camera (DSLR) I began to take photography seriously.

Favorite 80’s band? (I love Foreigner!)

My tastes are so diverse that it’s tough to pin down one. As a metalhead, I discovered Metallica in 1982 when they first were getting started and got turned on to the whole New Wave of British Heavy Metal through them. They’d name bands in interviews and I’d go out and listen to them. I was playing guitar in metal bands from 1978 while in high school and Metallica in the early 80s really opened up new doors to me. I grew up on 70s prog rock and metal and by the 80s sought bands that combined the two (prog metal).

Foreigner is a true 80s band though. If I had to name a band really associated with the era and a guilty pleasure I’d say, Journey.

What are you most proud of yourself for? (personal/professional)

I don’t know that I’d say I am most proud of it, but publishing my Animal Planet Pet Care Library Tarantulas would be among my greatest achievements. It was nice to have a book associated with a well-known company to stand behind. I distilled thirty years of knowledge into 30,000 words and feel it is the best introduction to the hobby. At the time I wrote it, I was working for pet wholesaler Northwest Zoological Supply and our main customer was Petco. The book was very much designed to be something that new keepers would find at Petco, Petsmart, and other pet shops. It’s not for serious keepers; it’s essential info for the newbie. What is special about the book is that it was something tangible I could give to my family and friends who didn’t keep spiders and they could be proud of me for it, whereas they wouldn’t give a hoot about me breeding a species for the first time or something like that.

Favorite animal to photograph? Why?

In macrophotography there are no better subjects than jumping spiders. They will focus on the lens and their big eyes stand out, usually catching the reflection of the flash diffuser creating a unique type of catch light. However, rattlesnakes are my favorite animals to photograph. You can almost capture movement like their strike or buzzing of their tail in a still image, and they tend to stick out their tongues for you! They’re my favorite creatures and favorite subjects.

Crotalus molossus molossus, Chiricahua Mountains, Cochise County, Arizona

Scariest situation or place you’ve experienced?

I assume you mean traveling or in the field. The truth is I have never feared anything, but then I am pretty fearless. In an interview, I answered a similar question by bringing up creepy guys in the toilets at Kuala Lumpur airport! I haven’t had any bad or scary experiences. The worst thing that has happened was getting stung by Centruroides limbatus in Costa Rica. I have a very high tolerance for pain, but that was a bit of a wallop. I remember Andrew checking up on me as I laid in my bunk back in our cabin. I just took allergy pills and pain relievers and tried to get to sleep (it happened at night while we were searching Aphonopelma seemanni burrows near our cabins). The next morning my hand was still swollen, but the pain had largely subsided. I’ve actually felt safe on all my travels.

Most important life lessons you’ve learned on your travels?

World travel broadens the mind. It reminds you that you are just one of the billions and that your native culture is just one way of life. It also reminds you just how fortunate you are. Most of the people I meet in foreign lands couldn’t afford to pack up and visit America for a month. Like all significant experiences, it puts everything in perspective.

See #129 - FAQ for part one

#129 - FAQ

Many months have passed with nothing interesting to share. I decided to post to Facebook and ask for questions that I could answer here.

Chad asked, “What’s your favorite non-USA rattlesnake?”

My favorite American species gives a clue to my favorite rattlesnake from outside of the US. Crotalus molossus molossus, popularly known as the Western or Northern Black-tailed Rattlesnake, is found in the US and also northern Mexico. It is my favorite snake, period. As currently classified, it is the nominate race of three subspecies, with C. molossus nigrescens (Mexican Black-tailed) and C. molossus oaxacus (Oaxacan Black-tailed) found to the south. These other races of “molo” are my favorite rattlesnake(s) from outside the USA. Close in second and third would be two closely related species, the Basilisk Rattlesnake (Crotalus basiliscus) and Totonacan Rattlesnake (Crotalus totonacus). This group of three species is definitely my greatest area of interest.

Chad asked, “What’s your next lifer tarantula to find and photograph?”

That’s a tough one. My future travel plans include a return to Costa Rica and a return to Arizona. I doubt I’d find a lifer in CR since we found 14 species during my first trip there in 2006 and I wouldn’t really be tarantula hunting much during my upcoming trip (a third trip there in Summer 2020 was canceled due to COVID). I’ve found and photographed undescribed and I think all of the described species in Arizona. Maybe I’ll hit Utah or even California on my next trip west. That would be a chance to look for a “bird list” lifer. I really want to go to Borneo again and that would be another opportunity to find something new (at least to me) and photograph it. That trip would be all about snakes though. So, I’d hope my next lifer tarantula might be another new sky island species. Or maybe we should spend some time in Texas looking for A. moellendorfi. That seems to be the least common American species.

Chad asked, “What’s your dream camera and lens?”

My Nikon D500’s capabilities far exceed my own. I love it and don’t really covet another body. It is an APS-C (cropped frame sensor) camera, which has advantages and disadvantages. The D500 erases most of the disadvantages since it is amazing in low light and has an incredible no-noise ISO range. For those not into photography, the big advantage to crop sensor cams is a 1.4X magnification “crop factor”, which means a 200mm lens is the same as a 380mm lens on a full-frame. I suppose if I really got into landscape photography I’d want to get a full-frame body. I’d add a D810 then since everything I have read and seen in YouTube vids has convinced me that the D850 really is unnecessary (not worth the added expense). I am more intrigued by mirrorless cameras and for some reason always gravitate towards the Sony Alphas rather than the Nikon models like the Z7. If “dream camera” means the one I would select if I could have any single body for free then I would go for the new Sony ⍺1, a 50 megapixel, 30 frames per second, 8K video beast with a $6500 price tag! I need to research mirrorless cameras more. The compact size and high-def, high megapixel image and video capabilities are enticing, and the models of interest are full-frame. But the D500 was my dream camera before I got it and I don’t really need more.

As for the lens, I finally sold my Sigma 150-600mm telephoto zoom and look forward to replacing it with the Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 for my bird and other wildlife photography. But that is a practical and affordable and realistic addition. I think my tax refund will go towards adding it to my kit. My dream lens would be Nikon’s 600mm f/4 I guess. I don’t see me buying a $13,000 lens in this lifetime, though. Or spending enough time focused on birds to make an expensive prime necessary. My next lens will probably be something like the Nikon 60 or 100mm macro or, maybe, Laowa 15mm.

John asked “What’s your favorite bird of prey?”

Golden Eagle on the Arizona/New Mexico border

The harpy eagle! It is a massive Latin American raptor that I dream of photographing. Maybe I’ll see one in Costa Rica! That’s not likely though, as except for a small region of Panama they are mostly gone from Central America (and Mexico). The harpy is most often encountered in the Brazilian Amazon. I’ll just have to get there someday.

Of those I have photographed I would say the Golden Eagle in Arizona or the Crested Hawk-Eagle I photographed in Sri Lanka. I love owls though too, and my favorite raptor pic is probably one of a Great Horned Owl.

Crested Hawk-eagle (Nisaetus cirrhatus), Yala National Park, southern Sri Lanka

John asked: What’s your favorite non-venomous US snake?

A photo is worth a thousand words ~

Green Ratsnake (Senticolis triaspis), Chiricahua Mountains, Cochise County, Arizona

John asked: “True spiders...which catch your interest, attention the most..?”

Not surprisingly, John asked me a very similar question for my “self interview” in ARACHNOCULTURE magazine. If you haven’t read that click here to download the issue and check it out. My reply mentioned Heteropoda (Sparassidae), but I also am fascinated by other hunting spiders like wandering spiders (Cupiennius and Phoneutria, etc.) and am, of course, completely enamored by jumping spiders. The photos below represent all three. I’m not as intrigued by web-building spiders, but do especially like spiny orb weavers (Gasteracantha, Macracantha, and their allies).

Phoneutria reidyi, Suriname.

Heteropoda lunula, Pulau Langkwai, Malaysia

Hyllus diardi, Tanjung Rhu, Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia

John asked “favorite North American spot?”

Nobody will be surprised to learn that it is the Chiricahua Mountains and, more specifically, Cave Creek Canyon. I spent the better part of three years there, spending much of the last two camped in the heart of the canyon. I might also choose Barfoot Park for both snake and spider reasons. Outside of the Chiris, I love the Santa Catalina Mountains closer to Tuscon and the Superstition Mountains in the Phoenix area.

John asked “favorite World spot?”

This is a much tougher question to answer. Costa Rica is my favorite place and I look forward to rescheduling my third visit as soon as travel is a reality again. However, if I had to explore one place for a year I think I’d return to Sri Lanka. It was a much different country to explore. We had a hired driver rather than renting our own vehicle, which was odd at first but soon was much appreciated as our driver acted as a translator too and also found us some great street food and off-the-beaten-track places. The country is beautiful. The only thing I didn’t like about it was all the stray dogs. You couldn’t go 100 yards without seeing one on the roads - mangy malnourished things weaving in and out of the chaotic traffic. The latter is hard enough to get used to, as motorbikes with two adults, a child, and a farm animal on them battle with small cars that pass between lanes. I wouldn’t want to drive and our guy really turned into an asset as he calmly kept us safe and happy.

It’s much easier (less exhausting) to stay in the Western Hemisphere for an American, and I also want to return to Suriname. It is a wilder place with far fewer people and we barely scratched the surface when we were there. We were mostly confined to a region from the capital in the north (Paramaribo) south a couple of hours to the Brownsberg Natuurpark and Brokopondo area. There is so much more country to see, including the vast savannahs in the south near Brazil.

John asked “your next goal?”

I don’t know if you mean life goals or what. I’m going to stick with the travel theme and talk about my goals with regards to exploring nature. I’d love to spend at least a couple of weeks this summer back in the Chiricahuas with some trips to other areas of Arizona and maybe Utah. I also look forward to rescheduling the Costa Rica trip Joel and I had booked. Long term, I mentioned that I want to see Borneo again. Within the next few years, I want to join “Kurt Orionmystery” (Guek Hock Ping) of Orion Herp Adventures for one of his guided photo excursions to Borneo including Mount Kinabalu. I dream of seeing Trimeresurus malcomi and other Asian pitvipers with him. Photographing snakes in Borneo with Kurt is a life goal.

Guy asked, “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”

Ah, life at 67. I’d hope to be living on the road again, touring America, this time in a smaller RV van rather than pulling a large travel trailer behind a truck. Herping, “verting,” writing, and photographing sunsets. My dream used to be to “retire” to Costa Rica, but I’d rather travel periodically to exotic locales with friends like you and live nomadically on my home turf.

Martin asked, “Which country that you haven’t visited yet would you like to travel to, and which creature would you most like to see in the wild?”

That’s a really tough question as I’d like to visit so many. To narrow down a single country I suppose I’d first have to limit myself to New World. As I mentioned above, my dream trip is an expedition with Orion Herp Travel to the highlands of Borneo, and I also would love to visit Langkawi again with the Pennell Clan, but traveling from the U.S. to halfway around the world is tough. It’s two days of misery. So, focusing on Central and South America and trying to decide which creature I’d most like to see to make the choice, I’d say I’d most like to see a jaguar, and perhaps that has its best chance in Peru or Brazil. I love big cats. I’ve been lucky to have fleeting encounters with mountain lions in the Chiricahuas, including the one that dashed in front of my truck as I climbed the main mountain road, and had many sightings (and photographs) of bobcats there. I also saw a leopard in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka from quite a distance. Actually, the creature I’d most like to see is a clouded leopard (which Mark tattooed on my left shoulder), which would mean Asian travel. I guess enduring 15-hour flights is worth it.

Ray asked, “When did your interest in all things spider begin, and what was your first tarantula?”

This was covered in my ARACHNOCULTURE interview. I began collecting bugs and spiders at a very young age and gravitated towards spiders, especially after catching the bold jumping spider, Phidippus audax. By the time I was nine I was keeping both spiders and snakes as pets. My first tarantula was a wild Aphonopelma hentzi found in the forest behind my grandparent’s Arkansas home. In my late teens, I got my first exotic species, which included Brachypelma hamorii and Phormictopus cancerides and that collection quickly increased a hundred-fold as I met Ralph Henning and had access to spiders not in the pet trade.

Wyatt asked, “Best non-tarantula myg (mygalomorph*) experience?”

While we were searching for our new montane tarantula species at high elevation in the Chiricahuas, Chris Hamilton found a specimen of Androdiateus apachecus. I really loved that spider and got some nice images of it (see below).

*For my readers unfamiliar with the term mygalomorph, it is the order that tarantulas belong to, but Wyatt was excluding them and asking for an experience with one of their distant cousins.

Androdiateus apachecus, Onion Saddle, Chiricahua Mountains, Cochise County, Arizona.

Probably the best experience was having a wafer-lid trapdoor spider stroll under my picnic table when I was sitting with guests outside my RV in Cave Creek Canyon. It was as if it just wanted to be seen and photographed. I’m not sure why it was out of its burrow and prowling my campsite.

Entychides arizonicus, Cave Creek Canyon, Chiricahua Mountains, Cochise County, Arizona

John asked, “Favorite weapon?”

My everyday carry handgun. It is a Kimber Master Carry Pro .45 that Joel bought me as a gift. I removed the laser grips and replaced them with VZ grips, and later had a gunsmith rebuild the gun with all Wilson Combat machined internal parts. I carry this customized beauty in a Vedder Holster. My favorite bladed weapon is the Spyderco Yojimbo 2 that I also carry.

John asked, “Favorite vehicle you'd like to have?”

My F150 was my dream vehicle and I love it. However, as mentioned above, I dream of having an RV van - a Mercedes 4x4 Sprinter van with a custom RV interior. Vansmith makes these incredible models and I buy tickets occasionally to try to win one via Omaze. Winnebago does a really awesome van as well on the Mercedes chassis.

John asked, “Next tattoo is …?”

My Mark Pennell inked black & grey sleeves are now complete so I don’t know if I will need more. Maybe just a little gap filler on my left elbow. My left leg still has a bit of space so we’ll see, but I don’t have an itch for more ink. I lost count a long time ago, but I have over 100 hours of work on me already. I suppose I might get a little hand-tapped or hand-poked ink someday.

Cristoffer asked, “What would you say is your biggest accomplishment in your field. Also, why are Ephebopus the greatest theraphosids?”

Ephebopus are cool because of their urticating hairs being at the front. They don’t rub barbs off their asses, they toss them forward! It was a treat to see both E. murinus and E. rufescens in nature during our 2014 Suriname expedition.

My biggest accomplishment in the field was when Dr. Brent Hendrixson and I came across a male wandering in the road on a chilly late October day and I managed to find two females burrows within short order after locating another male roadside. At the time, we thought those four specimens would prove to be a high-elevation population of Aphonopelma chiricahua, but later DNA work proved that it was a new species that Brent and Dr. Chris Hamilton will describe – hopefully in the near future. The next year Brent, Chris, and others joined me to find more at several other sites. That same week we found some other new species.

Richard asked, “How do you feel about more medically significant species becoming more readily available in recent years?”

Highly venomous species have always entered the pet trade. It’s incredible that a mom & pop pet shop might have Leirus quinquestriatus for sale, but it is even more incredible that you never hear about people getting stung. It would only take a few envenomation cases to lead to regulation, but in all the years I was in the pet trade that never happened. In the past, it was mostly dangerous scorpions that were available to anyone and everyone, but I know that true spiders with medically significant venom like Phoneutria are now much more readily available than ever before and scorpion breeding has dramatically increased making more buthids in the hobby. The U.S. doesn’t have restrictions on dangerous arachnids like the UK does. They fly under the radar. I have bred and sold wandering spiders and years ago sold buthid scorpions and, fortunately, there were no mishaps I know of. I don’t know how I feel about the more recent situation. It is true that there has been a marked increase in the availability of dangerous species. It should be noted that there is a tremendous responsibility put on the keeper to not only keep him or herself out of harm’s way but to also keep these little escape artists in proper and secure housing.

Francisco asked, “What do you know about that 4 Theraphosa sp?”

I don’t know anything about a fourth species. I am no longer active in the hobby and I am not a member of any discussion groups. My Tarantula Bibliography has been defunct for quite some time. I am out of touch with matters such as this.

Christina wrote, “The reptile and invertebrate hobbies often seem to go hand in hand, so I am asking this with the assumption you've either worked with or studied reptiles to a degree. What species of reptiles have you worked with, which are your favorite thus far, and what would you like to work with in the future?”

I spent the better part of four decades immersed in the reptile and invertebrate hobbies equally.. In fact, there was a time when I was much better known in snake and gecko breeding circles than in the tarantula hobby. I specialized at one time or another in pythons, arboreal vipers, kingsnakes, and geckos. In the 80s, I had an extensive snake collection and my favorites were Indian Pythons, which I had a federal permit for as it is an endangered species, and Kinghorn’s Amethystine python. I bred Indian and Burmese pythons almost 30 years ago and many species of colubrid and boid. Another favorite was Dumeril’s boa, which used to be much rarer. I bred them in 1990 and displayed them at the first Florida National Reptile Breeder’s Expo at a time when captive-bred Dumeril’s were few and far between. Later in my reptile-keeping career, I gravitated toward carpet pythons and geckos. I bred a lot of crested and gargoyle geckos and my favorite was chahoua. My first breeding of them was one of my biggest herpetocultural thrills.

I don’t wish to work with any in the future. My animal-keeping days are over. I am too interested in travel and a nomadic lifestyle for “pets.” I devote my energy to photographing herps and inverts in nature.

Mark asked, “When are you coming to visit?”

How about Lectures 2022? Isn’t it your turn to come here? Meet me in Arizona in August! I have loved every trip to England. I’m well over a dozen now. I think next time I will make a pit stop in Belfast and add Northern Ireland to my country list. I look forward to visiting. You’ve got a place for me to crash now so I could do it on a budget!

Princess Sophie Pink asked, What has been the best experience when seeing tarantulas in the wild. And are there differences between the behaviour of wild tarantulas and your captive-bred ones?”

Finding new species is always a treat. We were lucky to find several new Sky Island species in late 2018-2019. I talked about one of them earlier in this post. The day that Brent and I found four of our new Chiricahua Mountain species we weren’t even looking for tarantulas. We serendipitously stumbled onto the first male, which made us stop and search the area. One more male on the roadside led us to my discovery of two females in burrows. Outside of the US, I have been so lucky to observed dozens of species. My favorite tarantula is Poecilotheria subfusca so my 2014 Sri Lanka trip was quite special. Finding both “types” was an unmatched thrill, but so was seeing both mature male and female P. ornata in the Makandawa Rainforest. In Suriname, we found the Goliath Tarantula by first locating a spiderling and then searching the area using endoscopes and found an adult female. That was quite the experience, but then so also was every find. We observed Tapinauchenius, Avicularia, Ephebopus, etc. Going back to Costa Rica in 2006, that was my first overseas trip to look for tarantulas. I remember that I found one of our first burrows of the trip. That was an exciting three weeks.

In captivity, we impose an environment on our spiders. They are forced to do their best with what we offer. With naturalistic vivaria, or even large tubs of deep substrate for burrowing species, we give them a poor approximation of their natural habitat, but at least their behavior whether it is digging a substantial burrow or building a retreat in a cork bark tube is appropriate. It’s the spiders kept in small terraria with a shallow depth of soil and maybe a little hiding place that cannot act naturally. As keepers it is our duty to do our best to allow tarantulas to create a natural retreat and leave them alone to adapt to the situation.

Going back to my favorite tarantula, I have kept P. subfusca in naturalistic terrariums exposed to my best approximations of natural environmental conditions; that is, approximating both temperature range and humidity levels. However, you cannot easily provide rainfall in captivity. You can try using waterfalls. My best attempt at creating the cloud forest conditions the highland “form” experiences was when by employing the unique housing I detailed in an ARACHNOCULTURE article. Click here to download. Under these conditions, with appropriate hollowed logs and cork tubes for retreats, I had both P. sp. highland and P. smithi acting as naturally as possible.

In truth, we are fortunate that tarantulas are fairly undemanding captives. But that doesn’t alleviate our responsibility to keep them in conditions that allows for behavior similar to what they would exhibit in nature.

Ryan asked, “When you produced Pachistopelma bromelicola and Pachistopelma rufonigrum, did you find they have a dependence on Aechmea sp. bromeliads (or similar)? Were there any major difficulties you encountered with these species, and if so what were they? My final question - are there any other Aviculariinae species that have you observed in situ that tend to gravitate towards bromeliads for their habitat? … Oh, and to tack onto that first part - have you observed Pachistopelma exhibiting the same “bromelicolous” behavior (if I’m using that term correctly?) in captivity, or do you find them to just be opportunistic?”

I didn’t find keeping and breeding Pachistopelma to be difficult or much different than that of any avicularines. They weren’t dependent on bromeliads, but housing them in heavily planted terrariums featuring Neoregelia and Aechmea allowed them to act as naturally as possible. If I just gave them, for example, Pothos and cork bark I am sure they would have found a suitable place to build a retreat and it wouldn’t have impacted breeding success.

What’s interesting about the habitat of Pachistopelma (I’ve never encountered them in nature, but what I have researched and read) is that the bromeliads are microenvironments – oases within a very harsh, hot, and dry coastal habitat. They are dependent on the bromeliads because conditions outside them are not favorable. In captivity, I kept their enclosures fairly warm and dry and focused my misting on the plants themselves, watering the bromeliads and the spiders at the same time once each week. Still, you can’t create a natural gradient in a small area. But I did my best to have the bromeliads provide a humid escape from the drier surroundings of the terrarium.

I’ve found Avicularia in bromeliads, but they will make retreats in just about anything – beneath cork bark, in curled leaves, in corrugated roofing, you name it. They are very opportunistic and adaptable and can be encountered in buildings placing their retreats in any dark corner.

Nicola asked, Has it stopped snowing there yet?

It has. The Chicago winters are much milder now than they were during my youth and early adulthood. It’s unseasonably warm as February comes to a close and the snow is melting away.

Tom asked, “Who are you?”

Just some reptile and arachnid-obsessed guy who loves to travel and photograph creepy crawlies. I like writing too.

Chad asked, “What’s your favorite hockey team? And why is it the Minnesota Wild?”

My favorite team is the Chicago Blackhawks, but you know that. The Wild has a decent team this year.

JT asked, “What's your favorite Tarantula species to keep? And what's your favorite food you have ever eaten regionally, while mostly looking for Tarantulas?”

A communal group of Monocentropus balfouri is hard to beat.

As for food, the key is eating street food – what the locals eat. Touristy places try to cater to Western palates and the results are disappointing. In Sri Lanka, we stayed at one hotel that was a small family-run place and we basically ate what the family was having that night. It was almost like a bed and breakfast. Still, it seemed like they toned down the spices for us. Our best meal was eating vegetable roti from roadside stands. We fed the five of us with drinks for like $5 American! And it was spicy and delicious. I could have eaten it every day and bemoaned every crap meal in a hotel afterward. It’s the same thing everywhere. In Malaysia, we went to an open-air market and got fabulous dishes for ridiculously low prices. My advice for travelers is to get away from the tourist hotels, avoid restaurants and look for lines of locals. That said, if you are staying in a nice resort you can find some great food, especially at breakfast. And some small hotels do serve local cuisine. You just have to tell them that you want it just like they eat it or they’ll think you don’t want spicy.

One of my favorite meals I’ve eaten abroad was this $3 plate of Char Tway Keow made fresh at an open-air food stall in a market in Penang, Malaysia (see below). The cold Tiger lager washed it down nicely!

Thanks for reading! I’m happy to have blogged again. Just a reminder: my website Publications and Media pages will direct you to more of my writing. You can download issues of ARACHNOCULTURE plus articles I published in the Journal of the British Tarantula Society.

#128 - Indiana Dunes & ARACHNOCULTURE

It has been nearly two months since I wrote about personal demons and the end of my nomadic lifestyle. I expect both will always be with me. Some day I will be back "on the road." And mental health issues are like alcoholism, I suppose – a life long struggle. Thankfully, things have been better on that front of late.

Wednesday, I was to leave for Costa Rica. The global pandemic has indefinitely postponed that adventure. Joel and I were able to cancel our plane tickets with an eighteen-month window to use them, and our other reservations were canceled and refunded. 2020 will be without any travel that is more than a truck ride.

My 56th birthday is August 5, and I have been thinking about an overnighter somewhere where I can "herp" and "vert" and do some photography. If anyone has any suggestions within perhaps 300 miles of Chicagoland, please email me. I would love to have a chance to do some landscape photography, but I am more interested in finding subjects for reptile images and macrophotography. Maybe I'll even tent camp.

Photographing bugs & spiders on the trail. Photo by John Apple.

I had a recent "verting" adventure with John Apple and his partner Ashley. I had some spiders to deliver to John and, since the pandemic had also forced the cancellation of a tattoo appointment close to me, we agreed to meet halfway between Hoffman Estates, IL, and Battle Creek, MI. Indiana Dunes was the perfect place. After lunch at Five Guys burgers in Michigan City, IN, John and Ash followed me to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Heron Rookery, a trail that I had scouted out when I arrived earlier that morning. Along this wooded trail, we found some photography subjects and enjoyed the shade along the East Arm of the Little Calumet River branch that it follows. One highlight was my first snake of 2020, which John discovered under the bark of a fallen tree several feet above the ground. Yeah, I know. Usually, my snake count would be in the triple digits by then/now. But this is a very different year. Another highlight of our riverside stroll was seeing a Bumblebee Robber Fly preying on a bee. I only had a chance for one quick exposure (which is far from crisp), but I am so glad John found it. It was a remarkable observation for all of us.

Storeria dekayi (Dekay’s Northern Brown Snake), Porter County, Indiana

Anaxyrus americanus americanus (Eastern American Toad), Porter County, Indiana

Laphria thoracica (Bumblebee Robber Fly) with prey, Porter County, Indiana

The big news is that I have decided to relaunch my ARACHNOCULTURE magazine. The reboot will be via digital publishing as ARACHNOCULTURE – The Digital Magazine for the Arachnid World. Some readers will recall the print version, seven issues of which were published from 2005-2007. Printing, binding, and posting that magazine became cost-prohibitive, and I also ceased producing it due to moving to the Seattle area from Nashville after my divorce. The digital-only version optimized for the iPad also will allow me to present it at no cost except my time, so I am offering it free. Perhaps when distribution gets large enough, I can include paid advertisements to at least pay for my coffee fuel, but the only way to approach projects like this is to consider them a “labor of love.” You have to do it for yourself first and hope others appreciate your work. Positive feedback becomes the second method of affirmation, if not compensation. Click here to subscribe for FREE! To stimulate interest in the reboot, I released all four issues of the first volume (2005) as a single FREE (again!) PDF. That can be downloaded here.

Big shoutout and thanks to my mate Mark Pennell for designing the new magazine logo. See the cover image here for the magazine logo and the end of this blog for the circular “sticker” logo. I will have some stickers available soon.

Mentioning buying me a cup of coffee just reminded me that I created a LinkTree with all my weblinks and social media in one place. Yes, it includes Starbucks gifting (and my Amazon wishlist … wink, wink)! Click here to view ALL OF MY LINKS.

What else? Well, the photo of me above shows my Alex Goh macro diffuser in use. I will have an MK Diffuser soon! It is coming from Malaysia. That’s exciting news as it is similar (the Goh diffuser is a copy of the MK), but the MK 2.0 integrates USB LED lights, and I can’t wait to get more serious about macrophotography. I have experimented a bit with focus stacking (the jumping spider on the magazine cover above is a stack of four exposures), both with Photoshop alone and Zerene Stacker. Now I am demoing Helicon focus stacking software and plan to refine my skills.

For those unfamiliar with focus stacking, close-up photograph, and super macrophotography present the problem of a shallow depth of field. The fantastic jumping spider photos you see are often 50 or more exposures combined into one. That is, images with different areas of the subject in crisp focus are combined so that all parts are in focus. My photography has always been single exposure, and I liked to think of myself as a purist because of it, but I want to take my photography to the next level. Look again at the robber fly image. Imagine if both the fly and its bee prey were in perfect focus. That requires stacking images with different focus points. The same is often done with landscape photography even though it seems the opposite of close-up photography. For example, you can take an exposure with something in the foreground in perfect focus and then take another with the mountains or whatever is in the background crisply focused and combine them into one amazing photograph. Helicon seems more straightforward to use than Zerene and is less expensive, and I look forward to showing you the results.

Cheers, MJ

PS - Any new readers into arachnoculture (the hobby) may wish to dive into my old blog, Kiss My Big Hairy Spider (2008-2017). There are about 170 posts there! I guess I’m up to 300 entries from KMBHS to Pikey (first 68 posts of this blog) to the third incarnation here at mjacobi.com.

#127 - All things must come to end ...

“All things must come to end”

— Chaucer (1374-ish)

Part One

This old proverb is attributed to Chaucer. The word “good” was added much later and there are many variations. After exactly three years, my life on the road has come to end. I don’t need to use the added “good” as there is good and bad in everything. But, overall, there was much “good” and I fully intend to live a life on the road again. But it won’t be soon.

Full-time RV-ing is a wonderful thing. For those with the means, which includes not only financial stability, but access to doctors and friends and family, it can go on forever. For me, three years exhausted me in all ways, most importantly in terms of mental health. I have battled mental health issues and part of my choice to live free on the road was to find peace and happiness. In the short term, it was therapeutic; in the long term, the antithesis of happy and healthy.

So, I return to Chicago for the support and love of family, and the doctors and work I need. Even a self-proclaimed “loner” gets lonely, and for those with my brain chemistry, the bleakness of …

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I composed the above on January 16. As you can see, I abruptly ceased writing. Then I started to try to blog once again in April, and then stopped once more, as you will learn below. Then I resumed this week. And here you go …

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Part Two

Returning to blogging is more than just a smidgen intimidating. My recent writings focused on faunal wonders and grand adventures among the majesty of the Chiricahua Mountains. Photography, hiking, travel. Now I am in suburban Chicago and, like many, observing #stayathome. What stories do I have to share?

I began my second attempt at writing this entry back in April but, for a number of reasons, lost interest in sharing. One primary cause was my mental health. When I got to the discussion of mental health I felt I was getting “too personal.” That readers of my blog were mostly interested in my wildlife adventures or travel, and that perhaps this wasn't the audience for me to open up to about my own struggles. One of my battles is that I keep everything inside. I live in my own head and my own world. But in the interest of May being Mental Health Awareness Month, yesterday I posted “Break the Stigma graphics” on my social media, and publicly declared my own battles with mental health issues. I am diagnosed with Panic Anxiety Disorder and Acute Major Depression. I take medications. I first received treatment for mental health disorders over fifteen years ago. I saw a psychiatrist regularly and was on medications for years until my divorce and the resulting end of health insurance. Moving to the present, I am now in talk therapy. When I returned to Chicago over seven years ago after the loss of my mother, I went back on medications for anxiety and depression. I have been off and on them since, which I will explain later. One of the major problems with mental health problems, which 1 in 4 people will suffer from this year, is that stigma and breaking the silence. So, I will share.

I've been back on my home turf since January and haven't had fabulous tales to tell. I also have not felt well at all. However, I did travel to England and Scotland via Ireland in March with my stepdad Joel to visit my dear friends Mark, Kim, and Elli Pennell, as well as deliver the after-dinner presentation at the annual lectures of the British Tarantula Society. I do have some travel tales to tell. But we will come back to that.

First, an explanation of my abrupt end to my three-year odyssey as an RV-living nomad is in order. I don't wish to share everything, but I will say that I needed to address my psychological, physical, and financial health. I couldn't continue and at the end of my adventure I was mentally in a dangerously bleak place. Mental health is a private matter, but at the same time I am in favor of “breaking the stigma” and “ending the silence.” Speaking public about it can also be personally therapeutic, and beneficial to others who struggle and perhaps have the shame of talking openly about it. I wish there to be no shame in my game.

My life on the road was an escape. At first, it aided my mental health. Dramatically. As a self-professed “loner,” the lifestyle seemed perfect for me. I was in nature, camera in hand, and life was good. Even great. I was also medicated. Before I departed I got my doctor to put me back on a medication regimen similar to that my psychiatrist back in Nashville a decade earlier had me on. However, living on the road would mean I was away from care. Unfortunately, I didn't give that enough thought at the time. I returned to Chicagoland for six months during the first winter, and then again the following winter for a shorter time. I saw my general practitioner during that time, and he would prescribe anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications. I began to realize that I felt worse in Chicagoland than when I was elsewhere, something my current therapist has commented on several times. She believes my “home environment” harms my mental health. However, the joy of my road life, which became more of a live-mostly-stationary-in-an-RV in Cave Creek Canyon not-on-the-road life, dissipated when I returned to Arizona again in 2019. There were many reasons, some of which I won't divulge here.

I will say that the pressures of little income, isolation, the increasing need for long-overdue physical and dental care, not to mention reassessment of my mental health condition, became overwhelming, and that, coupled with some other matters, my idyllic life in my beloved mountain range lost its charm. I've made many abrupt changes in my life. Many complete and dramatic transformations that were perhaps hasty. I felt I had no choice but to make another, or you could say reverse the last one, I suppose. I went to Tucson to sell my RV and, that done, returned to my family in Chicagoland, somewhat defeated and needing care.

I lost my doctor during my three-year RV life. Somehow I had been able to acquire Medicaid health insurance and he was able to use that at first, but Centegra Healthcare became Northwestern, and that mega-network doesn't accept IlliniCare. I'll resist the temptation to go off on a tangent regarding the abysmal and shameful state of health care and health insurance in the United States. Unfortunately, that meant I could no longer get prescription refills, and I was forced to wean myself off of my mental health meds. That worked. Until it didn't. I felt good when I was still enjoying my life in Cave Creek Canyon and didn't have stressors or triggers that would negatively affect me. When I tired of my situation as the caretaker and a host of the Cave Creek Canyon Visitor Center, and thought about how my lifestyle wasn't sustainable financially or mentally or physically, I withered fast. As I stated, life on the road initially was partly about improving my mental health and it allowed me to get away from medication. But when the stressors returned, I began to take the leftover medication until it ran out. Without it, I was crippled and had to get back to Illinois to find a new doctor.

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Part Three

OK, that's enough heaviness for now. It certainly is enough sharing. However, I wanted to state publicly that I have severe symptoms of anxiety and depression that manifest themselves physically, especially in the form of a constant indescribably odd feeling in my head, and this incapacitates me much of the time. Being in lockdown here back in Illinois has been very rough on me, and it's tough to get through most days. My talk therapy is helping and my therapist is wonderful. My daily brisk morning three-mile walks were helping before I badly strained my knee and had to stop for now. The medications really aren't doing much, and keep getting changed and adjusted. The one that works is a “benzo” but the current trend is to consider these taboo and lump their use in with opioids and worse. It’s difficult to get Xanax or even the Clonazepam I have been given instead prescribed. My therapist is convinced that living in Chicagoland isn't healthy for me, and certainly not having my own place and not working and many other present factors are combining and conspiring to make me not really want to wake up most mornings. I came back to Chicagoland to get better, not have it make me worse.

But, on I forge. Just know that many people suffer from mental illness and it is not about being “depressed” or unhappy. It is a chemical imbalance and physical disease, and a psychological result of many years of unhealthy relationships or family life or unhealthy coping mechanisms or whatever, combined into a daunting illness that requires treatment just like anything else. What I can’t explain to doctors or family or anyone is how mental illness affects me physically. My head feels weird constantly. I am tired of doctors looking at me like I’m crazy while telling the same story, again and again, to have it diagnosed as “non-specific” this or that. It feels like I have brain cancer or something and it doesn’t go away. And the doctors - or now nurse practitioners since that is who I see instead at the clinic I ended up selecting - barely listen.

OK, time to push on. Let's return to the trip to the UK, which put me somewhere in the double digits for trips to Blighty since 2007. I think somewhere around 14, including one year when I visited the UK four times!

Kim & Mark Pennell, with me and Joel at the Oban Distillery in Oban, Scotland

After Mark had visited me in Arizona in August to celebrate my 55th birthday along with John Apple and his gal Ashley, I began to think about when I would see him again and whether I could make it back to Bristol, England in the near future. It all worked out when, courtesy of the British Tarantula Society (BTS), I was invited to present at their 18th Lectures and Dinner. This annual event is hosted by Mark and his wife Kim at the Aztec Hotel & Spa in a suburb of their Bristol hometown. My first trip to the UK was when the BTS first invited me to speak in 2007. It was just after my trip to Costa Rica with then BTS Chairman Andrew Smith. I had become the North American Representative of the society. That 2007 edition of the lectures were also attended by Scott and Debby Scher who own Arachnoboards.com, with whom I had organized the Arachnocon events that were held in San Antonio, Texas in 2006 and 2007. Scott and Debby would later also be asked to become BTS North American Representatives. In 2007, they traveled to the UK with Tom Patterson, who like his friends Scott and Debby are from the New York City area. Readers of this blog, and those who either saw my live lecture this year or have seen the “studio version” I will mention shortly, will recall that Tom visited me in Arizona this past late October to be part of our six-man “Team Sky Island Tarantulas 2019.”

As plans for this March's trip to Bristol developed, my stepdad Joel decided to join me. We didn't realize at the time that I would be staying with him again by the time the trip departed, but he had traveled to the lectures with me four years earlier and was interested in seeing England again. As we discussed things with Mark and Kim the idea to visit Scotland for the first time was born. My lecture topic would be obvious as this all occurred just before my “Team Sky Island Tarantulas 2019” would assemble at my camp in the Chiricahuas and further search for new species of high elevation tarantulas would commence. Everything fell into place quite naturally, but in the weeks leading up to the trip COVID-19 became a concern.

Joel watches CNN daily and things were changing daily as I had already begun packing my suitcase. The day before our departure, and even the morning we were to leave, I was genuinely worried that Joel would want to cancel the trip. That would have meant me canceling as well. But that afternoon we were on our way to O'Hare International Airport for an overnight flight to Dublin and on to a Bristol, England arrival the following morning. This was before social distancing became a thing. All of the warnings were centered around washing your hands for twenty seconds or more as often as possible. We also had our own hand sanitizer. However, that was about it for precautions when we boarded our plane. People congregated as usual.

When we arrived in Dublin, we noticed much more signage about COVID-19 and many changes. Restaurants were mostly closed. The shops that remained open weren't taking cash and electronic payment was required. We only had a short layover and then boarded our prop plane for the less than one hour flight to Bristol. That plane, which holds maybe 80, was about half full. Soon we were on the ground in England, collected our luggage, and met Kim who so graciously was waiting to transport us to Mark's Serious Ink Tattoo Studio. Our friend from France, legendary tarantula breeder and explorer Jean-Michel Verdez (“JMV”), was due to get another tattoo from Mark that morning so we expected him to be there when we arrived. As we pulled up, I saw the French license plates on a car in front and found JMV in the chair, and our friend and his traveling companion and fellow French tarantula breeder/explorer Benoît Ménart sitting on the sofa.

After saying our hellos to Mark and Elli, as well as JMV and Benoît, Joel and I had a trip planned into the Clifton area of Bristol for a full English breakfast. On past visits to Bristol I have stayed at a motel in this area, which is where BBC Bristol is located. It’s only two train stops from the station about a ten-minute walk from Mark’s studio in Shirehampton. I haven’t used public transportation in the U.S. since my days at the University of Illinois-Chicago over thirty-five years ago, but it is fun to get yourself around in foreign lands via buses and trains. In fact, later in the week I would figure out how to catch a series of two buses from the Aztec Hotel & Spa where we stayed to get to Shirehampton and then walk on down to Mark’s Serious Ink Tattoo Studio. It’s fun to experience the locals and people watch. Using a taxi would be much less adventurous.

After our “breaky,” as the Brits like to call it, Joel and I walked around a bit before catching the train back to “the Shire” and returning to the tattoo studio. Later we would meet up with another friend, Mark & Kim’s best friend Haidee, who drove us to check-in at the Aztec Hotel & Spa. It was time to get ready for the Friday evening meet & greet with British Tarantula Society Lectures & Dinner attendees, which would take place right at our hotel. About one-third of those registered for the lectures take advantage of this wonderful social evening that includes a group dinner for those staying the full weekend at the Aztec. However, it is pricey lodging so many people choose to stay elsewhere, and don’t arrive until the next day’s lectures. That evening I spent a good deal of time with my dear mate, arachnohistorian and tarantula filmmaker and author Andrew Smith, plus JMV and Benoît and many more friends, old and new.

The morning of the lectures Joel and I met Mark & Kim as well as Peter and Connie Kirk for the first of many breakfasts at the Aztec. The pandemic was beginning to change things, and the usual buffet-style full English breakfast plus continental options were only available that weekend before it quickly changed to ordering exactly what you wanted.

Your after-dinner featured presenter, the bald tattooed American in black. #seriousink

Later, after breakfast, I helped Mark prepare a short presentation that would include the group photos from each of the previous seventeen years of the BTS Lectures & Dinner. People began to arrive and were filling the lobby outside the lectures room, which the hotel had well-stocked with beverages and snacks. However, the room itself was closed to everyone except the BTS committee and lecturers. Mark was loading everyones PowerPoint or Keynote presentations on his laptop, while I created slides for the historical group shots.

It was great to finally see Guy Tansley, Paul Carpenter, and others as the lobby outside the room continued to fill with excited attendees. Because my lecture wouldn’t be until after the banquet dinner, I was relaxed and just enjoying talking with friends I hadn’t seen in several years and meeting some new ones. Ray Hale and his wife Angela, who hadn’t made it the previous evening, finally arrived and I was happy to see these dear friends.

My mate Ray Hale (BTS Vice-Chairman and Exhibition Organizer), me, and Joel

Mark and I getting things read just before the lectures.

Then the lectures began. First up was Mark’s short introduction and the slideshow of previous lectures we had worked on.

Then the stage belonged to Emma Lawlor, a lovely Irish lass who gave a fascinating presentation titled Barcoding: A Useful Tool in Taxonomy. I was told afterward that it was her first real lecture and she was very nervous, but I couldn’t tell. She did a fabulous job.

Emma was followed by a lovely English bloke, Paul Carpenter, my mate with whom I have traveled to Costa Rica in 2006, Suriname in 2012, and Sri Lanka in 2014. His topic was Somewhere in the Gulf of Guinea, a tale of the tarantulas from two islands, a field trip that included another mate and traveling companion of mine, Guy Tansley, who was a part of the aforementioned Suriname and Sri Lanka trips, plus Paul’s brother Mark who joined us in Costa Rica and Sri Lanka, and Richard Gallon and Rolf Könen.

Paul was then followed by Ray Hale. Ray and Angela have been doing cruises in Indonesia with SeaTrek where Ray lectures on local fauna and evolution and other topics. A devotee of natural selection co-discoverer Alfred Russel Wallace, Ray’s topic was the Crossing the Wallace Line, and he covered the flora and fauna of the world’s largest island country with an emphasis on the faunal boundary (Wallace Line) that separates the biogeographical realms of Asia and Wallacea, a transitional zone between Asia and Australia, which Wallace discovered and created in 1859. I should mention that Ray and Angela joined our group led by Mark and Kim on Langkawi Island, Malaysia in 2017, as did my friend JMV and his wife Monique, so the theme of my world spider-hunting traveling companions being featured in the lectures was continuing.

And it didn’t stop there. The man who led my Costa Rica and Suriname adventures, legendary lecturer Andrew Smith, would close out the afternoon’s lectures. Poecilotheria – Carter’s Railway Spiders was a preview of his upcoming two-part documentary on his recent field trip to India with Guy Tansley and Stuart Longhorn. Andrew, who was the long-time Chairman of the BTS, usually has had the honor of being the after-dinner presenter, and it was truly an honor for me to be put in that coveted spot this year. As the afternoon’s lectures wound down and dinner was soon to come, all that would be left would be my presentation, The Tarantulas of the USA with a Focus on the Sky Islands of Arizona and New Species.

We all sat down to what the Brits call a “hot fork buffet,” where fortunately the forks are cool and it is the food that is hot. The room had been laid out wedding-style, with assigned tables and seats. At our primary table were Peter and Connie Kirk, Ray and Angela Hale, Mark and Kim Pennell, Mark’s sister Chris and her husband Alan, friends who I have spent three Malaysia trips with, not to mention my many visits to Bristol, and then Martin Nicholas, Joel, and me. As dinner wound down, I took the podium. After a fabulous introduction by Mark, which was preceded by my own announcement that bathroom breaks and bar stock-ups would be in order before my lengthy talk, I launched what would be an over 90-minute lecture detailing all American tarantula species.

I’m gonna leap ahead in time here before returning to Bristol and the trip Mark, Kim, Joel, and I took to Scotland for three days and two nights. Rolf Könen was kind enough to record my presentation for me, but after returning home and thinking about it for some time I decided I would produce a scripted and narrated version for YouTube release. There were things I left out of my live lecture and things I wanted to explain better, plus I hoped I could make it more concise. I failed with the latter because my voiceover version is actually almost two hours, but I did produce something that was more complete and also would be an HD full-screen version of my Keynote presentation rather than what was captured by a camera in a dark room with background noise. For those who haven’t seen it here you go. Please view the film on YouTube in HD and full screen for the best result.

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Part Four

Back to our timeline … The day after the Lectures we met for breakfast with everyone again and then made plans to see Mark and Kim later in the day. In England the meal they refer to as “dinner” (not “tea” or supper or “evening meal”) is traditionally on Sunday and is a “Sunday roast.” So, the four of us went to the White Lion, in Bristol’s suburb of Westbury on Trym for our roast.

White Lion, Westbury on Trym, at sunset

Kim, me, and Mark with pre-dinner drinks at White Lion, Westbury on Trym

Mark and I at the bar of Cuan Mor in Oban, Scotland. The name is Gaelic for “Big Ocean” and its street just around the corner from Oban Distillery has wonderful views of Oban Bay. But, as is usually the case in Scotland, it was blustery and rainy.

After dinner we had a nightcap back at the Aztec, and then Joel and I prepared for the following morning’s trip to Scotland. We would be checking out of the Aztec for two nights and had brought a smaller carry-on bag to use for Scotland. We stored our larger luggage at the Aztec during our absence. Haidee was once again kind enough to chauffeur us, and Mark and Kim picked us early at the hotel and then we met Haidee at their house for the trip to Bristol’s small international airport. After a one-hour flight to Edinburgh we were soon picking out a rental car so we could drive west and tour the Scottish Highlands. I had yet to discover just how magical a place it is.

Our plan was to take the back roads and scenic routes and enjoy the countryside and its castles and villages before visiting Oban distillery and then driving on to Glencoe, where we would spend the first night. The next day we would continue to stay off the beaten path and take in the small villages of the highlands before spending the night in Stirling and visiting Stirling Castle the last morning. Our flight back to England wouldn’t be until mid-afternoon.

We stopped at a number of places as we drove, but the weather was wet and windy and we were prevented from the strolls we would have liked to take in some of these beautiful and charming villages. But as the saying on shirts and mugs in gift shops throughout Scotland declares, “In Scotland there’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes.” Of course, another common quip you don’t find on souvenirs much is “which day in June is Scottish summer?”

Balloch Castle

Since 1794 … One of my favorite Scotch whiskies. We were served and sampled some cask strength, and I left with a bottle of “The Distiller’s Edition”, double matured Oban Single Malt Scotch Whisky aged 12 years in a normal cask before maturing another almost two years in a Montilla Fino “sherry” cask. I am still enjoying this distilled in 2005 and bottled in 2019 nectar.

Joel in front of the Chachaig Inn in Glencoe Village, Scotland where we spent the first night. This area is famous for so many productions being filmed in the area from Harry Potter to Highlander to James Bond’s Skyfall and many more.

The view from Clachaig Inn. Now you see why medieval and fantasy movies are filmed here. And why I fell in love with the Scottish Highlands.

On the trails that surrounded the Clachaig Inn

Our second day found us meandering on more backcountry roads, visiting the nature reserves in the Ballachulish-Glencoe and Glen Nevis areas, and having lunch at an incredibly quaint little village pub in Pitlochry, Scotland. We passed the Dalwhinnie Distillery but it had already been shut down due to COVID-19. That was a trend that we would see for the rest of our UK trip. In fact, our tour of Oban Distillery the previous day was the last they would offer before closing to the public. We checked on Stirling Castle where we planned to spend the following morning and discovered that we could go, but it would be the last tour they gave before their own shutdown. Once we returned to Bristol, we went out to dinner two nights in a row at places with no other diners and the establishments closing as soon as we left. We began to wonder if we would be able to get back to America! Eventually, we headed east and made our way to Stirling, and Hotel Colessio where we would spend our second night in Scotland.

Dalwhinnie Distillery in Dalwhinnie. There are five different types of Scotch whisky depending on region, and this distillery on the western edge of Cairngorms National Park actually can legally claim either Highland or Speyside.

Dunstaffnage Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Caisteal Dhùn Stadhainis) is a partially ruined castle in Argyll and Bute, western Scotland.

Drummond’s Restaurant & Public House in Pitlochry, Scotland

Hotel Colessio, Stirling, Scotland

After we got settled into our hotel, I found a pub within walking distance to spend the evening. Nicky-Tams Bar & Bothy was a very interesting place with colorful characters, to say the least. A “bothy” is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone. It also refers to basic accommodations for gardeners or other workers on an estate. It had two floors and the small bar area on the entry level was crowded so we took our drinks to the upstairs where we had the place to ourselves except for people who came up for the restrooms. We had drinks and food, me drinking fine Scotch, of course, at unbelievable prices. Afterward, we stopped at a convenience store for some chocolates and snacks and returned for a nightcap at the bar in the Colessio. The barman recommended a 14-year-old Speyside Single Malt called Inchgower that was wonderful.

The next morning we walked up the road to Stirling Castle for their final tour before closing due to the pandemic. I’m not much on history so I bored of it quickly despite the delightful Scottish accent of our young lady guide, but I do enjoy architecture and the walk to the beautiful castle passed many interesting buildings and a cemetery.

Church of the Holy Rude and Old Town Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland

Old Town Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland

Stirling Castle

A godless ape preaching the gospel inside Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle and Stirling, Scotland

After our visit to Stirling Castle, our foursome checked out of Hotel Colessio and had some time for a leisurely drive back to Edinburgh, where we drove into the city center and saw Edinburgh Castle. I am not much for cities either, but I loved Edinburgh and was sorry we would just catch a glimpse of it. We returned our rental car at the airport and had lunch in the terminal while awaiting our flight back to Bristol.

Edinburgh Castle from the road. No tour.

Back in Bristol on Wednesday evening, Joel and I checked back into the Aztec Hotel & Spa in the Bristol suburb of Almondsbury. It was an odd time as things were rapidly progressing with the global pandemic and we were a long way from home. As I mentioned above, we would find our next nights’ meals to be the last served at each restaurant we went to. But on Wednesday we had Mark and Kim return to the Aztec and have dinner with us in its nice restaurant. Thursday morning I figured out how to walk to the bus stop on the other side of the huge roundabout beside the Aztec and take two buses to Shirehampton to walk ten minutes more to Serious Ink Tattoo Studio where I would hang out with the Pennells. Joel would enjoy the hotel spa and pool. On Friday, Mark finished my sleeves. My right arm is my tribute to my late mother and also my beloved dog Taylor, and there was just enough space on the wrist to add “Jesse” and a feather in memorial of my parrot that passed away in September 2019 a week after turning 29. My left arm had more space around the elbow and Mark did an amazing job of filling that gap as well.

Aztec Hotel & Spa, Almondsbury, Bristol, UK

Early Saturday morning, Mark and Kim picked Joel and I up to take us to Bristol airport for our journey back to Chicago. The night before we had our final dinner at the Bengal Raj, one of our fabulous hosts’ favorite restaurants. Elli and her boyfriend Laurence joined us. The previous day at midnight was the “deadline” to return from abroad for U.S. citizens. We found the airport mostly deserted and our prop-plane flight from Bristol to Dublin only had about 20 people on it (one-third capacity). One of the reasons I fly Aer Lingus through Dublin is that there is a U.S. Customs Pre-clearance Facility at Dublin Airport so you arrive back in the U.S. as a domestic passenger. We breezed through that process and waited for the flight from Ireland to O’Hare. The airport was mostly shut down. Our flight was on a plane that holds more than 310 passengers, but there were only about 125 on the flight. Joel was able to spread out on a center row of four seats alone. Unfortunately, Aer Lingus planes have armrests that don’t go completely vertical so laying across them is next to impossible. Arriving at O’Hare I usually can go straight down to baggage claim from the international terminal, bypassing the customs area. However, CDC-operated personnel was awaiting our flight so we were ushered by an officer through the customs area without any checks and then into a very brief wait to give a questionnaire we were provided on the flight to the CDC staff. They asked additional questions and then directed us to a table where we would turn in the form to paramedics and other “volunteers” who took our temperature with a non-contact forehead thermometer, asked more questions, and then sent us to baggage claim. We got out of the airport very quickly as it was already becoming a ghost town.

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Part Five

I’ll wrap this long blog up now. It’s the first of 2020 and took all five months so far to write. In closing, I just want to add that I do have some more narrated Keynote presentation ideas in mind. I have already begun working on one that will cover the rattlesnakes of southeastern Arizona. I hope you all will enjoy some photographic slideshows that are supplemented by learning more about the wildlife I was fortunate to capture by camera during my three-year odyssey. With the tarantulas covered in depth by my BTS lecture and its two-hour narrated version, we will start with rattlesnakes and see what you think. I am finding it hard to focus (hell, I’m finding it difficult to “life”) and often cannot do much more than lay and Netflix and YouTube binge, but I’ll do my best to work a little on these projects each day.

Happy Memorial Day and Happy Mental Health Awareness Month!

All the best, MJ

#126: Cats. Coatis. Christmas.

I just saw a White-nosed Coati in the corral for the first time minutes ago. After the pair of Bobcats that visited my corral homestead this past week, story and video of which was included in my last blog entry, the next day I almost ran over a Mountain Lion as I four-wheeled up the Trans-mountain Road to hike in the snow above 8000 ft. elevation at Barfoot Park. It seems like a good time to type a few stories.

The day after the Bobcat duo snatched a Rock Squirrel from the corral, I decided I wanted to take some photos of the snow at the mountain top, including images of one of our late October-early November tarantula hotspots now that snow has arrived at higher elevation. I was making my way up Forest Road 42 (aka Trans-mountain Road) at a good clip and had just started to see patches of snow in shady areas when I was startled into slamming on the brakes. Timing is everything, and a Mountain Lion had chosen to cross the road just as I reached its location. It was twenty feet in front of my truck and staring at me scared as it scurried out of the path of two tons of Ford. It was the fourth Mountain Lion sighting of the year for me, the seventh in the past two years. Other than the time I barely got a glimpse of a lion moving through cover near my homestead, all other encounters were at first dark or later. Lions usually are active at dawn and dusk and night, very stealthy and seldom seen. But, this was 11 a.m. and broad daylight. It looked right towards my approaching truck, and I watched it scramble to avoid me and descend the slope on the other side of the road. I slammed the truck into park, grabbed my camera, and dashed after it but just caught a quick look at it again before it disappeared into cover.

I’ve seen families of Coatis (aka Coatimundi) crossing the road and trails, often see lone males feeding on the suet and jelly and other bird food at Cave Creek Ranch where I do my laundry, and also have encountered lone males while backcountry hiking. Males are loners out of breeding season, whereas groups of females and young can number 10-30+. However, this is the first time I looked out the window of my RV and saw one. Sadly, my camera was out in my truck, and when I opened my door, he disappeared up the slope towards Silver Peak Trail. Since I couldn’t capture his photo, nor that of the momentary lion experience, I’ll share a White-nosed Coati image from last year up South Fork Trail. I know I shared it in a previous entry, but that was some time ago.

White-nosed Coati (Nasua narica)

Temperatures have been as low as 20ºF overnight at my homestead, yet the magnificent RIvoli’s Hummingbirds keep coming to my feeders. There might not be much wildlife active at this time of year, but Bobcats, Mountain Lions, Coatis, and one of the largest and prettiest hummingbirds you’ll ever see are good enough for me. On warm sunny afternoons, I even see insect life around the corral. Oh, why not add another photo? Here’s a male “Mag” or Rivoli’s Hummingbird. I avoid taking photographs of birds at feeders, but I’ve always liked this one from my first year in the Chiricahuas.

Rivoli’s (aka Magnificent) Hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens), male

Christmas is one week away. I don’t celebrate it, but my last blog entry revealed that I decorated the Wheelhouse and have a tree. I was motivated to do a little decorating… we will just leave it at that. Unfortunately, the frequent high winds have forced me to keep the small live tree inside next to my much smaller artificial Christmas tree.

Whatever you might do for the holidays, I wish you all the best. I will just be snug in my Wheelhouse reading and writing, and probably playing the guitar. I’ll raise a glass of whiskey to all of you.

MJ