I was cleaning off the shelf next to my desk, minding my own business organizing my discs - I glance up and AHHHHHHHH!!!! This was just inches from my head! I shiver uncontrollably thinking about it!
Can you believe this weird-o spider was inches from crawling into my hair. Oh disgust. I'm usually not so weirded out by spiders, after all, mini spiders and daddy long legs have basically been cohabitating with us since we moved in the house, making housecleaning a miserable experience as I constantly am in battle with them to eliminate them and their dratted webs that pop up within minutes of me clearing away the old one. Anyway, those spiders, as this one probably was, are harmless, but they are not as big or as fat as this one was. It's brown speckled body looked like it was full of something - prey it had just eaten perhaps?
Ugh!
In case you don't get the full effect of the chilling horror I felt, here are two more pictures.
Rest assured that I managed to bite of the expletive my first instinct was to shout. I do think I screamed a little bit because the children jumped and said, "What happened, Momma?" And I was good at trying to hide my fear. But I did have the irrational fear that it was going to jump on me!
I apologize to any of you that truly love all creatures of the earth, but I took off my shoe and smacked it good and dead.
*Shiver*
I swear the spider was the size of a quarter!
After doing some research, I think I have identified the spider. It is a Cross Orbweaver. To learn more about it, you can do a search for images on google for Cross Orbweaver.
I must point out that it says the females of this species seek out protected locations to lay 300-900 eggs! Can you even imagine. I literally have goosebumps and chills thinking about the possibility of 900 of those spiders near me.
EW! I'm only commenting because my shear fear and hatred of spiders. and plus the other night, mom and I were talking and I was standing at the top of the stairway and she was in the kitchen close to the cereal cabinet and a spider the size of a 50 cent piece came scurrying across the floor towards me in the living room! And I freaked! I jumped screamed and ran over the kitchen counter and jumped on top if it. It was huge! It was huge and black and hairy! and I made mom go kill it. and needless to say I have stopped eating cereal b/c I'm certain that it came from the cereal cabinet. WOOF!
ReplyDeletelove you
lara
Double EWWW! I am a spiderhater...I keep feeling imaginary things crawling on me now! Looks like this is the week for creatures to come out and play!
ReplyDeleteMichelle
I only think it's pretty because I am separated by virtue of photography. If it had been anywhere in my vicinity--especially near my hair--I would have felt creepy crawly for weeks!
ReplyDeleteI am finally writing after seeing your blog pop up in Google Alerts for the past few months. (You pop up, not because I'm stalking you, but because our businesses have the same name :)!)
It's great to transport myself to another part of the country so very different from mine via your blog. And as the mother of three children (two sons and a daughter) myself, I can very much relate to the stage of life in which you find yourself. Although my "little boys" now tower over me at 6'2" and 6'6". It was a delight to step out of the desert and onto the Goodness Grows Farm. Thank you for sharing.
Come visit me at the bloomin' blog sometime (http://blog.thegoodnessgrows.com) and share your goodness there!!