Spiders NOT ot

Ah, Patti. I truly needed a laugh. Your body shaking will do it. Thank you, Polly

if they were teeny little spiders, i wouldn't have an issue. These things are 3"+ in diameter, and look like they could eat you whole! LOL

Things are slightly different 'down under'. I don't worry about the big spiders, they are relatively harmless, it's the smaller spiders that can be a problem here. Compared to a Huntsman spider Funnel webs are relatively small, thankfully, we don't get too many funnel web spiders in this area, just got to keep an eye out for the little red backs.

Don't forget those nasty little white tails too.

I live in red back and funnel web territory but I am more worried about white tails - their bite is NASTY.

I have a house rule here for spiders: you eat the fly's I leave you alone I am "considering" letting a few bird eating spiders loose in the house to deal with the &*@*&@@^%$# mice - but somehow I suspect they would not stay put in the house for long. and I know my neighbour is terrified of spiders lol

me? I am ok with spiders most of the time however....

one late night I was watching arachnophobia on the TV (well it was the only nice thing on) and I got a bit chilly so I got my cardigan in from the balcony where it had been hung to dry, and put it on.... just as the scary bit started where spiders came out and covered a person, a huge spider crawled out of the pocket of the cardigan and walked across my hand.... needless to say I freaked out, woke the neighbours and I have stopped watching scary films...

We are so lucky here - no fierce animals and no fierce insects. The worst we get are normal bees and wasps and (as my legs are living proof this morning after foolishly continuing the weeding to finish the back garden at dusk last night) tiny midges that make itchy red bumps.

No fierce spiders though DS hates them all and used to get me to removed very dead ones if he found one. DD on the other hand used to pick them up and talk to them (and beetles too). Its frogs and toads that really make me shudder - even the tiniest, which is why we haven't got a pond in the garden. I dig little tunnels under the fence to encourage visiting ones to go back home to next door neighbour's pond! (Tunnels are filled up after each departure)

-- Sally at the Seaside~~~~~~~where the seagulls are learning to steal peoples sandwiches!

Reminds me of when I worked in an industrial setting. My good friend was afraid of spiders, she came to work with a can of bug spray. Sprayed her way up the open metal stairs every day (spiders built their webs there overnight). They didn't bother me. Then one day I was helping her and I saw a rat run across the shelves behind her, I pointed (couldn't speak because I hate rats) she thought it was a spider and ran for her bug spray screaming. When I could finally speak, I told her it was a rat and she laughed, the rats didn't bother her.

I just saw some lovely black fabric with silver spider webs at the fabric store. I was looking for John Deere tractor fabric for a friends grandson's "big boy" quilt.

Bonnie, in Middletown, VA

Now earwigs are even more creepy than spiders to me....I once saw one high on the wall, I was so afraid that if I reached up to squish it it would fall on me that I got out the vacuum and sucked it up. I then emptied the vacuum and then emptied the trash.

It has to do with some Star Trek movie I watched...

Roberta (in VA)

I'm not good around bugs, which is difficult, since we have lots in this area. :S If DH is home and I see a bug, it's his job to get it. If he's not home, I have to find something with a long handle before I can do anything about it.

As far as annoying bugs go (as opposed to dangerous ones), I think the worst have to be mosquitoes. Who hasn't laid in bed and suddenly heard the ominous buzzing coming ever closer, knowing that a big red bump and intolerable itching are soon to follow?

A dustbuster or vacuum is handy when you have to take care of bugs on your own Sandy. Heck I had a neighbor that used her canister vacuum to vaucuum up a small garden snake! (I always felt bad for the snake, but he should have stayed outdoors).

We woke up to an earthquake this a.m. W>

You and me both, Bonnie! Any mosquito within 50 miles of me will make a beeline (mosquito-line?) straight for me, ignoring a zillion other people between it and me. :S

Ours is, too. Drought, water restrictions. And the housing association keeps citing us (and threatening fines) for dead grass. What the !%*#%@^ do they expect???

What a good idea, Taria! Thanks! How bad was the quake?

Sandy I heard that only male mosquitoes make that buzzing sound and they do not bite only the females bite but they do not buzz, SO if you are laying in bed and hear a mosquito buzzing no need to worry BUT if you dont hear anything...... WELL......... Scott in CA ........... Sandy wrote...........As far as annoying bugs go (as opposed to dangerous ones), I think the worst have to be mosquitoes. Who hasn't laid in bed and suddenly heard the ominous buzzing coming ever closer, knowing that a big red bump and intolerable itching are soon to follow?

Gosh, *thanks* for the reassuring information, Scott! ;) Now I'll lie awake at night, wondering if I'm about to be bitten when all is quiet on this western front....

But mosquito bites can be dangerous, at least in areas where there is the West Nile virus.

Julia in MN

Aaaaarrrrrrrggggggggg! Aye! (being a Navy Wife gives ya good practice!) ME-Judy

Navy spiders are tiddlers compared to RAF spiders! I may have told this story here before... I certainly told it elsewhere.

Back in the early 70's my dad was stationed at RAF Conningsby, on 228 OCU (Phantom school, teaching RAF aircrew to fly Phantoms). They had a flight simulator there with a miniature 'runway' that a camera slid along...

One day, when cleaning out this machine, the tecs came across a large dead spider. They propped it up and glued it down over the runway, and the next poor student got in, taxied out to 'take off' and discovered a

240 foot wide spider glaring at him! Dad said he'd never seen a pilot move so fast without an aircraft round him!

Kate...oh my...*holding sides and giggling helplessly* I LOVE that story! I can only imagine the poor student's response...