Peakah's Provocations...

I recently drained and put away our little 14' rubber swimming pool that we put out on the back patio for the kids to drown each other in.

After having stored it in our garage for a few days I noticed that my pool filter pump had a new resident.

A black widow, was enjoying the damp dark open space provided by the motor at the bottom of the pump. She was setting up her lair of death in my garage.

I love watching animals behave. This black widow seemed to be able to sense mood. She scampered off when we were introduced only when I finally came to the realization that it was a freaking black widow! Those preceding moments before I came to that realization she just stared back at me. She was in the midst of weaving her web at the bottom of my aluminum ladder right next to the filter pump.

I for some reason, left it alone. I wasn't going to tell my wife about it just yet.

The next morning I saw her again continuing to weave her trap underneath the first step of my ladder. I knew we would have to deal with each other very very soon. I can't let a black widow live in my garage. I love most other spiders because they keep my house relatively insect free.

I don't mind swallowing 4 of them suckers a year if I don't have to keep on spraying the house with chemicals to keep the ants and roaches at bay. Just a bit o'protein right? I've ingested worse.

But she had to go just so I can avoid the moment when my 3 year old boy find it and comes in from the garage to tell me, "Daaaaad, I wuv dis p'idah fo-evah", right before it sinks it's venom into his hand.

Not happenin on my watch!

I took out the garbage tonight and saw her for the third time in 24 hours. This time she continued weaving figuring she's got me whipped. I reached over behind the ladder to the bench a white towel that was covering a 5 gallon bucket. As I pulled the towel toward me and opened it up to swallow Ms Widow up into it, she bolted to her lair beneath the pump.

I had to take care of things, can't let her have any babies in my garage. I took the pump out into the driveway under moonlight (and that annoying beam shot up through the top of the Luxor) and grabbed my leather gloves.

I knocked on my neighbor's door to see if he was there. The house was dark so I knew chances were that they were out. He is the neighbor who knows everything. A bit of Mr. Wizard meets Tim the tool-man Taylor. He doesn't spray his house for insects at all, he has 4 praying mantis who live on each corner of his property. He tells me that this is all he needs to keep his house completely insect free. I figured he would know way too much about black widows.

I turned the pump over and saw her furry lair with her murdered mate. She has already done the deed but I'm almost positive that there have been no eggs yet. Well, then came the gloves and the towel... the rest is history.

No vacancy for black widows...
Gotta keep this place clean for the patrons...


-trackback extravaganza, see these open posts this weekend:
Basil's Blog
My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
Jo's Cafe
The Mudville Gazette
bRight & Early
Stop the ACLU
Big Dog's Weblog
Wizbang
Point Five
Cao's Blog