Creeeeeeepy!

Being the self-diagnosed/professed arachniphobe (sp?) that I am...I was really freaked out last night when we pulled up to our garage and as it was going up I spotted a huge spider climbing up the door. (This time of year there are spiders EVERYWHERE here and it is my least favorite part of my favorite season!) So, already feeling a little creeped out, we get out of the car and are walking around to come inside when I spot another fairly large spider hanging upside down in it's web on one of our camping chairs. I put my arms out to block the boys from coming any closer in fear of it being a black widow, and sure enough I see the red spot. I told Brad (who was already at the front door) and he was like, "Get the kids away from it! Go the other way!" Well I guess the spider could sense all the fear/commotion going on and it hurried back up somewhere into the chair. So we quickly walked past, making sure not to bump into the chair and got inside where Joshy proclaimed, "We're safe!" Isn't it funny how a 2-year-old picks up on things like that?

As I was singing the boys to sleep, Brad went back outside to locate and identify the spider -- to kill it. Well, he found it back in it's web and sprayed it with some bug spray. Then this morning he found it dead on the ground and showed it to me. He said maybe it was a male black widow or just immature because it had a lot of brown on it. So we flushed it down the toilet and it was semi-forgotten about.

Well, you've heard me mention the problem with my kids playing with the dirt in the backyard before...and the huge mess they made the other day was still out there waiting to be cleaned up. So, since the weather was really nice today and there was a nice breeze, I decided I'd go clean up all the dirt, fix the fence and spray off the patio. While I was kneeling down by the fence, I noticed a small, white, spiky ball in the middle of a spider web. I immediately knew it was an egg sac and was creeped out BIG TIME all over again. Just imagining the hundreds of little spiders crawling out sent chills down the back of my neck. Well, right above that spider web, was one of my son's mini tonka trucks, just resting on that ledge of the fence. "Great," I think, "Joshy has been out here INCHES away from this thing!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!" So then I grabbed the broom and started sweeping/swiping off all the spider webs I could find and smashing all of the egg sacs I could find (about 10-12). EWWWWWWWWWWWW!


This is the kind of sacrifice a mother makes to keep her kids safe! Doing something that absolutely grosses/creeps you out and that you are afraid of for the good of someone else, is definitely love. RIGHT? :)

So anyway, as soon as I was finished with that, I got online and looked up "spiky egg sacs" and found some answers. It is a "Brown Widow" not a black widow, but still dangerous. Check out this blog to see some pictures that someone else posted:

http://bugyou.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html That blogger lives in Tustin, which is like 10 minutes from where I live.

So...although I am SO glad it's finally OCTOBER and almost HALLOWEEN and my baby boy is almost due...I am not glad about all the spiders!!!!!! YUCK!