And so, in Charlotte's honor (and because they are beneficial animals) I keep a spider cup at school for the kiddos to use to scoop up any errant arachnids who crawl into our classroom. At home, I pop a cup over them, slide a postcard under the lip, and then quickly flip it and hustle the spider outside.
Not my favorite duty, but still...
It is "spider season" now. With autumn here, they're looking for a place to spend the winter. And we get one kind in particular: wolf spiders.
They're harmless and they don't really bother us, remaining on the ground and not climbing up onto things. But what they do that is startling is to RUN. You may not even be aware that they're in the room until they streak off across the floor.
Just this morning I was reading the paper when a quick motion on the carpet by the fireplace made me jump. It was a wolf spider, sprinting across the living room floor, running from one sheltering spot to another. (I imagined him waiting and watching me, and then screaming "RUNNNNN!!!" as he tore off across the carpet.)
I quickly popped an unlit Yankee Candle tumbler over him, slid a postcard under it, flipped the candle, and carried it to the front door where I tossed the unwelcome visitor out on the sidewalk. (Sometimes they turn and run for the door; more than once I have wondered if I have scooped up the same spider a couple of times!)
Fortunately, we don't get nearly as many spiders as we did when our home was new and built in 2006. This used to be a farm field, and that first autumn, the spiders were far more numerous. Now I don't see as many (not that that makes me sad.)
I'll keep scooping them up and putting them outside as long as they come into my home, but I will be glad when my home is no longer deemed a spider sanctuary.
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