HoneyBerry
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spider attacked

I was watching a spider try to manage a large broken spider web. He was suspended in mid air wrapping his web material into a ball. Then suddenly this wasp appeared and visciously attacked the spider. Then the wasp flew away and the spider climbed up into the tree above. Perhaps the spider had caught a wasp in the web and the 2nd wasp was retaliating. It was fun to watch.

Marlingardener are you there? I saw a grasshopper yesterday. Did you send him my way?

HoneyBerry
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What a beautiful spider! I love spiders. I guess I'm weird that way. So many people are creeped out by them. I think they are amazing, the way they can weave webs so quickly and across long spans like they do. They like to hang between my arborvitaes. The hummingbirds probably use the webs for their nests because my honeysuckle and fuchsia plants and hummingbird feeder are all by the arborvitaes.

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onlylobster
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I'm a spider watcher too. It doesn't matter where I am if I see a new spider or insect I'm going to check it out and try to look it up later for identification. Still, I wish they wouldn't come in with me almost every time I harvest my leafy greens. They always remain hidden until I wash the veggies and then I feel guilty when they go circling the drain. I'm also not a fan of the idea that I'm handling the plants they hiding on so much. So far I haven't been bit but I am basically pushing my luck.

HoneyBerry
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I'm kind to spiders that come inside. I carefully transport them back outside. It's nice to know that I'm not the only spider friendly around.

Marlingardener are you there? That grasshopper that showed up in my yard us wearing a hat with a Texas star.

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applestar
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I like spiders, too.

A couple of years ago, I voiced concern that it takes several complete changes of water to wash garden harvested vegs and I feel like I'm wasting the water. After some discussion here, I've adopted a routine to wash my harvest twice out in the garden before bringing them inside.

I start by dunking them in a deep tub or bucket of water with water from the spigot or hose gently swirling the water -- typically spiders will climb to the top of the pile, sometimes all the way up to the rim of the container, sometimes waving to be rescued while floating on a leaf. :wink:

Slugs and cabbageworms :? will float out and sink, as will dirt and sand. Floating debris can be allowed to spillover the edge.

I remember that during the discussion, Scott, the original Helpful Gardener posted something that I thought was really funny... Ah ha! I found it! :()
Subject: Best way to NOT waste water washing lettuce/salad greens?
The Helpful Gardener wrote:Knock out the worst of it in a dish pan of water right in the garden. Water plants with rinsate. One spin in the house and eat. Anything that makes it through you were destined to eat...
:>

HoneyBerry
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That's a good one. I can picture those little spiders waving to be rescued.
I used to kill spiders just like most people do, when I was younger.
It's more recently that I have come into this Buddha-esque feeling of respect for all life.
I even had a short zen moment one day when I was taking pictures of the bumblebees on my orange poppies. They were buzzing about minding their own business, shoving their noses into flower after flower. Suddenly I was one with the bees. It lasted for about 10 seconds. I will never forget that moment.

JohnnyB60
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Location: Southern CA High Desert

I live and work around a tremendous amount of black widows. They are everywhere and I don't mind them one bit because they seem to keep other bugs that I hate away. I have gotten bit a few times trying to kill them, but that was a long time ago.

I only had one actually attack me or I should say tried to. I was on my back laying on the floor when I disturbed a rather large black widow. She was insistent on coming toward me and I could not move out of the way because I was installing pipe. I tried to hit it with a small piece of pipe, but was only making it angrier and determined to get me each time I missed it, so I finally just rolled a pipe over it to stop it.

I have to say though that none of the bites I’ve had were as bad as getting Spider Spray on my forearms. I had an Air conditioner go out at work, but I was at the hospital with my wife and a coworker tried to take care of it for me. He didn’t know anything about Air Conditioners and was deathly afraid of spiders. When he opened up the cover he saw a huge Black Widow and emptied a whole can of spider spray into the unit. It never got fixed so I had to work on it the following day and I had to reach all the way in to remove bolts deep inside. That night after I fixed it my arms were red, burning and festering up with a bloody rash. I was putting all sorts of stuff on it thinking it was sun burn or something and it wasn’t until 2 days later that I found out about the spider spray.

Now my arms are scarred up for life and occasionally break out in a bloody mess. I will not even have that spider spray at home and it has been banned from my workplace. :x

HoneyBerry
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Hello,
This is a re-post. I'm not sure what happened to my last post.
That's quite a story. I don't what I would do if I was face-to-face with a black widow spider. I wonder why your arms still break out sometimes. I have severe allergies and chemical sensitivities sometimes, so I can feel some of your pain. I wonder if there some kind of antidote for that. Sometimes I had severe allergic reactions and my throat swells up and I feel like I can't breath. My muscles tighten in my upper respiratory tract and I can't breathe. It's a horrible experience. I wonder if aloe vera gel would help your arms.

Marlingardener: I had to look up that spider because I've never heard of that one. Good thing it isn't poisonous. I can't imagine having one in my hair like you did. Good thing I now have some Texas grasshoppers to protect me with their little guns and holsters.

JohnnyB60
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Thanks Joy, I now use lotion and don't have the outbreaks anymore, but there are still the scars. I just hope it doesn't turn into skin cancer. Anyway the point I was trying to make was that I think I would have been better off with the spider bite then the spider killer spray. :D



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