Your thoughts on spiders?

[saltpoint]

Poll question: Your thoughts on spiders?

Which of the choices below best describes your thoughts on spiders?

[saltpoint]

1. I wonder if Fred Thompson was ever bitten by a spider.

Do you suppose he ever was?

[Xipe Totec]

22. My brother was stung by a scorpion

It crawled inside his boot while he slept.

[saltpoint]

23. O god. That couldn't have been much fun.

Scorpions are definitely creatures I respect -- whether out in the garden or anywhere else.

[Xipe Totec]

32. The event has been commemorated

My wife made him a welcome home quilt with 21 yellow ribbons around the edges.

The signature block has a hand embroidered scorpion next to her signature.

He is a Gulf War I veteran who made it safely home.

[saltpoint]

34. First, I'm glad he made it home safely, and second, that is a

tremendous present.

Bravo!

[Xipe Totec]

35. Boy, memory fades fast!

It was 18 yellow ribbons, not 21.



I had to dig it up to check.

And thank you!

[saltpoint]

36. O wow. That quilt is a show-stopper.

Beautiful.

Congratulations all around.

[FloridaJudy]

54. Stunning quilt!

Treat it gently. That's a family heirloom.

[realisticphish]

67. nm, wrong place

[saltpoint]

78. I don't blame the locus. I blame Thompson.

If he has been bitten by a spider, he likely provoked the spider.

[Beaverhausen]

2. I only kill black widows, the rest get to live

unless they are in my shower - they go down the drain. sorry, too close for comfort.

But I generally love spiders and their creativity.

[Roon]

4. I was bit by a black widow when I was a kid

Terrible experience. I would have rather gotten stung by a wasp 5 times than that bite.

[JNelson6563]

8. If they come in my house they are fair game

Once they violate the perimeter, they must die.

Julie the heartless

[saltpoint]

13. If I come back in my next life as a spider, I will be sure not to

come around your neighborhood!

JNelson, I think I hear ya on this one. My thought is, Look you damn spiders, cunning and beautiful and resourceful though ye be, you have the entire STATE to live in; scram from my kitchen!

And I do warn them accordingly before loading the bazookas.

[saltpoint]

11. Beaverhausen, I'm buying you a cold beer for that last line.

Agree with you on the shower -- that's a bit personal and way too close.

But they are amazing little rascals, aren't they?

And the female black widow -- I am kind of mezmerized by the beauty of that animal.

[Kali]

3. ...

they don't bother me, don't care for blackwidows too much but I haven't ever been bit.

[saltpoint]

31. Very nice photograph.

[rug]

5. As long as they stay out of my tub.

[saltpoint]

12. That's fair. The tub is a red zone.

[bigwillq]

6. I like most of them

although where I live, there aren't too many of the poisonous kind. Maybe if I lived in an area where more poisonous ones were, I would be more afraid of them. I think spiders are cool.

[saltpoint]

14. They are cool. And their webs can be strikingly beautiful.

And strong.

[JNelson6563]

7. You forgot the "AAHHHHH!!!" option

I tell you it's ridiculous! I fear no mortal nor much of anything but put one of those big wolf spiders in my path and it's all over. Here in the north, with lots of lakes to breed spider food, we have somemighty big spiders. I hate them. Something about a creature with eight legs and eight eyes. It's just not right.

*shudder*

Julie

[saltpoint]

16. Yes. I grew up learning about the brown recluse, which isn't as

large as other spiders, but packs a punch.

The grown-ups in my long-ago childhood kept newspapers and so forth in attics and garages, and spiders really like those dark, newspapery places.

It never really stopped us kids from exploring someplace, but we were aware that it was shared space.

[Kajsa]

9. I try to spare them from certain death.

If a Daddylonglegs is in my shower- I will take him outside.
They help control harmful insects- so I have heard.

Seeing 'Charlotte's Web' reinforced my urge to save them
and get them outside.

[saltpoint]

17. I like that strategy a lot. Also: daddylongleg spiders are very high on

my list.

They are elegant to watch.

[Elidor]

10. I generally spare them and take them outside

But if they're too big I automatically engage them in single combat. And if they're waiting in the shower when I first wake up on a work day, they're just shit outta luck.

I like them in the wild. In my house, they're interlopers, and they annoy me.

[saltpoint]

19. We fight off wasps here -- for some reason wasps love the overhang

under the porch roof.

It's far and away the ugliest part of the outdoor side of the house, but you'd never know it by the wasps.

Spiders too, but they are fewer inside than outside.

[flvegan]

15. Catch and release

no matter how damn scary, icky and overall blech they are. I love them for their benefits, hate them for their innate creepiness. Killing them would be a hate crime. I won't do it.

[saltpoint]

25. Prefer the same. I like to watch them in late afternoon light,

how oddly they move but also how dutiful they are.

We let the webs spin over a small stand of philodendra -- it just gets amazinger and amazinger.

(My spellcheck didn't care for 'amazinger' at ALL.)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

82. hate crime?

:rofl: :eyes:

[NewJeffCT]

18. Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can

spins a web any size, catches thieves just like flies...

I've always been a bit fascinated by them... but, as big will said above, I also live in an area where there aren't too many dangerous spiders, so I don't have to worry.

[saltpoint]

20. NewJeffCT, howdy. Thank you for singing the SpiderMan theme for

us.

At midnight tonight, the WebCrawler will crawl on thousands of screens across the country.

I predict they'll have some brisk ticket sales for that show this weekend.

Which is like predicting that a tornado will be windy.

[El Fuego]

96. Speaking of Spider Man, this comic strip cracked me up...

[Maine-ah]

21. eeewww

The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the shower drain

Mommy grabbed the shampoo, and bashed in his brain

:evilgrin:

[deepthought42]

102. OMG!

:wow:

:spray:

:rofl:
:rofl:
:rofl:



:evilgrin:

[saltpoint]

24. Anybody planning on seeing, or skipping SPIDERMAN 3?

Or has a decision been made yet?

And does anybody know who plays Gwen Stacey in this one?

[chknltl]

26. Other...well somebody had to vote other!

I take no issue with spiders...I prefer them outside of my home though and most I find in mine get escourted back out doors. The HOBO SPIDER on the other hand get's squished as a penalty for entering my home. If you think I am wrong for doing this, please visit: www.hobospider.com
before you even think of flaming me here.

[saltpoint]

28. I will explore the hobospider site, chknltl. Thanks for your reply.

The poll is kind of fun because people are weighing in on their feelings about spiders outside versus inside.

Not every response, but in many of them.

It's coming down to a question of territorial integrity.

I hope more people tonight join in with us and will cast votes and make comments.

[saltpoint]

30. Yikes. I just got back from the website, chknltl. I see what you mean

about this kind of spider. The photograph of that person's arm on the left-hand side of the screen is a difficult thing to see.

They seem to fan out in territory from the northwest, although there's that one sighting of a hobospider in the Northeast.

[chknltl]

41. I believe they are much more extensive than the link suggests.

As a child in Germany I was quite accustomed to seeing this spider. We called them "Wolf"-spiders and thought nothing further of them. They were quite common out on the farms and even in the city.
Here in western Washington state I would see the same spiders and they were equally common. Often times I would see them in my house or apartment during "spider season", (late spring through fall), and I would give them the same respect I give all spiders: capture in a glass, slide glass delicately over a card and remove thusly trapped spider to the outdoors. They were still just "wolf" spiders to me.
Then a few years ago my step daughter had a boyfriend with a 4 year old named Gracie. Gracie had captured one of these "wolf" spiders and had it as a pet in a large mason jar...she called it Fernando. We fed Fernando bugs...it was sorta fascinating to watch. I went online to study up on Fernando and eventually found www.hobospider.com link. Naturally I was shocked to learn that those creatures I had in the past called "Wolf" spiders were actually Hobo-spiders. Fernando was actually a large female Hobo Spider...the last to go un-squished by me...Gracie would not allow it!

So if these spiders are an implant (possibly from Europe), and they are found around our port cities here on the West coast, I am not stretching my imagination here when I suggest that they are likely equally prevalent around ALL of our port cities INCLUDING New York. Please do not go nuts on all spiders over my potential false alarm but now that you have an idea what these lil monsters look like keep an eye out for them. They prefer to build their sheetlike web structures near to the ground...quite easy to spot actually. Often found attached to the sides of buildings or inside basements and garages and sheds. They really are a large spider...not tarantula large but some can get close...Fernando could have straddled a 50-cent piece easily without touching it. Their bites have been misdiagnosed often as the bite from other spiders-brown recluse is a common victim here.

I got bit by one while sleeping a few weeks back. Killed the bastard for that...would have squished it anyway. I felt something on my shoulder and brushed/squished it off then turned the lamp on and was shocked to see a small Hobo. The next morning I had a good sized "pimple" on the back of my neck. When I was told what it looked like it wasn't hard to put two and two together. The bump was about the size of a quarter with an angry red collar surrounding it and a smaller pustule nearby.
It slowly got better and now there is a small crater where it once was.

No I do not mind spiders but me and HOBO spiders are at war with each other, I squish 'em with extreme prejudice and I tell others about them whenever the opportunity presents itself...like your thread.

[saltpoint]

42. I respect what you have to say about this spider. I'm embarrassed

because I've never heard of them, and didn't know their territorial range or anything.

I have a feeling your theory on our ports is likely correct.

Which is a bit unsettling.

I'm not going on a spider rampage or anything, but my respect for this particular animal just went from "never heard of it" to "this is a serious creature indeed."

[Dukkha]

27. here's my Lucy

she's a Goliath Bird Eater. She's fond of eating live mice.
That's a 20 gallon tank for size reference.

[saltpoint]

29. Whoa. Lucy looms large. And a beauty she is, too. How much does

it cost to keep Lucy in live mice?

Are these pet-store mice, or what?

What a formidable looking creature Lucy is.

[Dukkha]

47. yes pet store mice

but it's only a rare delicacy for her. I mainly keep her on a diet of crickets. The white mice are about once a month and only during spring & summer when she's more active. It takes her about 12 hours to devour one. She's 8" long now Goliath Bird eaters can get as big as 12" - 13"

[saltpoint]

51. Neo, I envisioned a Goliath Bird eater at the length of my table ruler

and to be honest, it gives me pause.

Thanks for the info on crickets and mice.

Twelve or thirteen inches. That is a hell of a big spider.

[dropkickpa]

61. How freaking cool is that!?!?!

Got any more pics? I LOVE all the tarantula strains, but I am so wickedly hyper sensitive to their fur, I can't go anywhere near them :cry:

[suzbaby]

63. Sweet Jebus!!!

Do you actually handle that spider? Actually touch and hold it?

I know she's your beloved.....but Lucy will haunt my dreams.

You're a brave soul. :scared:

[u4ic]

33. I try NOT to think about them...

:scared:

[Elidor]

37. When I was 11, and into science, I collected specimens

I had a book that explained how to catch them and preserve them effortlessly. And I spent about 6 months preserving various specimens in little jars with rubbing alcohol. But one day the sheer deadness of them all got to me. I realized that their little corpses had no magic. It's only when they're alive that I find them interesting. I've often considered getting a pet tarantula, but I'm finally of an age where pets just don't appeal. All I want of god's creatures is peaceful coexistence. (Along with the occasional hamburger, alas.)

Several times in the woods of Georgia I've come across these huge spiders, yellow and black, about 6-12 inches across, sitting in huge webs out in the middle of nowhere. There's nothing like walking unknowing into one of those webs, and seeing its owner on the other side, two inches from your face, bouncing back and forth against the web in great agitation, nerving itself to attack you. You will redefine the notion of OMFG GET ME OUT OF HERE.

[saltpoint]

38. No kidding. I'd be in a rush to leave that scene myself.

Yet I agree with you completely that it jangles us into a kind of awe and respect for the life of creatures.

You had to go through the process with the rubbing alcohol to get to the realization of the absence of the animals' vitality. You came to a higher, more evolved sense of life in those woods as a result, sounds like.

And I bet it's stayed with you ever since. Bravo for that, Hardhead.

[saltpoint]

39. O my dear god! At level 3 the polls are all shut off. And this spider

thing was really heating up, too.

Such a crucial topic. How can we rebound after a blow like this?

I hear the weeping and wailing from the courtyard window...

[saltpoint]

40. The more I think about it, the more I believe Fred Thompson WAS

bitten by a spider.

I'm waiting for the mystic vision to say when ths happened to Fred, and what kind of spider it was.

When the moment is right, I will reveal the vision, ladies and gentlemen.

Bear with the Fates.

[Arkansas Granny]

43. I have what some have called an irrational fear of spiders. If they

stay outside, I leave them alone because I realize they have an important function in the natural balance of nature. However, if they invade my living space they generally wind up dead with few exceptions. Daddy long legs I can pick up and a few others I can tolerate. I'm much better than I used to be. In the past I've been unable to even touch a picture of a spider in a book. I would honestly rather have an encounter with a snake than with a spider.

[Elidor]

44. Have you ever been chased by a snake?

I was working as part of a land-surveying crew in an extensive swamp in central Georgia. We spent most of each day wading through waist-deep swamp in a forest of weird, stunted trees, similar to mountain laurel but taller and not as pretty, looking carefully for snakes as we surveyed a boundary of approximately 1500 acres.

One of our crew got stung by wasps while we were out there, and as low man on the totem pole (rodman), I was volunteered to go back to the car and get ammonia and extra drinking water. The hike back was a good 2 miles under the best of conditions, but thanks to the slowly changing angle of the sun and my unfamiliarity with the area, I went badly off course and got lost in deep woods.

It was then that I met The Snake. And I say that with due respect, because he was a bad mofo. I had just reached the top of a little ridge, exhausted, and paused to catch my breath and look around. The first thing I saw was a black snake, the biggest one I’ll ever see – 10 feet long if he was an inch. Maybe 12. Just an impossibly big snake, fat and yet sleek, with a rich black hue. I looked at him and he reared back – and he was so big that his head was hovering at the same height as my face –

-And I ran. And he instantly gave chase. And the scary part was, he was just as fast as me. I ran for 100 yards at top speed (I was 19 at the time, and fast as a lightning bolt). He was right behind me all the way, his head snaking back and forth furiously at a height of about 3 feet off the ground. (I looked, once, and that was all I cared to see. A horror movie director could not hope to reproduce what I saw.) After running pell-mell for a minute through the forest, dodging trees and rocks, I felt myself begin to flag. I was losing speed. He began to overtake me, and soon he was just behind my heels.

He held back, and I realized later that he didn’t really want to catch me, just to show me who was boss. Which he did. He came to a stop and I ran on for another 100 feet. Looking back on it, it’s funny: he totally psyched me out. I knew from the start that he was just a big dumb black snake, and black snakes will usually chase you, and all you have to do is turn on them and stare them down or strike at them…but this thing was soooo big, and something deep within me freaked out and I ran for my life.

And as he slithered leisurely back to his sunning spot, he said to himself, Oh, yeah, you don’t mess with the king-daddy-dog, noooo…

I was owned.

[saltpoint]

45. I understand what a phobia can mean, Arkansas Granny, so I don't

blame you one bit, and I'm glad it seems better now than before.

On snakes -- for me it depends on the snake. I do better in the SW around rattlesnakes because they're more visible in the desert -- and audible -- than they are in Illinois or Ohio, for instance, where the foilage is thick and green in the summertime.

[Shell Beau]

46. I think they are great creatures! I don't want them waiting in my bed

or shoes for me, but they get the job done! And they are fascinating!

[Jade Fox]

48. Ewwwww and Ick

[no name no slogan]

49. Delicious

especially with a little green curry.

[saltpoint]

50. What wine is served with spiders?

[saltpoint]

52. Myth and symbol of the spider --

-- from Thomas Cahill's wonderful book (cited below):

_ _ _ _ _

Another moon-creature was the spider, whose silvery cyclical web traps its victims in an image of man's fate, which the moon, who sways all living things, was thought to control. (To spin is to predestine; and some of the oldest words for fate, such as the Anglo-Saxon "wyrd" come from the Indo-European verb "uert," meaning 'to turn' or 'to spin.'

from Thomas Cahill's THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS: How A Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels
_ _ _ _ _

Supra lunam sunt aeterna omnia -- Cicero ("Beyond the moon are all the eternal things.")

[The_Wizard]

53. Very inportant

The radioactive ones are a great source of cool super powers. I was bitten by an oyster so all I can do is crap pearls.

[saltpoint]

58. LOL. Hi, Wizard. Yes. I've heard radioactive spider bites can

lead to all kinds of enhanced attributes.

And red-headed girlfriends, too.

[mike_c]

55. spiders are cool little predators....

[saltpoint]

59. The eyes are downright cute if you ask me.

I realize other spiders would give a more authoritative opinion on that, but from a human perspective, those are damned cute eyes.

[NewWaveChick1981]

56. I don't mind them one way or the other. But it seems that everyone

I know hates them. My husband and my sister are both total arachnophobes, and since I was a kid, I've been the designated spider removal expert. :P Almost always, I take the spider outside and release it rather than killing it. However, if it's a black widow or similar spider, I do kill it.

[saltpoint]

57. You grew up as the spider removal person. That's cool -- especially

how you did it.

I like them when they're kind of small. The 13" ones I think would give me pause.

[pipoman]

60. I like spiders...unless

they are mutant spiders

[saltpoint]

64. O my. Those spiders look fearsome and unsettling.

They're pretty big, too.

Great picture!

So I'm thinking, Why didn't the policecars turn around when they saw great big spiders on the telephone lines?

I would have.

I would have just turned my car around and headed the other way.

Call me risk-averse.

[pipoman]

72. That was just a matter of too much time on my hands

Here is my real garden spider page. I watched 4 or 5 females most of last summer and fall. They are beautiful.

I know where two of the females left their egg sacs, I am waiting patiently for the hatch.

http://www.kkhardwarestore.com/forums/spider/

[saltpoint]

74. Pipoman, I LOVED that picture. No apologies accepted, no demur

aw shucksisms, either.

It's terrific stuff.

I will explore the "real" garden site this evening. You are getting it done on this spider thread.

Thank you.

[applegrove]

62. I like spiders and had too many living with me last year. I hated killing them.

So I bought a bug vacuum and solved all my spider problems. Hedonics is a great send away magazine for stuff like that.

[saltpoint]

65. It's a tough call when they begin to move into humans' living space.

I like the idea of capturing them in a glass jar and relocating them to the garden outback or the woods nearby.

But spiders will come in and pretty much make themselves at home sometimes.

I guess they like the way humans keep house or something, because they do seem to be everywhere.

The daddy long-leg spiders are hard to see, but I like them the best, I think.

[applegrove]

83. Daddy long legs spiders I used to let climb on me. They are the least

frightening.

[realisticphish]

66. Death to all spiders who are walking on me

the acceptable sizes for non-walking-on-me spiders is half-dollar sized (with legs) or smaller. Fuck tarantulas. I'll live in the antartic if i have to, just to avoid those giant mutant hell beasts.

I don't like spiders :)

[realisticphish]

68. Also, a spider once bit my sister

anyone? anyone get the reference? :D

[uriel1972]

71. moose spider? nt

[deepthought42]

103. That's it! You've been sacked!

;)

LOL :rofl:

[InvisibleTouch]

69. I'm always happy to find a spider in the house.

They eat the proverbial "other stuff," and they're clean and quiet guests. Of course I don't live in an area where we get black widdows and the like, but if I did, I'd just move them out-of-doors. They're impressively beautiful animals.

[saltpoint]

75. Understandable reaction to the black widows. I'm aware of the

toxin but also struck by their beauty.

[Flaxbee]

70. spiders are cool. I will not kill any of them, will rescue

them from showers, etc., unless it's a black widow or brown recluse in my house (won't kill it otherwise - if it's out in the woods, no big deal). If it is poisonous and has invaded my space, it's a goner. If it isn't poisonous, it can hang around all it likes, unless it is exceedingly large in which case it gets a free ride outside (unharmed). Unfortunately, I don't think I'd recognize a brown recluse b/c I've never seen one before, but I grew up in the west where there were plenty of black widows.

Now, no matter how neat I think they are, I'll still squeal if I see a wolf spider in the house, or other large spider - I can't help it, I just shriek. But I'll still figure out a way to get it outside w/o hurting it.

[Cabcere]

73. I can deal with some of the smaller ones

but tarantulas and those damn ginormous bird-eating spiders really freak me the hell out. :scared:

Edited to add: Oh, and brown recluses...I almost got bitten by one of those suckers at Girl Scout camp once. :scared: We were in our tent, already lying in our sleeping bags and gossiping by flashlight, and one of my friends saw the brown recluse about to crawl into my hair and yelled for me to move. I did - very quickly! :scared:

[saltpoint]

77. Yes. The brown recluse. Sometimes people called it the fiddler spider

where I grew up, but my high school teachers called it what you called it.

A lucky thing for you to have had a friend like that back in Girl Scouts. That's a nifty rescue.

[nolabels]

91. Yikes, some people keep them big ones as pets

Putting the ones the ones that wander in the house back outside okay, but having the ones around the size of dinner plate is :scared:

What's big, fast, hairy and has an attitude? The Goliath Bird-eating Spider!
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/reptiles/spiders/GoliathBirdEatingSpider.php


Goliath Tarantulas are Fearsome Predators
http://www.extremescience.com/BiggestSpider.htm

[Cabcere]

76. Creepy, crawly, creepy, crawly, creepy-creepy crawly-crawly creepy-creepy crawly-crawly...

:D

/obligatory "Boris" reference ;)

[saltpoint]

79. Obligatory reference to a laudable band.

Loud cheers from my house on that one.

[Cabcere]

84. ;)

:headbang: :yourock:

[billyskank]

80. I don't like them. I trap them under a glass and evict them

if they blunder into my house.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

81. Those creepy creepy little things...

Holy hell...Nuh. I just get the shivers thinking about them.
Duckie

[Left Is Write]

85. I'm not a big fan of spiders, but they are preferable to the bugs we might have....

if the spiders weren't around to eat them!

[BarenakedLady]

86. I coexist with them (n/t)

[GoneOffShore]

87. Gotta love the spider!

They keep the other bugs at bay.

[Skittles]

88. they are really cool, fascinating to watch

people who just stomp the life out of them are assholes

[badgerpup]

89. I've got a deal with spiders at my house...

"You don't bite me, I don't squish you- but you're on your own when it comes to the cats."
Seems to work...

There's mostly a very elegant little type of spider here, small,about 1/2 inch across at the most...compact, kinda fuzzy, dark grey with spots sometimes, but has the most beautiful turquoise mandibles...although they're awfully BIG beautiful turquoise mandibles.
:wow:
Sucker can JUMP like nobody's business, too. Wish I knew what kind it was...

[saltpoint]

90. Hi, Badgerpup. Here is a website that may help you track down what

sort of creature you've got on your hands:

http://tolweb.org/accessory/NA_Jumping_Spiders_Photos?acc_id=2023

Hope it will help identify your jumpng spider.

[badgerpup]

93. Thanks...what a collection of jumpers!

But my little guy wasn't among them...:(
Not sure if it's a true 'jumping spider'...but it can sure get over the ground and certainly made ME jump!

...and the 'Little Miss Muffet' entrance isn't really all that funny either.
I think the little suckers DO have a sense of humor.

[MrSlayer]

92. Spiders are among the "good" insects.

I try not to ever kill spiders.

[mikelewis]

94. I don't believe spiders exist...

[saltpoint]

95. A bold assertion. I applaud it.

[EFerrari]

97. I'm very fond of this one. In fact, she totally flipped me on the whole spider thing.

Spider Woman is an important goddess among many southwestern Native American tribes. Though occasionally destructive, she is nearly always portrayed as beneficent. The Keresan Spider Woman created everything there is by thinking, dreaming, or naming; she taught the people how to plant seeds. Cherokee Grandmother spider brought people the sun and fire; she taught them pottery, weaving, and how to make ceremonial blessings.

http://www.daykeeperjournal.com/aarch04/0410oct/goddess.shtml

[saltpoint]

98. How beautiful. I love that account, sfexpat. "She taught the people how

to plant seeds." From that, it sounds as if she is the archetypal twin -- or grandmother? -- of Demeter, who revealed to the mortal Triptolemas the secret of planting, of seeds, and abundance.

Demeter, looking in desperation and sadness for her lost daughter, came forlorn and fate-blasted and thirsty to the home of a peasant and his family. She did not reveal her identity as a goddess with extraordinary powers.

At the supper table, the older son mocked her grief and reticence with a flippant tongue. In fury, she turned him into a lizard. (How's that for an original feminist statement!?)

But to the quiet, earnest and respectful younger brother, Triptolemas, she revealed the secret of the seeds.

This Native American Spider Woman sounds as if she may have been Demeter's grandmother, or twin, what have you. In any event I bet they'd have a lot to talk about.

Beautiful post, sfexpat. Thank you.

[Heidi]

99. I voted "love them all," although I don't much like them in the house.

I've been bitten by spiders on more than one occasion; that's why I don't like 'em in the house. So, when I encounter a spider in the house, I get the whisk broom and dust pan and give 'em a ride to the great outdoors. We don't kill spiders at our house. :hi:

[mikeytherat]

100. They eat bugs - I let 'em live

I've had one over my kitchen sink for almost two years. He lives in a small hole behind the light fixture, and each night he makes a small web to catch bugs. He's pretty cool.

mikey_the_rat

[cwydro]

101. I like spiders

and their webs. Genius creation.