Dolphin With Rabies

Life on beautiful Cape Cod.

Monday, July 07, 2003

Good thing spiders don't bother me

I came into work today to find that small spider with amazingly long and spindly legs had built a web between my letter opener and a stack of files on my desk. I can easily see it as I type.

Spiders disturb me not one whit. A friend of my parents' was a naturalist, and when we were all living in the commune together (yes, I lived in a commune) he explained spiders to me, and we used to leave flies for the spider that built a tunnel shaped web. Ah, childhood memories.

Second, I find it entirely plausible that half of America's population of spiders reside on one side of the mainland while the other half reside on Cape Cod. The place is thick with spiders. I grew up encountering spiders in my kitchen, bathroom, porch, garden, and even my mail box.

In the same way that "seedless" watermelon may have a handful of seeds, any spot where you only need to dislodge a couple of spiders is effectively "spider free" on Cape.

In the interest of science, I'm leaving the spider and the web and see how long it stays. I'll keep you posted.