Black Widowville: Population Increasing Rapidly

posted in: Motherhood 2

IMG_8128Last night, near Pip’s 8 p.m. bed time, Pip rushed up to me from down stairs.

“Mom! A black widow just crawled out of my boot and ran into the hall closet!”

As my readers know, I live in an area of the world where black widow spiders are common: dry, desert like summer with mild winters (mild by Canadian standards). I have encountered many black widows in my garage in the fall and winter months and the odd one in my home. You can read about a few of my encounters in the posts: Black Widows and Spiders.

I am used to Pip insisting she’s seen a black widow and then happily  discovering it’s only giant house spider. Though, on several occasions Pip has been right and has found black widows in our house. So, to be safe, I rushed down stairs to investigate. I shook out her boots and looked in the hall closet. Gasp! The closet was stuffed full of boots and shoes of all styles and sizes. It would take me a week to shake out every shoe…

I looked around as best I could but gave up. I scolded (not harshly) Pip for not calling up to me while staying near the spider (standing safely on the stairs) and watching the spider so I would know exactly where it was hiding. I warned those family members who were home (Tabs—Peter and Mist were out at the time) to be extra careful putting on shoes from the closet for a while.

I had no idea Pip took my scolding so seriously as within minutes a letter arrived for me via magic winds (she hid behind the foot board of my bed and tossed it over to me), while I was sitting on my bed, working on a frustrating computer issue.

IMG_8130

Yes, bless her darling little soul, she even used a real postal stamp.

I opened the mysterious letter that the wind had brought:

IMG_8131 Apparently, the letter was from a mystery person. The present, a ring made by Pip. She created it using a new rubber band loom kit that Granny gave her for Christmas.

You’ll notice the From: ? (at the top left of the letter). Pip drew the question mark in mirror image.

Of course, I forgave my darling! Though, there was really nothing to forgive her for.

This morning, as I rushed to get everyone off to school, I reminded the entire family of the spider sighting and to make sure to double check their shoes. However, I decided the spider was probably not a black widow after all as they usually don’t run and hide. They have a tendency to freeze where ever they’ve been discovered and then slowly move away.

As Tabitha grabbed her back pack and slipped into her shoes, she shouted up stairs, “I found the spider!” 

I rushed down to see what type of spider it was. Yikes! Pip was right. It was a black widow. I scooped her up on a coaster and relocated her outside (unfortunately, I hurt one of her legs in the attempt); I hate that.

There you have it. The latest chapter in the Black Widow Adventures of Knox Mountain. This spider adventure was most upsetting as our hall closet is like a black hole of shoes. Finding a spider in our hall closet would be like finding a fleck of gold in a sandbox.

2 Responses

  1. Sandra Hart
    | Reply

    Pip Is so cute and sensitive. I think you need to consult a spider exterminator.

    • Mix Hart
      | Reply

      I think she wanted an excuse to make more jewelry! She’s addicted.This spring we’ll shop vac the garage and hopefully get rid of any hidden egg sacks.

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