Pickles by Brian Crane for April 29, 2019

Some things just change your life!

Wouldn’t it be safer for Opal to wear ball gown gloves… the gloves you wear completely over your arms?

I have no problems with spiders. As long as they are not in my place!

They can be useful in the garden, but not in the house! My dog catches them in the house occasionally.

Fly swatters also work on spiders ;-)

A jumping spider in my house means no flies or mosquitoes!

Almost surprised I didn’t hear the screams from here.

One time I grabbed what I thought was a loose thread from a shelf liner & it was the leg of a cockroach. Not just any cockroach either, but one of the species that I call Roachzilla that’s so prevalent here in the South.

I have done that once or twice with some “bugs”. Now I always wear my glasses so I can see what that “fuzz” is.

There NO chance in hell a spider survives in my house….ewwww! Now I have the heebeejeebees

I suffer from Blattodeaphobia, but spiders are OK.

In our NW Tucson Catalina location tarantulas used to be a common sight. These a huge furry spiders areno threat to people like the Brown Recluse. Every Halloween I do a banjo bit giant spiders Fred & Matilda, that terrified Bashas Supermarket lady, who could barely touch them to scan price tag. Copy & paste Google drive link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0liWES6qgxjQ3JrdzhKWEszVVE/view?usp=sharing

In my part of Ecuador, we don’t have any harmful, ie. poisonous spiders to worry about. Spiders are beneficial in keeping a lot of other critters’ population in check.

I really hate mosquitos and all the other nasty flying, biting/stinging insects we have here – particularly around our casa de campo in the country.

I had severe arachnophobia in my youth. Couldn’t even look at a picture of a spider in a book. Then when my own kids came along, I decided I had to put on a brave face in front of them, and when I did that, I actually got over it! Analyze that.

“Did you check for spiders in the gloves?”

……………………….

One day in East Brewton, Alabama, I squished two black widows grabbing a wheelbarrow, one letting down the tailgate, two more grabbing a shovel, a few more grabbing some water jugs.

When I showed them to my father, he had us leave immediately. The last time one bit him nearly killed him. He wasn’t looking for a repeat.

When there is a strange spot anywhere careful looking is involved-besides spider a bee could be present or on the ground dog poop, which has been missed and stepped on occasionally. That’s life.

0, 2, 4, 6 legs fine – 8 legs not fine….. hundreds of legs also fine.

What she needs to be aware of is not the common house spider which are harmless. But the Brown Recluse (Loxosceles reclusa) their venom is necrotic but the bite is nearly painless. The effects take time to show. So killing the spider or capturing it is a good idea. I’d say naphtha would kill them aka “moth balls”.

The brown recluse spider is found throughout the south central and Midwestern United States.

Here, here. Some spiders giveth too easily.

Burn the house down. That’s the only solution.

Spiders are among the most beneficial creatures on earth. Get a dust pan, Opal. Pick the little critter up and put it outside. then go get your glasses checked.