The kids were still awake when I went to bed last night. Before my head hit the pillow, I heard a shriek down the hall. I jumped out of bed to see what was the problem. The girls were trapped down at the far end of the hallway, unable to get down the stairs to get a glass of water because they were blocked by the world’s scariest thing.
A typical house spider weighs about 1 gram. A typical daughter in my house weighs about 40 to 50 kilograms. That’s a 1:50,000 weight advantage, thus my conclusion that, proportionally, a spider is one of the scariest things on the planet, able to effectively take control of a household of 5 people, a dog and a cockatiel merely sitting quietly on a wall.
I quickly secured the spider in a plastic cup. I have been stricly forbidden to dispatch any insects with a smack of the newspaper, or a smoosh with a ball of toilet paper. Therefore, I never do that.
When anyone is looking.
I carefully maneuver the cup so the spider falls to the bottom. I recommend those hard, clear plastic cups, like a WNA model T10 Clear Party Tumbler from Costco. The sides are so smooth that bugs can’t get a toe hold to climb out while I dash for the door to delicately return the undesirable house guest to the forest.
I just hope he didn’t have an extra set of keys to the house.
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