Comments on: Timeline of the decline of the human race

By: Meagan

Meagan — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:37:19 +0000

I’m quite fond of spiders as outdoor creatures (providing they’re not building webs across my front porch that I have to knock down/walk through unwittingly in order to get to my car). But as far as I’m concerned, when they come inside it violates the Geneva Convention and quite possibly a few other laws and treaties as well (at the very least, it’s breaking and entering) and they have forfeited their rights and exist only on my sufferance. My sufferance ends when the spider has been hanging out in my bathtub for two days and I want to take a freakin’ shower.

By: Kirsten Marie

Kirsten Marie — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:58:46 +0000

Spiders mean good luck in Denmark as well. But oddly enough, I feel quite lucky anyway.

By: Jann

Jann — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:52:24 +0000

I kill ants in the house, but not outside. In CA, I have thousands of them in my kitchen; in Buffalo where there were just a few, I left them alone.

By: mig

mig — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:27:05 +0000

ja, i’ll swat a mosquito too. not sure about poisonous spiders in Austria. i have mixed feelings about killing ants. they’ve pretty much taken over our yard, and i’ve left them alone so far, but now they’re moving into the kitchen, i’m not so crazy about that.

By: Jann

Jann — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:17:20 +0000

My philosophy: if I can’t create something, I have no right to destroy it; spiders I leave alone (after all they catch and eat flies and other insects). If someone else objects, I catch the spider with a piece of newspaper (this is not difficult) and take it outside. Poisonous spiders I kill (reluctantly); we have black widows in California. Also mosquitos; they carry diseases.

By: cj

cj — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:55:17 +0000

That wasn’t a hedgehog. It was me.

;)

By: k

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:51:35 +0000

i’d really like to hear the sad frogs.

By: Meagan

Meagan — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:59:33 +0000

Could very well be, though I think I remember reading of it in something Japanese as well.

But if it’s not American or Mexican, I cannot very well be considered to be any sort of authority. :)

By: MW

MW — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:42:59 +0000

Meagan: Actually I think it’s Italian.

By: Meagan

Meagan — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:14:33 +0000

Taking spiders by one of their many, fuzzy little hands and leading them back outside was my ex-husband’s job. Me, I just kill the little suckers.

I forget which culture that spiders=good luck thing is from (Japan?), but I’m not from there. :)

By: zeynep

zeynep — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:59:06 +0000

any hedgehog photos this year mig?? I just realized that I have been reading your blog for about a year now and the first blog that I read was about hedgehogs!!
Oh and what happened with the publishers?

By: mig

mig — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:01:19 +0000

I suggest catching him and putting him outside. Spiders are good luck.

A big, long-legged, heavy-duty hairy spider nearly killed me once. It was hiding in my towel and came this close to giving me a heart attack when I dried off after a shower.

I don’t know which of us was more scared. He ran away and I never found him again.

By: Meagan

Meagan — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:55:01 +0000

You know, I’ve just been contemplating this large, long-legged, hairy spider in my bathtub. Then I read your blog and thought to myself, “You know what? I’d really prefer a hedgehog. Or even slugs. Sad frogs would be cool too. Anything but this freaking spider.”

I have a contract with all eight-legged entities that enter my domicile. So long as they do not cross into my personal space, they are permitted to continue existing. “My personal space” is defined as “any area I might choose to occupy to perform one task or another.” So the spider in the bathtub will be permitted to continue attempting to climb the sides and failing miserably and whatever other spidery activities he wishes until such time as I decide to take a shower. If he has not vacated the premises by then, he shall die a most unpleasant death of scalding hot water.

The last spider to hang above my living room heater (which I wanted to turn on, because it was rather cold in there) got death by hairspray. He may or may not have been actually dead, but he was certainly immobilized once it dried. Which is actually pretty wicked cool, when you think about it. The best kind of spider to have in your house is the kind that isn’t moving and waving its legs about.