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| Eureka Springs 2012 |
You won’t find any fake spider webs and hairy-legged creatures among my fall decorations. I don’t like spiders. I tolerate them outside because they get rid of bugs, but I don’t want to share my dwelling with them. Unfortunately, this is the time of year when they move indoors. At my house, that’s hazardous to their health. I will step on spiders that trespass.
My mother thought a spider might have visited me in my crib when I was a toddler. She said they found me hysterical one night and that it took a long time to settle me down. Afterwards I was terrified of spiders. I’m glad I can’t remember it.
Do you remember the story that circulated back when teased hair was in vogue, and sophisticated women wore beehive hairdos? It involved someonewho kept her hair teased for so long that a black widow spider built a nest in it. You know the rest. I’m certain there was a funeral involved.
Before Terry and I were married, I was reading in bed one night and looked over to find a big, ugly wood spider sitting on the pillow next to me. I didn’t think. I reacted. I flung that pillow and spider across the room, found a shoe and beat him to death. My throat still gets tight when I think about it. Maybe he was harmless, but I wasn’t interested in reading to him.
Several years ago, when a tarantula ventured into our kitchen from the garage, Terry swept him out with the broom. He felt bad about hurting Mr. T in the process. I DID NOT. If you had seen that hairy thing scurry and jump across my kitchen floor, you’d understand. I’ve read that their bites won’t kill you, but they HURT.
Outside, I can practice Live and Let Live with spiders. I appreciate their beautiful webs and the colors of some garden arachnids. But if I walk into a spider web, I go into a frenzy to be sure the critter didn’t drop into my hair.
What about you? Do you have any creepy-crawlie stories?
Reflections from Dorothy 
DJ, the spiders in my house are there as cat toys. I find dead ones, but not many living! But I think the big brown and black tarantulas are beautiful…move hem to safety whenever I come across one. (Yes, I have had ONE in my house…don't know how it got there. Boxed it up and put it in the field across the creek).
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Dorothy I remember the spider in the teased hairdo. I think someone who didn't care for the current style made it up. That was before the internet and before we could look at Snopes to see if it were true.
I agree with everything you said about spiders!
I don't like snakes either.
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P.S. – my granddaughter is just like you. The only good spider is a smooshed one, as far as she's concerned!
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And just how did you get him in the box!!
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I'm sure you're right on the hairdo story origin, but it was such fun to talk about it!
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Now, wait a minute, DJ. What if someone had squashed Charlotte before her story was finished?
😦
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I read where Annie Dillard (or perhaps Anne LaMott) lets spiders live in her house during the winter. I'm not so nice.
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I thought about Charlotte. I don't think she was in the house! That would be a live and let live situation. 🙂
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Me neither! I worked with a girl who would get a jar or something and catch the spiders everyone else was afraid of and put them outside. That was fine with me. I just don't want to share space with them.
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🙂 All in fun. I loved your post. I, too, keep spiders out of my house as much as possible, and swat them with a fly swatter if they do sneak in. The poisonous ones are definitely to be feared.
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Smallish spiders don't bother me. Hairy ones – that's another story.
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I knew you were playing! But I really did think about Charlotte.
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Those small ones are easy to squash!
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