Sep 22, 2023·edited Sep 22, 2023Liked by Adrienne Hedger
I've walked into webs, of course, but have never had a spider actually land on me. But I imagine if I did, I would create this new TikTok dance called The Slappy Dance. It would involve a lot of arm flailing and screaming... and not in the good "Woot! Woot!" kind of way, either.
Also, is that Hidden Lives of Pets anything like the animated version of The Secret Life of Pets? If so, I can't wait to see a poodle rock out to some heavy metal. LOL
Oh my gosh, I love the idea of The Slappy Dance! So good. I'm picturing it right now. And it's funny because I kept calling "Hidden Lives of Pets" by the name "Secret Life of Pets." Ooops! I've never seen Secret Life of Pets, but I think I need to correct that!
I am petrified of having a spider crawl on me - if I walked into a web, I immediately freak out and check myself. Fortunately, I've never ended up with one on me. If I did, I'd have had a heart attack and wouldn't be able to write this note! :) Seeing people be all comfy with their pet tarantulas and show their "cute" and "neat" spiders and webs in their yards on facebook makes me want to throw my monitor off my desk or drop my phone!!
Sep 18, 2023·edited Sep 18, 2023Liked by Adrienne Hedger
Sometimes when I walk in the early morning past a known invisible-web-appears-overnight spot … I flail my arms in front of me like danger danger Will robinson to break it up before I walk into it with my face
The spider ends up ON ME less than 1% of the time. Lots of episodes web contact, very rare to even see the spider. Episodes of spider contact in the dark that I didn’t know about—obviously ended well. So—be cook wid it
Haaaattteee walking into spider webs! So now I have a broom (like in your headpiece, yes, the white/green/gray Libman one) swinging when I go out to the garage, patio, porch. I’m pretty sure my neighbors are laughing their pants off when they see me do the broom dance
When I was a kid, I saw a jumping spider hanging out on a fake plant in my parents condo. It had a very colorful back, and it almost looked cute furry instead of scary hairy. It looked at me, and started doing push-ups! I figure it was its way of making itself look bigger. I stuck my finger out. It jumped onto my finger, then back onto the plant! I checked my finger… yeah, still there, still intact, no damage. And that’s when I realized I could never kill a jumping spider! They are just too cute! They are curious, but not aggressive. People even have them as pets.
In my first apartment, there was a daddy long legs in the corner of my kitchen. He never got in my way. I had an ant issue. When I’d get home from work, I’d go on an ant killing spree. And I’d toss some ants into his web. At first he was a little scared of the big lady flinging ants at him, lol. Then he seemed to realize he was being fed, and would happily roll up anything that got stuck in his web.
I have no story for #3. I just know that people have had tarantulas as pets, and they kinda look like much larger jumping spiders.
Basically I hate the spiders who drop on you, hang in your path, go hunting in your bed, walk on the ceiling over you, or who are nasty. Black widows and brown widows aren’t actually aggressive, but they will bite if they feel threatened. And their appearance gives me the shivers. I try to avoid them and not kill them. Wolf spiders run in such a way that they also make me shiver. Kill on sight. Brown recluses ARE aggressive! My father-in-law was getting some wood out of his shed, and uncovered one. It literally ran after him! He backed away and left it alone. Those guys have really dangerous bites!
If you want to get used to some of the nicer, less scary looking variety, I recommend finding and just hanging out with a jumping spider.
Great stories! I love your statement "I have no story for #3." I do appreciate spiders as creatures and I do everything to avoid killing them. I think I might actually really like a cute little jumping spider!
Years ago, my husband traveled a lot for work and we moved to a new state with different bugs. I had wood cockroaches and crickets in addition to spiders. I would freak out (just as my mother continues to do) but I was the grownup at home. One day, I thought to myself: "This is ridiculous. I have to stop being afraid of bugs." So I stopped reacting to them and never have again. I either kill them or scoop them up and out. I'm not saying an invasion wouldn't make me jump but I just deal with it.
I have given up trying to not freak out when I walk into a web, I am just not capable of dealing with it reasonably. Hence I have morphed my arms waving, legs springing, head wobbing into a co-ordianted patter and call it a dance.
On vacation on St Kitts we stopped by the roadside to pick a stalk of sugar cane. Interesting, huh? Might have been except when we squeezed it’s big tall crunchy stalk in the back seat , we noticed a gigoodo spider the size of a hamburger on it .. on us in the car. So big we HEARD it’s massive body land on the seat . After that : all four of us CHAOTIC!( needless to say ; you can imagine) Not to be befriended .
Yes! It's icky and terrifying! I've never done more exercise than that day😖! I've given fair warning to all spiders: if you're in my home, leave, or die!
Yesss! The gift suggestions are coming! And I don't know for the spider. If I have one on me, I'm not confortable, but I pinch it out. But don't even talk about any insect with wings. Pouah. Brrr. I hate them. All of them.
I’ve made peace with the house spiders as long as the big ones stay out of the kitchen... but hear you on the random outside webs, seriously what are they attached to? No strategy except the crazy spider dance post web encounter.
I don’t mind small spiders in my house, but when there’s those big ones, I have the same strategy of naming them. For some reason I always call them Herman.
I've walked into webs, of course, but have never had a spider actually land on me. But I imagine if I did, I would create this new TikTok dance called The Slappy Dance. It would involve a lot of arm flailing and screaming... and not in the good "Woot! Woot!" kind of way, either.
Also, is that Hidden Lives of Pets anything like the animated version of The Secret Life of Pets? If so, I can't wait to see a poodle rock out to some heavy metal. LOL
Oh my gosh, I love the idea of The Slappy Dance! So good. I'm picturing it right now. And it's funny because I kept calling "Hidden Lives of Pets" by the name "Secret Life of Pets." Ooops! I've never seen Secret Life of Pets, but I think I need to correct that!
Yasss, gurl! You should DEFINITELY correct that grievous error. Right now. LOL It's such a cure little movie.
Apropos to this discussion, I give you the NEW YORKER cartoon in my email today. :) https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/monday-september-18th-spotted-lanternfly
Yes!!
I am petrified of having a spider crawl on me - if I walked into a web, I immediately freak out and check myself. Fortunately, I've never ended up with one on me. If I did, I'd have had a heart attack and wouldn't be able to write this note! :) Seeing people be all comfy with their pet tarantulas and show their "cute" and "neat" spiders and webs in their yards on facebook makes me want to throw my monitor off my desk or drop my phone!!
Sometimes when I walk in the early morning past a known invisible-web-appears-overnight spot … I flail my arms in front of me like danger danger Will robinson to break it up before I walk into it with my face
The spider ends up ON ME less than 1% of the time. Lots of episodes web contact, very rare to even see the spider. Episodes of spider contact in the dark that I didn’t know about—obviously ended well. So—be cook wid it
Haaaattteee walking into spider webs! So now I have a broom (like in your headpiece, yes, the white/green/gray Libman one) swinging when I go out to the garage, patio, porch. I’m pretty sure my neighbors are laughing their pants off when they see me do the broom dance
Spiders scare me… except for 2, maybe 3 kinds.
When I was a kid, I saw a jumping spider hanging out on a fake plant in my parents condo. It had a very colorful back, and it almost looked cute furry instead of scary hairy. It looked at me, and started doing push-ups! I figure it was its way of making itself look bigger. I stuck my finger out. It jumped onto my finger, then back onto the plant! I checked my finger… yeah, still there, still intact, no damage. And that’s when I realized I could never kill a jumping spider! They are just too cute! They are curious, but not aggressive. People even have them as pets.
In my first apartment, there was a daddy long legs in the corner of my kitchen. He never got in my way. I had an ant issue. When I’d get home from work, I’d go on an ant killing spree. And I’d toss some ants into his web. At first he was a little scared of the big lady flinging ants at him, lol. Then he seemed to realize he was being fed, and would happily roll up anything that got stuck in his web.
I have no story for #3. I just know that people have had tarantulas as pets, and they kinda look like much larger jumping spiders.
Basically I hate the spiders who drop on you, hang in your path, go hunting in your bed, walk on the ceiling over you, or who are nasty. Black widows and brown widows aren’t actually aggressive, but they will bite if they feel threatened. And their appearance gives me the shivers. I try to avoid them and not kill them. Wolf spiders run in such a way that they also make me shiver. Kill on sight. Brown recluses ARE aggressive! My father-in-law was getting some wood out of his shed, and uncovered one. It literally ran after him! He backed away and left it alone. Those guys have really dangerous bites!
If you want to get used to some of the nicer, less scary looking variety, I recommend finding and just hanging out with a jumping spider.
Great stories! I love your statement "I have no story for #3." I do appreciate spiders as creatures and I do everything to avoid killing them. I think I might actually really like a cute little jumping spider!
Uh… can I post a pic of one? Not seeing that as an option. But yeah, I don’t want to mess up the food chain / balance. I can’t kill bees either.
Mosquitos though… gotta be something we could replace them with!!! Lol…
I do draw the line at mosquitos! And I don't think there's an ability to post a picture here... but you can send it to me at adriennehedger[at]me.com!
Years ago, my husband traveled a lot for work and we moved to a new state with different bugs. I had wood cockroaches and crickets in addition to spiders. I would freak out (just as my mother continues to do) but I was the grownup at home. One day, I thought to myself: "This is ridiculous. I have to stop being afraid of bugs." So I stopped reacting to them and never have again. I either kill them or scoop them up and out. I'm not saying an invasion wouldn't make me jump but I just deal with it.
I love this, Diane. You just decided and, boom, it was done. That's inspiring.
I have given up trying to not freak out when I walk into a web, I am just not capable of dealing with it reasonably. Hence I have morphed my arms waving, legs springing, head wobbing into a co-ordianted patter and call it a dance.
The spider dance! I think I'll do a cartoon about that!
I walked into one on my deck, did a very interesting “spider web dance” and am thankful that my neighbors did not record it and put it on YouTube. 🤪
Can you imagine it in slow motion? That would be extra funny.
On vacation on St Kitts we stopped by the roadside to pick a stalk of sugar cane. Interesting, huh? Might have been except when we squeezed it’s big tall crunchy stalk in the back seat , we noticed a gigoodo spider the size of a hamburger on it .. on us in the car. So big we HEARD it’s massive body land on the seat . After that : all four of us CHAOTIC!( needless to say ; you can imagine) Not to be befriended .
Yikes😱😱😱
Yes! It's icky and terrifying! I've never done more exercise than that day😖! I've given fair warning to all spiders: if you're in my home, leave, or die!
Yesss! The gift suggestions are coming! And I don't know for the spider. If I have one on me, I'm not confortable, but I pinch it out. But don't even talk about any insect with wings. Pouah. Brrr. I hate them. All of them.
All spiders are welcome in my house but they must show a valid lease contract upon demand. Few comply...
Very reasonable request.
And few have any legal representation
Well, a lot of law schools have dropped their “Spider Law” courses, so it’s tough to find a well-trained professional
That explains why you never hear about the "Eight Legs of the Law" anymore
Exactly
I’ve made peace with the house spiders as long as the big ones stay out of the kitchen... but hear you on the random outside webs, seriously what are they attached to? No strategy except the crazy spider dance post web encounter.
I don’t mind small spiders in my house, but when there’s those big ones, I have the same strategy of naming them. For some reason I always call them Herman.