One of the Reasons I Dislike Summer

The spiders.

I'm such a bugophobe. But even I know that spiders are a good bug to have around because they eat mosquitos and other annoying flying insects. So we live by this rule, the spiders and I: They can stay outside and do their thing. But the second I see one of those fat, yucky arachnids I'm screaming bloody murder and Brian will be dispatched to squash it. (though I did kill a daddy longlegs when he was at work one morning--I had no choice but to take matter in my own hands...er, paper towel)

We have a large floodlight at the top of our house, facing the backyard. The spiders "doing their thing" usually consists of them stacking webs against the back of the house under the floodlight, like spider condos. Which makes sense, since all of these flying bugs treat the floodlight like it's crack. Most mornings I also have webs on the front porch, which I just ignore and go about my merry way. Sometimes, they are so large that I find them amazing in a creepy way.

In the mornings, Brian wakes me up after he gets out of the shower, and I mosey my way into the kitchen to let our dog Joey out, and then head for my own shower. This morning I pulled back the slider door curtain, and there it was. A HUGE spiderweb! Almost the size of half the door with the spider smack-dab in the middle, tooting his own horn. Though disgusted, I just opened the door and Joey ran out into the backyard.

Later on, I had Will in the car and had just put it in reverse to head to daycare when something on the back stairwell caught my eye. I put the car in park, turned off the engine and got out to take a look. Holy Crap! Apparently the web I saw at the slider door was the "little" one. There is a web covering the entire top of the stairs, up to the roof! It looks big enough to catch people! And the spider is in the middle of that one, looking pooped but bragging just the same. I shudder, and get back in the car.

So that is why every year, I look forward to the first cold night when all of the spiders finally go away for the year. But it's too bad they're not around for Halloween, I wouldn't have to decorate!