My tale of dread and woe.

[Guest]

Dandelions have their own kind of beauty, but I still don't want them in my yard.

[Bini]

Dandelions have their own kind of beauty, but I still don't want them in my yard.

I agree with you on that one. We get those in our front yard all the time, and they're a pain to de-weed!

[Iggy]

I agree with you on that one. We get those in our front yard all the time, and they're a pain to de-weed!

Mow them when the flowers are yellow, then take a long flat head screwdriver and dig out the root. Toss in the GARBAGE not the compost.

Will take about three years to get rid of, unless your neighbors have them and don't tend to them.

[pam]

So was it anything like this?

[Guest]

Why do you hate me?

[pam]

Sorry I couldn't resist. :) I suppose I needed a little payback for the numerous buzzes of my cell phone.

[tumbledquartz]

I wanted to hit the laugh button but I felt guilty... because, hmm... maybe that's really what Jesus would do!

I bet he swatted mosquitoes that tried to suck his blood, though.

I can't tell you some of the horror stories I've had with spiders because I've told them to too many people for me to be comfortable with my anonymity on this site. Suffice it to say, I have felt your pain.

[Bini]

So was it anything like this?

Pam, that's icky but I still think Wolf Spiders look far more freaky.

I've got better over time but I used to call my husband up at work - frantic on the phone - demanding he get home to kill critters that I found inside the house. If he wasn't too far and located in town, he'd come to my rescue. I won't use chemicals in the household that aren't necessary, so I needed him to catch it before it escaped to another unknown part of the house.

[C_T_R]

Last night after the kids were asleep, I settled in for some rare time with my husband. We sat in bed watching his laptop- specifically, the Bible videos now available on LDS.org (which are quite good, by the way). I rested my head on his shoulder and relaxed.

I felt a tickle on the back of my neck. I have very long hair that sometime has a mind of its own, so at first I thought (hoped) it was just that. But it felt different. I went into full fight-or-flight mode, couldn't decide which to do, and did both. There in the soft light of my husband's laptop I did a wild interpretive dance about the fear of creepy crawly things, chanting "Please don't be a spider! Please don't be a spider!"

My dear, strong companion, who is more arachnophobic than even I, fled the bed in record time and dove for the light switch. The bulb was out. By now I was standing at the foot of the bed pointing and whisper-yelling something I don't remember, probably incomprehensible. He ran to my nightstand and turned my lamp on.

And there she was. The biggest spider I had seen in quite a long time, and I grew up in the country. Let's call her Shelob. Shelob seemed aware of her sudden mortal danger. She stood at first on a book under the lamp, clearly sizing us up (he was standing at the foot of the bed with me now), and decided to run. She headed for my laptop, thought better of it, and instead decided to rappel from the edge of the off-white table for the camouflage of the carpet.

There was another book on the floor just underneath her (we love books in our house). When she hit the book, we heard it. A very audible little "thunk". Such was the size of Shelob.

That's about how long it took my husband to get back to the nightstand with some object he'd grabbed on the way and send Shelob to another realm. "What kind was it?", I asked. His words of comfort to me were, "I think it was a wolf spider, you know the kind that run around and catch other bugs, but I didn't know they could get that big!"

We retreated to the bathroom and shook and brushed imaginary spiders off of ourselves for a few minutes. He started talking about the movie Arachnophobia, and the possibility of many snakes on the land we want to buy in the country, until I gave him The Look and he stopped. Eventually we braved the bed again, and settled in for a restless night of fitful sleep.

(from my blog post this morning. First blog update in a couple of years. LOL)

Eowyn, I'm so sorry this happened to you. For what it's worth this story has made my week. I kept laughing at random yesterday and today. I want to change my name to Shelob. Seriously. SO FUNNY. Where can I read your blog??

[pam]

Pam, that's icky but I still think Wolf Spiders look far more freaky.

I've got better over time but I used to call my husband up at work - frantic on the phone - demanding he get home to kill critters that I found inside the house. If he wasn't too far and located in town, he'd come to my rescue. I won't use chemicals in the household that aren't necessary, so I needed him to catch it before it escaped to another unknown part of the house.

Actually this is one type of wolf spider.

[Blackmarch]

Last night after the kids were asleep, I settled in for some rare time with my husband. We sat in bed watching his laptop- specifically, the Bible videos now available on LDS.org (which are quite good, by the way). I rested my head on his shoulder and relaxed.

I felt a tickle on the back of my neck. I have very long hair that sometime has a mind of its own, so at first I thought (hoped) it was just that. But it felt different. I went into full fight-or-flight mode, couldn't decide which to do, and did both. There in the soft light of my husband's laptop I did a wild interpretive dance about the fear of creepy crawly things, chanting "Please don't be a spider! Please don't be a spider!"

My dear, strong companion, who is more arachnophobic than even I, fled the bed in record time and dove for the light switch. The bulb was out. By now I was standing at the foot of the bed pointing and whisper-yelling something I don't remember, probably incomprehensible. He ran to my nightstand and turned my lamp on.

And there she was. The biggest spider I had seen in quite a long time, and I grew up in the country. Let's call her Shelob. Shelob seemed aware of her sudden mortal danger. She stood at first on a book under the lamp, clearly sizing us up (he was standing at the foot of the bed with me now), and decided to run. She headed for my laptop, thought better of it, and instead decided to rappel from the edge of the off-white table for the camouflage of the carpet.

There was another book on the floor just underneath her (we love books in our house). When she hit the book, we heard it. A very audible little "thunk". Such was the size of Shelob.

That's about how long it took my husband to get back to the nightstand with some object he'd grabbed on the way and send Shelob to another realm. "What kind was it?", I asked. His words of comfort to me were, "I think it was a wolf spider, you know the kind that run around and catch other bugs, but I didn't know they could get that big!"

We retreated to the bathroom and shook and brushed imaginary spiders off of ourselves for a few minutes. He started talking about the movie Arachnophobia, and the possibility of many snakes on the land we want to buy in the country, until I gave him The Look and he stopped. Eventually we braved the bed again, and settled in for a restless night of fitful sleep.

(from my blog post this morning. First blog update in a couple of years. LOL)

Sounds like the daily spider or two i have to get rid out of my bathtub...(only i think those are brown recluses)

[annewandering]

Sounds like the daily spider or two i have to get rid out of my bathtub...(only i think those are brown recluses)

I think spiders love tubs. Ok I know they cant get out because of the slick sides but do they HAVE to drop in them at all?

[tumbledquartz]

I kid you not, at the grocery store today there was a huge wolf-ish spider with a red spot on its back climbing on the scanning area. We pointed it out to the cashier, who spent some time trying to kill it with spray while thanking us for not letting her find out when it crawled on her hand. Ugh!

[Martain]

I hate spiders, too! But my dear sweet husband refuses to swat the little buggers DEAD. Oh bless his heart, I suppose, I guess that's what Jesus would do.

Mark 16:15-18

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

“We crossed the Embarras river and encamped on a small branch of the same about one mile west. In pitching my tent we found three massasaugas or prairie rattlesnakes, which the brethren were about to kill, but I said, ‘Let them alone—don’t hurt them! How will the serpent ever lose his venom, while the servants of God possess the same disposition and continue to make war upon it? Men must become harmless, before the brute creation; and when men lose their vicious dispositions and cease to destroy the animal race, the lion and the lamb can dwell together, and the sucking child can play with the serpent in safety.’ The brethren took the serpents carefully on sticks and carried them across the creek. I exhorted the brethren not to kill a serpent, bird, or an animal of any kind during our journey unless it became necessary in order to preserve ourselves from hunger.” (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 2:71–72.)

"If a man of God was accidentally bitten by a poisonous spider, he might have faith, or his brethren might have faith for him, so that the Lord would hear his prayer and he might be healed; but when a man designedly provokes a poisonous spider to bite him, the principle is the same as when a man drinks deadly poison knowing it to be such. In that case no man has any claim on the promises of God to be healed." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.71 with word serpent replaced with words poisonous spider)

If a true believer need not fear harm from a serpent, then why would I need fear harm from a spider? If a true believer need not fear harm from a spider, what justification have they for killing them? If you wouldn't kill a rattlesnake found in your tent but would remove it away from my camp, why wouldn't you put the spider outside the house as well rather than kill it? If we fear a spiders bite/venom, then what would that say about me in light of the above scriptures?

The single most effective natural agent for the control of hobo spiders is the presence of other competing and predatory spider species. No human method or technology can effectively compete in destroying or keeping hobo spiders away from homes, when compared to the activities of competitive/predatory spiders. (quote)

The quote above applies to other poisonous spider species as well. Unfortunately for many people, this means that if you want to be dangerous spider free, the safest thing is to leave benign non-threatening spiders alone no matter how much they freaks you out or you want to smash it.

The problem with that is that Brown Recluses and Hobo Spiders have other benign spider species which look very similar to them. I took the time to learn the difference between Hobo Spiders and their benign cousin the Giant house spider (Tegenaria gigantea and dullica). Now when I see a spider in my home I simply look and see which one it is and then either leave it alone or release it back into the wild. I also tell myself that the merciful receive mercy =).

Edited August 20, 2012 by Martain