Function follows form*

If Tuck builds it, the animals will come. Above, Tiny rules her realm from atop the venerable woodpile behind the house, keeping a watchful eye on the comings and goings of neighborhood fauna, domestic and wild. The logs -- mostly Black Cherry and Tree of Heaven -- were hand hewn through the years by the Tuckster from the trunks and branches of trees felled and pruned here on the "estate" in Chelsea-by-the-Sea. He uses them to keep the homefires burning in the Franklin stove upstairs in the living room on winter evenings when it's cold outside.

Another of Tuck's constructions, the handsome wooden compost box near the woodpile, is a big draw for the spineless community, including these two funnel-web spiders (above and below), who had created a two-decker residential complex in one corner. What with the house flies, fruit flies and other insects drawn by the scent of composting fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen, life is good for a spider in the corner of the compost box.

Update: Life is good for ailurophiles at Carnival of the Cats #174 at Laurence Simon's wild and wooly TBIFOC.

*Blogpost title is a play on Louis Sullivan's "That form ever follows function. This is the law."

Comments

[Gayle Miller]

Great eye, as always, Sissy! And fantastic pussycat picture as well! What handsome critters we are both lucky enough to have in our lives.