Sometimes I get calls from folks all in a dither: “Oh, Jim. There’s a huge spider in a web above the horse’s stall…and there’s another behind the barn door…and my son just came in and told me there’s another one near the porch light…are they dangerous?”

The answer is a flat, “no.” For there, in the flesh, so to speak, in all her egg-laden glory — is our dear old friend from E.B. White’s beautiful classic, Charlotte, of Charlotte’s Web. And to make you feel even better, I don’t believe Charlotte could bite you even if she wanted to. However, if you’re a fly, she’ll wrap you up in her silken cloak of death and you’re toast.

This may be the year of the scorpion. They seem to be popping up everywhere around Central Oregon – bedrooms, kitchens, garages, backyards, woodpiles and gardens. The concerned mother who found one in her children’s bedroom and brought it to me to identify is typical of how most people react when they encounter scorpions and spiders: innate fear that it will harm them or their family.

A couple of weeks back, my good friend (and geologist) Al Waibel gave me a call.

"Hey, Jim, how about joining a few friends and me Wednesday? We're going out to Newberry Monument and then Derrick Cave." Would I?

If these people were friends of Al's, they were already friends of mine—we all just didn't know it. So, at the assigned time and place, we all met, shook hands and carpooled off to Newberry Monument, south of Bend.

If you've driven the freeways between Brainerd, Minn., and Spokane, Wash., you will recall seeing the “World's Biggest Turkey,” the “World's Biggest Cow,” “World's Biggest T-Rex Skull” and other "Biggest" this-and-that.

A lot of kids, when suddenly confronted by a snake, freak out. My oldest son, Dean, from the moment he could crawl wasn't that way—he'd go after it. His younger brother, Ross, is that way, and so are my other four, for that matter.

Dean, however, was always one jump ahead of everyone else. Not only did he have the ability to make instant decisions as a child, but his curiosity and reflexes have benefited him as an adult—today, he is an F-16 Viper pilot and is presently on a year-long tour of duty as a peace-keeper in Afghanistan.