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| Charlotte on the Job |
I think I'm the only person I know who does not have a fear of spiders. In fact I treat them like house pets. Working pets at that.
We've had an unseasonably warm November which has resulted in a few flies bouncing around. But not for long. Charlotte above has managed to capture them. I am in awe when I watch her work and was delighted when she agreed to pose for the picture above but only if I shot her from her best side. I agreed.
Apart from the intricacy of the web (click to embiggen) I am fascinated with the patience of spiders. I have much to learn. Even with prey many times their size trapped in the web, they will patiently surround it and parcel it up. It takes hours. And hours. And even if the web is broken, many more hours are taken to patiently repair it.
I never consciously break a web or kill a spider. They provide an absolutely essential service in the management of irritating flies. And this method is non-toxic to boot.
Charlotte is in my office window. She does like an ocean view as she works. Makes the time go by a little more serenely.
And of course, dinner is all the more succulent when you've put in a hard day at the office.
* Definition of Arachnophobia
1. Noun. A morbid fear of spiders.
Update - November 11 - Charlotte has packed up her web and gone away. Not a trace of her today.
Well, now you know someone else. I am not afraid of spiders. Well, if they land on me when I'm not expecting it, I might react reflexively. But otherwise I take a live and let live approach to spiders. I appreciate the work they do. The other day there was a little spider hanging from the cord on the blinds and my friend said, "You know there's a spider here?" (He hates them - a definite arachnaphobe). I said, "Yes, he's been there for a week. There's another one by the sink!" He just shook his head and laughed.
ReplyDeleteAh a kindred spirit, I might have known.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my arachworld!
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I love spiders - now... I used to have, not a phobia, but a definite dislike of them, until I backpacked round Australia, and, in the spiders which would be so deadly had they actually bothered to bite me, I found a fascination and a beauty.
ReplyDeleteWhen I come across spiders in the garden, I often take time to admire their colours and their different shapes - squat bodies, spindly legs, the ones which are all legs and not much else.
Sadly, we don't get to keep them in the house - my husband is a real arachnaphobe - he can now cope with the little (smaller than a fingernail) size ones, but won't sit still until I've ushered it out of the house. I know from the other side of the house if he has discovered a spider any larger than that...
No, you are not the only one :)
ReplyDeleteLove this tribute to these amazing creatures. If you're so inclined, here's one a wrote a while back: http://mercurialwoman.blogspot.com/2010/06/isn-she-lovely.html.
ReplyDeleteI am not either and just like you, I leave them alone. They keep the house free of mosquitoes!
ReplyDeleteThe spider is used as a metaphor in Vedanta to explain creation.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-18/science-of-spirituality/31005401_1_universe-prakriti-and-purusha-cosmology
Jo:
ReplyDeleteLike any phobias (that I don't have!) I find others' baffling. :)
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CC12:
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Da Club!
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Sharon:
ReplyDeleteThe link is broken. Please check.
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Ramana:
ReplyDeleteThe link does not mention spiders (if that was your intent in linking).
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The only problem I have with spiders is when they want to walk across or sit on the PIRs for my house alarm, in the past it has set it off - not really appreciated by me or my neighbours!
ReplyDeleteGM:
ReplyDeleteAh you need a class in spider training I see!
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Spiders can be a little scary because they move so fast, but otherwise they're completely non-threatening. So why are so many people phobic? It beats me.
ReplyDeleteWWW,
ReplyDeleteDon't know why the link doesn't work from the comment. But if you get bored and want to read my short, old blog (June 2010) about a writing spider, maybe you can copy and paste this link. That should get you there:
http://mercurialwoman.blogspot.com/2010/06/isn-she-lovely.html
I do love reading your blogs. Thank you for sharing your heart and soul -- it always warms mine.
When I find spiders in the house I usually trap and put them out. My husband will crush them if he sees them. Haven't seen as many this fall as usual, but discovered a ladybug in the kitchen a couple days ago and hope it is finding enough to eat. Kind of tickled to have it here.
ReplyDeleteWhen I see a spider inside my apartemnt, no matter how big, I let it be and figure that we can share the space together. I have never had one bother me or invade my personal space. They don't crawl on me anyway and I wouldn't be too bothered probably if they did. I think they are too scared to. I used to be afraid of them when I was little but I think tat was because my mother and bigger sister were.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind little ones, but there are some biggies around here which should be avoided at all costs. They bite/sting - something nasty.
ReplyDeleteSuper photograph WWW!
Nick:
ReplyDeleteI feel their strengths and example far outweigh their perceived scariness. Of course I'm not talking taruntulas or those of that nature but house spiders.
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Sharon:
ReplyDeleteI have emailed you as copy and pasting your new link doesn't work either....
:(
Thanks for the kind words.
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SJG:
ReplyDeleteOh I love ladybugs, I even did a post about them too!!
We call them ladybirds.
http://wisewebwoman.blogspot.ca/search?q=ladybirds
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Irene:
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of the fear around them is picked up from others. I had one daughter who was terrified and even in her twenties jump into my bed when she saw one!
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T:
ReplyDeleteAh well Oklahoma is a different place altogether!!!
Thanks for the word on my photo, I was inordinately proud of it!
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Even the tarantula's bite is not dangerous to humans, despite the common belief. The black widow's bite can be life-threatening, but how often do we come across a black widow? Never in my experience.
ReplyDeleteThe link remains a mystery. I've reposted with a comment to you. Thanks for persisting.
ReplyDeleteNick:
ReplyDeleteI sit corrected and funny this as I was going to type Black Widow and thought isn't that the same as tarantula?
You also educated me on the beluga whale if I remember.
I should push the wiki key more often :)
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Sharon:
ReplyDeleteOne more try....:)
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I watch them at a distance :)
ReplyDeleteBut love the works of art
their webs
which fill my woods...
@ nick ~ Bites, apart from the BW's ,may not be deadly, but for someone with acute allergic sensitivity to insect bites (me) - they can be darned uncomfortable and long-term nuisance.
ReplyDelete:-)
An added note - we have two venomous spiders locally - black widows and brown recluses. I don't let those remain in my basement. Unfortunately, the brown recluses are far more dangerous and harder to spot. I've had a couple of patients who lost a good bit of tissue from those bites (one had to have part of her trachea removed, the other had to have a steel plate put in his head from the damage.) I was bitten once while garden and was one of the fortunate ones to have a mild reaction - but half my face swelled up to the point where my patients would gasp and say, "What happened to you?!" So all that said, while I stand by my general tolerance, I don't tolerate those two in my home. And @nick- I've seen LOTS of black widows - there was even one that rode in on the newspaper at work one day!)
ReplyDeleteOWJ
ReplyDeleteYour writing is so poetic!
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T:
ReplyDeleteI can relate. I am extremely allergic to black flies and one time my whole head just about exploded. I suffered for days and days.
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SAW:
ReplyDeleteHorror story kind of stuff. The 'phobes among us now feel validated.
And I don't ever want to see a BW.
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