"If you wish to live and thrive, let a spider run alive."
I'm not sure my Nan had these creepy beasties in mind when she used to say that to me. I have no clue what kind of spiders these are, but there are plenty of them on our back patio and our back yard. If I'm really lucky I walk through one of their webs first thing in the morning and get a faceful. I then proceed to do the spiderweb dance that most people are familiar with. You know the one - where you look like you're having a seizure and you paw and your face and hair while jumping around and hoping the web spinner isn't crawling down your shirt. Yes, that's the one.
I don't recall hearing about poisionous or biting spiders while living in England. We used to have "money spiders," and my Nan used to tell me if you saw a money spider it meant you were coming into money. That's a lot more romantic than seeing one of these brightly-colored arachnids creeping up your leg. There are no cute sayings about them. Blech.
Yep! I know the dance- it's starting to become a daily ritual with me as it's getting so close to fall and the end of their lives! They do their job well in keeping the bad bug (or any bug) population down, so I guess I will just continue to deal with them. I don't really mind them, unless they are the flesh eating kind ;)
ReplyDeleteThe second picture of the spider in the web with the zigzag is what we call a garden spider. I used to have one as a sort of pet when I was a girl. It lived in the bush by our front door and I would throw crickets into its web. I always love finding them in my garden!
ReplyDeleteI've heard, like Caroline, that the zigzag spiders were garden spiders, but we also call them writing spiders around here.
ReplyDeleteIcky, maybe, but they're all beautiful in their own icky way as long as they stay on their own paths!!
I think the first one pictured is an orb spider, beautiful and completely harmless. I am quite afraid of those buggers myself, silly isn't it? Walking into a web is horrid....even worse for those other insects!
ReplyDeleteI like your rhyme, we had a 'no kill' house until my daughter decided it was fun to squish the bugs. Poor spiders don't have a chance if she spots them first.
Garden spider and an orb spider huh? Very interesting...
ReplyDeleteWhat's the deal with the zigzag on the web? Any ideas?
I am not a fan of spiders, but I wouldn't kill one in the yard doing his spider thing... but any spiders in the house do get swatted, I'm afraid. There are too many biting, stinging poisonous spiders around here for me to start distinguishing once they're inside my house.
I hate the brown hairy looking fat ones - blech - we get plenty of them in my house and it just makes me shudder.
The spider dance is universal I do believe....the second photo is a Zipper Spider, I think, hence the design...I've been told it is a good spider to leave in the garden.
ReplyDelete