It’s Just You and Me Spider

I am not a lover of bugs and spiders and suspect that I’m in the majority with my distaste of them. While not excited, I expect to see them out in nature; their home is in the great outdoors and I do little to disturb them there. However, I do not like finding them in my home. I don’t want them invading my space—and I will kill them for the intrusion.

One of the nice things about living in Oregon is that the weather is fairly temperate, and while the summer can get hot, it’s generally not super hot and humid. Therefore the spiders here do not grow to those enormous sizes found in their counterparts in humid parts of the world—where creepy crawly things seem to be on steroids. I usually only have to deal with the small round black spiders that while creepy, aren’t super creepy.

So I was surprised the other day when I saw a big creepy spider (maybe two inches wide) with long spindly legs on my ceiling. I glanced up and at first it didn’t register that it was a spider due to its size, so when I finally realized that it was, I was frustrated that it was so high up that I couldn’t reach to kill it. I had to leave it alone, and that made me quite uncomfortable because I knew that it would be roaming freely in and out of rooms and I could do nothing to stop it. [Pause.] But I knew that we would inevitably meet again.

A few days later I happened to look up and there the spider was, on the bathroom ceiling. Startled, I couldn’t help but jump a couple feet back (as it truly was a terrifying size). I approached it slowly, determined not to let it get away this time. I sprayed it with some bug spray, which slowed it down enough so I could crush it with my shoe. I don’t revel in killing spiders (in fact I rather loathe it), but I am relieved once the deed is done.