Eww!

Everybody give me a collective shudder, please!

One night I was picking up toys by the bunk beds. Esther was already asleep and Lucy was sitting on the edge of her bed, her feet dangling over the edge. As I pulled Duplos out from under the bed, I saw this fine specimen out of the corner of my eye. At first I thought it was one of those toy plastic spiders, you know, the ones you place in the bathroom to get a scream out of your mother or sister or any other gullible females in your life. It was that big. As my heart started pounding and the adrenaline started rushing, I reminded myself that we don't have any of those. If we did, I would know about it.

I believe I said something like, "Oh my goodness, Lucy, stay up on your bed. There's a yucky spider under there!" I grabbed a cup from the counter and posed, ready to capture.

There's an instant before you make your move when you pause. You doubt yourself. Can you move faster than the object of your attack? You know that once you start it is going to bolt.

Then the moment was over. I made my move and I measured up. I was faster than the spider. There he was, trapped, wriggling with his long, hairy legs against the all too clear glass. Next I slid something firm underneath and he was soon in the bottom of the above pictured mason jar. Even though the lid was screwed on tight, I still shivered every time I walked past.

Now every time I have to get up in the night to take care of the children, I feel like I'm going to be stepping on a huge, fat, hairy spider!

The big question everyone asks when they find a big spider is, "Is it a Hobo Spider?" I looked quickly online and found out that in our area hobos are outnumbered 3 to 1 by the "Giant House Spider." This article had some helpful information in it for us "non-arachnologists." According to the author I will have to buy at least a hand held lens and improve my arachnology skills before I can determine positively that this spider is or is not a hobo spider. Either way, it's creepy, I'm glad it's trapped, and I hope it was the only one of its kind lurking under my children's bed!

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