So, here's the thing. I am not arachnophobic-- I mean I don't like spiders, but it's not like I freeze up and hyperventilate when I see them. Now that I have moved into a house FULL of spiders, I might be developing a phobia. Seriously, when I lived in Boston I would see the occasional spider, in New York I only saw maybe one (but what he lacked in numbers, he made up for in size, google "Gigantic House Spider" if you want to see what I mean), in San Francisco maybe a couple in 4 years I lived there. In Seattle, it's been non-stop spider action 24-7. I have seen at least 4 different types in or on the house. There is a bush next to our driveway that I counted at least 10 on at one point. I understand that having a yard increases the number of spiders you're likely to come into contact with, and I wouldn't mind it so much if they would STAY IN THE YARD. That's actually my main issue with spiders, their lack of respect for personal property and personal space.
At first, my DH was laissez faire about the whole thing. I mean, we have a different theory when it comes to spiders to begin with-- he's more of the catch-it-and-release-it-outside type and I am more of the kill-it-before-it-reproduces type. I stopped parking in the driveway because I was tired coming out to the car and having to first separate the car from all the webs that had been built across to it from the bush and then there was the day I found four different spiders (and their webs) on my car. My issue is not so much them ON the car, as it is them getting into the car with me and me finding them while I am driving.
To appease me, DH bought a bugzooka, which allows you to catch bugs without touching them and is "environmentally friendly" because it usually doesn't kill the bug and doesn't use batteries (I wanted the battery powered bug vacuum that kills the bug and is opaque so you don't have to see the damn thing once you've caught it). When it got here, he went out to the bush by the driveway and took 20+ spiders off of it (and it's not that big of a bush). Then he "walked 2 blocks away" and released them (I wanted him to leave them in the container until they killed eachother or died). I put the "2 blocks away" in quotations because he showed me later where he released them and it wasn't even a full block from the house. When I saw that I was like, "Good job, now they're going to make their way back to the house and this time they'll be pissed." I was only half kidding.
In the last day or so, I've noticed DH's attitude towards his spider-friends has changed a bit. Probably because he was in the bathroom when he noticed a whole bunch of tiny spiders crawling all over the ceiling. Seems mischievium knew something when she warned him about the dangers of spider reproduction. Truthfully, the last thing we need here is more spiders. We are the Calcutta of spiders. Anyway, he killed all the tiny spiders he saw and then called me in there to help him, since I am "good at spotting them." Then I spotted a bigger black spider and DH sucked it up with the bugzooka and did not release it.
Tonight when I went down to our finished basement (the only place I had yet to see a spider-- but it is still a basement) to do laundry, I killed 1 medium-small spider and 2 small spiders, then saw a larger one-- let's just say that the carpet is a med-light brown color and he blended in because if I had realized how big he was, I would have shrieked for DH sooner. Anyway, the larger one was in the corner on the carpet and I was waiting for him to make for the wall where I could smash him, when I looked up the carpeted stairs and realized that there were webs in the corner of virtually every step going upstairs. That's when I called for DH. He arrived with his bugzooka in hand and went after the big one first (at my request). I think it was a wolf spider-- I say "I think" because I refuse to google it and look at pictures of spiders and scare myself more.
We've been trying to go the non-toxic, environmentally friendly route, but I am about 3 big spiders away from calling Orkin. It's making it really hard for me to enjoy my new house when I feel like I have to constantly be on guard. And, if the next door neighbors ever hear my conversations with DH while we're getting in the car, I'm sure that they think I'm crazy because it's virtually always about spiders (because there is virtually always a new one on the car). I would just like to be able to look out my windows without seeing a spider web on it or get in my car without having to do a spider sweep first -- is that too much to ask?
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