Spider!

Sunday morning we finally woke up to a very nice cool breeze blowing outside. Yay! I love the relief that finally comes, even if it is brief, when it has been SO hot. I went around the house opening all the doors and windows possible to let the morning air blow through. I opened the boys closet door, walked in, opened the window turned to leave the closet and about died! Hanging right in the doorway, right where I had just walked, was a very, very big spider!

"SPIDER!" I half screamed... and stood there. My boy's heads popped up from their pillows and looked at mother in the closet with her strange morning greeting. I just pointed at the door and told them to look. They just lay there, in their beds, and looked. Obviously not so awfully excited as I was about it all. "Can you get that?" I asked. They just lay there. "Dave!" I called. But got no answer. He usually comes when I scream over large cockroaches. I was feeling a bit trapped. I didn't really want to go back by the spider. It was right in my way and it could LAND on me...or jump...or something. It's body was as long as a quarter and plump with long furry legs curled under it. It wasn't moving. It was just hanging there, right in the doorway I needed to go through. I finally took a deep breath and quickly slid myself through the side of the doorway out of the closet without looking at the spider and went straight to Dave. The boys kept an eye on the spider. Dave needed to get the spider. I was so glad he was home!!! It was way too big to squish in a wad of toilet paper and throw down the toilet, like I usually do when I find them. He grabbed a jar and a lid and a paper towel and we all met at the spider. "How did that one get in here?" Dave questioned.

The spider was really big. But, as we all examined and looked him over, he just sat there and he looked pretty dead. He was hanging by one single thread, not really moving. THankfully. I did not want to see him move. Dave put the jar around him and shut the lid. I took a picture. "I think he's dead anyway" said Eli. So maybe he was. He really wasn't moving much. Maybe just a teeny bit. "I think he's a Huntsman," Eli continued. "His insides are poisonous. They like to come in houses. We found some in our classrooms during school last year." I could only wonder about their bite. Don't they bite? I will look it all up later.
"I guess you don't want to eat those spiders" said Dave. Right now, I am glad he looks very dead in the sealed jar. Dave put him on the kitchen table for everyone to admire over breakfast. I put him out of sight while I ate. And there he still sits.

Side.

Face.

Bottom.

One thing I know I do not like about hot, somewhat tropical climates are the bugs. ALL of them. There are just too many. I loved having few bugs and spiders where we have lived before. Ok, so there are very large mosquitoes in Alaska, but I didn't really see those. They live in the bush. The only spiders I saw in Alaska and Norway were harmless black house spiders and daddy long legs. Nothing that I knew of with poison... or super giant.... or super giant, harry, jumpy, and very fast moving (that was in Texas). One more thing to miss about my old homes. I am learning to cope though. I have gotten very good at chasing down a cockroach without screaming and smashing it. You have to be very fast and sneaky to get those bugs. We had a bit of an infestation of roaches this spring (November) after putting the most lovely smelling fertilizer on all the gardens surrounding this home...it's called Blood and Bone. Sounds awful to me. But I guess the plants here love it. The smell of this stuff is soo intense. PHuuuuweeee!!! You can't breathe the air anywhere around it and you had best make sure every door and window of your house is closed before putting it anywhere in your yard. I am guessing the roaches either love it or run from it, because suddenly, I was seeing up to 4 large cockroaches a day all over my house. I had only ever seen them in one room of the house before and maybe by the back or front door and only one in a great while. But after the blood and bone there were suddenly roaches every day and not just one. So ya, I am practiced at getting the roaches. And I now have lovely little roach baits all over my house. Yay.

If I could choose to wipe out spiders or roaches, I'd definitely choose the roaches.

The SPIDER story continued...

The spider was admired and thought close to dead as he sat there in his jar. Here are a few things we learned about huntsman spiders. They can bite. They are not super poisonous, but the bite will hurt and can have side effects, like vomiting and a fever. They love to eat bugs...even cockroaches! Some people call them tarantulas. I am thinking if they do, they haven't seen a real tarantula. There is a huntsman spider type that is all green. Cool.

Dave and Eli took the spider outside to free him this afternoon. As soon as he was on the grass, he was back to what I am sure is his healthy normal self and quickly crawled away. I hope I don't find him back in my home again. Ever. I'll take care of the cockroaches in my house, he can take care of the ones outside.

And I guess it wouldn't do to wipe out all the cockroaches, because I suppose that would somehow throw off the balance of nature, wouldn't it?