Attack Spider
Unfortunately, we have no pictures for this little entry, but we wanted to share our experience with our arachnid friends. During an intense heat wave this summer (very unusual for our beautiful city) we discovered that spiders are heat seekers. When your house has no air conditioning and lots of sun exposure, and the temperature inside the house reaches 110 (not exaggerating), you may find that you have some unwelcome house guests.
We were sitting on the couch one very hot night, reading, when Bee felt something and looked down to see a very large spider running across his chest! Ach! Later that night, still sitting on the couch reading, out of the corner of our eye we saw a movement on the floor near the open front door. We both looked up to see a mammoth spider hurtling towards us, like an Olympic sprinter. He was an impressive sight to behold; about 4 inches in diameter, big hairy legs and an enormous body (again, not exaggerating). Before we could react, he had covered the entire distance from the floor to about 2 feet in front of the couch, coming straight towards us. He suddenly froze, apparently sizing up the situation, at which point we jumped up onto the couch and stood there for a few seconds staring back at our 8-legged intruder. Bee sprung into action, diving from the couch into the bedroom to get an implement of mass destruction (Bee’s favorite phrase). Who knew a shoe could be so deadly? Although it seemed to be inadequate compared to the size of the beast, it did the job. The front door was promptly shut, and we were a little hesitant to leave it open at night after that. We both shudder at the thought of the experience still…