I was busy most of the day with a garage sale, so my niece Sophie surprised me with a guest post. She’s nine and three-quarters years old, and loves to work out in the gardens with her Mom and Dad.
I don’t know if she remembers that I once offered to pay her one dollar per paragraph for guest blogs. I’m guessing not since she made her post one big paragraph.
Here’s her post:
Do you remember those spiders in our backyard last year? The ones that were so big we were afraid they would carry off our kittens? Well, we were outside transplanting little rose bushes dreaming of our dog pen that we plan to create in our little woods when my mom went off in search of her clippers. She called me over to tell me that she had found a praying mantis on the Alberta Spruces. And then my mom saw something that freaks us out – a two inch long fat spider, along with about 10 sisters, and even worse – there was an egg sack. A big egg sack. An inch in diameter egg sack. My dad had the nerve to say, “Great! Keep them! I love spiders!” Keep in mind each spider can grow to about 3-4 inches. Sometimes that doesn’t even include the legs. What is my dad thinking? Of course, this comes from the same person who loves snakes. My mom and I were so freaked out that we are considering getting rid of the Alberta Spruces. Do you think that will get rid of the spiders? Please vote: 1. Keep spiders and move away. 2. Cut down Alberta Spruces hoping the spiders will go someplace else. 3. Capture the spiders and take them to Aunt Carol’s garden so they will eat her rabbits.
I don’t blame Sophie one bit for trying to figure out how to get rid of those big, ugly spiders. But please vote no on moving them all to my house, please! There is another choice, but I suppose they won’t hear of it.
I vote for anything that will get rid of them in the yard. I think I would get in an expect for an opinion on how to get rid of them. If you cut the spruces down, they might just move somewhere else. I centainly would not like to cut them dowm, knowing that they might jump on me at anytime. Good post, Sophie. You are a really good writer.
Kathy, the older sister
Sophie is very clever. I laughed out loud at her suggestion to take them to your house, Carol, to eat your rabbits. Cute post.
By the way is that the little purple flower that grows on the sweet potato vine? They are the dickens to photograph. I’ve taken about a hundred shots of those things and can’t get a good picture.
I vote to leave the spiders be! They’re good bugs, if a bit scary to little girls.
😉
Kathy… I agree, I would call in an expert but I don’t think they will like what he says because it might involve extermination…
Robin… Yes, that is a sweet potato flower. It was just “right there” when I was looking for something pretty to take a picture of to include with this post. Sophie is a smart little girl.
Laurahinnj… I’ll pass your vote on to Sophie to see what she thinks. She and her brothers are normally not afraid of bugs and spiders, but these particular spiders really are enormous.
I’d leave the spiders. They could be very interesting to watch and maybe even feed!! (Yikes!)
And they are benefical to the environment – eating harmful insects. It would be fun to get a book on spiders and try to find out all about them and even give them names! (I’ve actually done that.)
Tell Sophie to have fun with her new “pets”.
Well, I like Sophie’s idea of moving them to your place but since you abhor that, I’ll have to search for another option.
BTW, she deserves 2 dollars!
I haven’t ventured into the woods to look at this year’s spider crop but I remember the ones last year. They’re too big to just stomp on like an itty-bitty house spider, so unless they are exterminated we’ll have to leave them alone. (we don’t use chemicals in our yard) Do we really want to make a play pen for the pets in that woods? Would the spiders bite the dogs & cats?
Eleanor- the spiders aren’t in the woods – they are right there within touch of the gazebo. Think about it….they could crawl onto the gazebo, crawl up the railing, drop down onto the deck and then crawl across the deck and through the doggy door into your room and then pounce on your bed as you sleep!
P.S. Sophie likes the $2 suggestion!
Sophie is a great writer. Clear, concise and a great vocabulary.
I’m with the pro-spider crowd though, they may look unfriendly and a bit huge, but they’re eating tons of bugs. This is coming from someone who gently catches bugs that are in the house with a glass and a stiff piece of paper and carries them outside.
I’m with Alyssa and the other pro-spider folks. Leave them be. If they have plenty of bugs to eat outside, they probaby won’t go inside and pounce on anyone’s head! It might be fun to feed them. I used to catch insects and throw them into the web of a garden spider we had at my parent’s house one summer. It was interesting to watch the spider wrap its prey in the web. A bit gruesome, but interesting nonetheless.
I vote to give Sophie $1 for each future post she writes to keep us updated on her spiders.
Definitely DON’T cut down the trees. Is there some way for Sophie and the spiders to co-exist? Spiders are beneficials, although I’m pretty sure that rabbits are not on their usual menu. Sophie definitely has a future in writing.
Super cute post! What a charming and articulate 9-year-old! But…Ick! I love the idea of spiders and I’m all for preserving their habitat, but I have to say, if I had an unsable gazebo because of the spider invasion factor, I’d definitely try to…um…”relocate” the spiders. So I vote to axe the spruce so they’ll go somewhere else. I actually did this at my current home, removed good spider habitat because I was tired of walking up to the deck stairs and seeing a carpet of spiders running in front of me. UGH! ~A 🙂
I realised my mistake when I said the spiders were in the woods. They’re next to the gazebo. That must be why no one goes into the gazebo.
I vote, leave the spiders be, they are eattinig bad bugs like mosquitos and bitting flies which would bother you a heck of a lot more if the spiders wern’t there!
Besides, spiders are COOL!
We keep over 40 tarrantulas as pets ;).
Sophie is wise beyond her years – spiders with egg sacs – gross! Hmm, I hope they aren’t attracted to Alberta Spruce since I planted 8 of them this year!
I love Sophie’s post. I’d vote to either move or send Dad out to gather the spiders up. That’s what I did two days ago when I discovered a TARANTULA walking along the edge of my swimming pool. I had hubby go get it (while I shrieked “Oh my god, oh my god” from the other side of the yard with my eyes closed) and walk it to the other side of our property.
Yesterday while monitoring the spider situation, I discovered 2 praying mantis hovering on the Alberta Spruce. So, here’s my question…if the spider is bigger than the praying mantis, who will eat whom?
Sophie, that was a wonderful post! Aren’t you and your Aunt Carol lucky to live so close to one another. Is there a way to figure out if these are bad spiders, aka ones that will bite you, and hurt you? My daughter who is almost 25 now is still terrified of spiders.
I say leave them all alone-the mantis will likely eat the spiders, as they are very skilled predators! Sophie’s posts are absolutely worth $2!