The adventures of the lady spider killer continue

My encounters with bugs (more here) and spiders in and around my house are well-known amongst readers of my political blog. So it should come as no surprise that I have another one to report from last night.

I honestly don’t know what kind of spider it was that was in my house last night, but all I had to know was that it scared me silly and I sprayed the thing with so much spider spray I thought *I* might pass out from it. But the dang thing just kept moving. Don’t ever believe those “kill on contact” claims on the sides of the spray cans. Lies! Anyway, I was trying to “stun” the spider with the spray before I killed him with my shoe, but realized he was in an awkward spot for me to try and kill. He kept moving even with an inch of spider spray on his back but unfortunately he got underneath my recliner. So I had to take several deep breaths and move the recliner – all the while praying he didn’t jump up at me in one last gasp of glory.

In the end, he met his demise and I went to bed and rested comfortably, knowing the multi-legged scary thingie wasn’t prowling around downstairs. And fortunately most of the spider spray smell dissipated overnight. I came to the conclusion today that the spider was my version of Punxsutawney Phil, letting me know that spring is just around the corner — and to expect more creepy crawlies in the days and weeks ahead.

Gulp.

(Video link)

9 Responses to "The adventures of the lady spider killer continue"

Anthony says:

March 11, 2010 at 2:08 am

Isn’t amazing (in a terrifying sort of way) when the spray doesn’t work? It’s like a monster movie: “It won’t die! IT WON”T DIE!!!”

And I know the feeling. I was mildly arachnophobic as a child, and they still give me the creeps.

I hate bugs in the home.
Lorica says:

March 11, 2010 at 1:21 pm

LOL Poor Thing…and I ain’t talkin’ about the spider. LOL Creepiest thing that ever happened to me, bug wise, was when I was working in an auto parts store. I opened a box of oil, stuck my hand in to put it on the shelf and grabbed a cockroach when I picked up the bottle of oil. /Shivers When the thing moved, I freaked and dropped the whole box and out popped about 5 roaches, I wanted to throw up. LOL Good Lord that was along time ago. LOL I still hate roaches!!!! – Lorica
Sister Toldjah says:

March 17, 2010 at 9:15 pm

Anthony – indeed! The only thing that “kills on contact” is a firm object they can be squished with.
Severian says:

March 17, 2010 at 9:34 pm

Spiders are not nearly as susceptible to bug spray as insects are, arachnids ain’t quite the same. It’s amazing how much it takes to really kill one, I think their nervous system is different. Try thinking of it as a small, possibly poisonous lobster!

My old dive instructor was terrified of spiders, but with good reason. She’d been bitten twice by brown recluse spiders, which result in long lasting, very painful symptoms, including a lot of tissue necrosis (she had a scar on her thigh about the size of a softball from one of the bites).

We were on a dive trip camping up in North Florida to go caving, and we were checking out the showers (no lights in the place). It was dusk, we looked in, then headed back out of the place. She stopped in the doorway, and I looked up and all over her head was the most enormous spider web complex with several dozen spiders wandering around. I said “Donna, listen to me carefully, walk quickly straight forward.” She sensed something was up from my tone, and headed straight outside without a word, when we were out of there she turned and looked back, and had a hissy fit of Biblical proportions. I think I earned good karma that time.

Now the divemaster telling the story about someone who had a big zit on their face that hatched out a slew of little spiders around the campfire that night, not so much.
Darth Venomous says:

March 23, 2010 at 10:18 pm

Isn’t amazing (in a terrifying sort of way) when the spray doesn’t work? It’s like a monster movie: “It won’t die! IT WON”T DIE!!!”

Anthony, I had that exact feeling today as I got home. I’d left the window open to keep from running the AC; when I went to close that window, I’d found a yellowjacket had climbed through the smallest rip in the screen.

Run get the wasp killer, test it – it emits a puff instead of the stream it’s supposed to shoot out.

Try the other can – it doesn’t even fire.

And if there _is_ one thing this Sith Lord is deathly afraid of – it’s wasps & yellowjackets.

Fortunately, the puffs of the working can were sufficient, once I’d hit the thing with enough of them. Touch & go there for a while, though. 😯
Anthony says:

March 24, 2010 at 11:07 am

Darth:

Heh. Reminds me of an old animated film I saw, in which a guy tries to swat an annoying fly, misses, and resorts to bigger and more destructive weapons, finally blowing up his own house.

The fly was still there.
nancy says:

May 17, 2010 at 11:03 pm

Moved to sc with my kids and dog. being a good renter I had the dog dipped before we left just in case. Well he started scratching like crazy.my neighbors dog was covered in fleas!so I took mine to the groomer to be redipped. They told me to mow the lawn and flea spray the property. so I went home, got the mower out and went to work. I bent over to remove the grass catcher bag to empty it, and out came this huge spidEr. I almost had heart failer when this huge hairy thing showed his face and I swear asked me out to dinner. I started screaming and stripping off my clothes heading for the house.that was my first encoubter with a wolf spider! And to add insult to injurt, dog didn’t have fleas, he had alergies welcome to south carolina miss michigan!!
nancy says:

May 17, 2010 at 11:09 pm

Re: spiders and sprays… Hair spray works!! They just stiffen up so you can get them with a shoe!!pay backs. Ha ha
Mary says:

May 20, 2010 at 7:31 pm

I hate the creepy crawlies myself. Night before last, I spotted a spider on the ceiling over my sliding glass door. It was too high to reach, but I figured I’d keep an eye on it, and when it crawled to an area I could reach, I’d smush the horrid thing with the fly swatter and dispose of it (I don’t use bug spray, my daughter has a sensitivity). I kept turning to look at it, and it was staying in one place. Five minutes later, it dropped down from the middle of the ceiling (must have been a pretty fast crawler) on a thread of it’s webbing. Only spottted it, because it passed directly in my line of vision (I’d been typing on my laptop, which was on the edge of my coffee table) right behind my screen. Luckily I had some tissue, and got it.. but it was a close run thing.

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