Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Eek! A Spider!

I don't normally get too excited about spiders. I'll step on them if my family members insist, but for the most part, I like to let them control the other bugs. Last night, by contrast, while I was re-installing some insulation in the shed, I saw one crawl out of the batting towards my hand. It was just a few inches in front of my eyes, so I could see a violin-shaped marking on it's back quite plainly. I got my hand out of there in a hurry, and found the closest thing I thought would killing without destroying it — a can of artist's fixatif (well, at least he won't smudge now...?) — but despite the heavy spray, he got away. I could be wrong — I don't have the body for identification — but I think that's as close as I've gotten to a brown recluse ("fiddleback") spider. I'd have liked to have known for sure. Official sources claim that they don't live this far north, but there's quite a bit of anecdotal evidence that says they do. Oh, well. No bite, no spider, and only a little scary moment of adventure.

4 comments:

Carolyn Kerr said...

Just remember for next time that he and probably his extended family are still there...

Beautifully Profound said...

Break out the insecticide. Spiders, are by far the grossest bug on the planet. We have some on the roof of our porch. I dread working late at night cause they are crawling everywhere. I just don't look up and run in the house as fast as I can. BLECK. I am sure when I get to Australia it'll fun times with my better half and all the lovely spiders and other assorted creepy crawly things. I am going to find myself a heavy bug squisher and keep it as close as possible for emergency situations.

Jonadab said...

You could conceivably run into a brown recluse where you live, although they aren't terribly common. They also, as the name implies, will mostly stay out of your way. Nonetheless, I'm with you: I normally don't mind having spiders, even in my bedroom, but I don't think I'd willingly leave a brown recluse to live in my shed, especially not if I had small children. And yeah, there's no such thing as _one_.

Beautifully profound: if you are deeply grossed out by spiders, you might want to stear clear of Australia. Just saying.

Beautifully Profound said...

Thanks for the advice, no can do about Australia though. It's a fixed destination. Like I said I will keep my bug squisher within reach. ;-)