jillgoes

jillgoes

Sunday, May 27, 2012

The Spider I ate.....

......almost!

This blog entry I dedicate to my oldest daughter Rachel, who I find glee in terrorizing and tormenting is terrified of spiders.  I don't know why or how she developed this tendency, as we never modeled this behavior at home during her growing up years.  Watching her in the presence of a spider is thoroughly comical and entertaining.  For us.  I do have the capacity to feel a small sympathy for her though, as I am the same way about snakes.

The near-eating of the spider in my home reminded me of an amusing movie I had seen about 20 years ago.  Wow, does time fly!  I saw the movie "Arachnophobia" shortly after it came out in 1990.


Starring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman, it is a comedy horror about a small American town whose residents are being bitten and killed, one by one, by a deadly strain of spiders.  Perhaps Rachel watched this movie in her formative years, I don't know.  She would have been about 10 or 11 when she saw it.  Maybe I'm a bad mother.  (I was allowed to watch "The Wizard of Oz" at a young age, and I had nightmares for years about that wicked witch of the west.)

Here's what happened in my home:  I was walking from my kitchen down our little hallway towards the living room, when, at the last moment, I skidded to a stop, realizing that a spider was hanging down right in front of my open mouth!  I almost ate that sucker!  

I backed up and took this picture.  (I held a paper behind it so you would be able to see it.)


I'm sure it's just a harmless little house spider, but I did think of Rachel, and knew that she would cringe at the thought of actually EATING a spider.  

Apparently, many people have phobias about spiders.  My niece Keturah recently posted on Facebook about a spider she found in her back yard, in some play equipment she has there for her kids.  Here is the spider she found:


She was asking her Facebook friends if anyone knew what kind of spider it was, and amazingly, in no time at all she got 36 responses.  Spiders apparently give many a strong visceral response!  I do not know what kind of spider that is, but I have seen them around, and if I recall they are fast and they jump.  I am faster though -----> I am THE ELIMINATOR.

Here's one last photo for Rachel to examine.  It's a flashback from Jamaica.  

I think these little guys are actually crab babies, but they look like fancy spiders.

These critters would be seen on the walls, on the sidewalks, anywhere.  And, sometimes there were literally hundreds of them fanning out in front of you on the sidewalk where you were trying to walk.  However, they were fast, so even if you were walking barefoot (imagine that Rachel!) you wouldn't step on them.  

"There was an old woman who swallowed a fly,
I don't know why she swallowed a fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a spider,
it wiggled and jiggled and tiggled in side her,
Perhaps she'll die....."

Folks - do you remember that song?
Rachel - do you?

I DO!

4 comments:

  1. Ok first off...arachniphobia is NOT a comedy...it is possibly the most horrifying movie made and makes freddy cruegar look like a sesame street character. I know my phobia didnt come from that movie but that movie will have eric up every night checking bedroom corners before we go to bed.

    I do know exactly when my fear started and there are several life shattering moments that stand outin my mind. The first time was when i put my head in a lincoln log box and opened my eyes to a huge spider hanging centimeters from my face.

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  2. The second memory is walking thru the woods and running face first into a huge spider web with large spiders in it which then stuck to my face.

    I hate spiders. God messed up on this one. I will kiss a snake and snuggle all day with it as it bites me before i will ever ever ever touch a spider. This is also why i burnt my flower garden down with a zippo and a can of brake cleaner at the old house...i wage warwithout touching them or touching any object that touches them.

    I think i need counseling but im scared they would bring a spider in the room and then i would jump out the window and my children would be motherless. Its bad...lol...i will now have nightmares tonite, thanks mom :)

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  3. Well, really Rachel...you are the dummy that put your head in a Lincoln log box...

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  4. Hey i was a kid lol. I forgot to add that i will not be visiting moms house until a full extermination is complete. ESPECIALLY if there is a risk of ingesting tarantulas like tnat!

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