Can Black Widows Make Blonde Widows?
I don’t have proof but I’m betting that if I stop paying attention I might gather enough data to remove reasonable doubt. Over the last few days I’ve noticed an explosion of Black Widow spiders around our house. A couple of weeks ago I found one in my shoe! Kerri is a blonde so if a Black Widow bites me and I die, a Blonde Widow may occur. See how I tied that title into my post? You can’t learn that level of association skills — it’s a natural born thang.
In recent days I’ve noticed some “crazy” spider webs on the perimeter of my house. They seemed like trademark Widow webs but during the day you won’t generally find them. Last night I went down to a neighbor’s place to snatch up his dog since he is out of town. I decided to bring a flashlight so I could check the areas where I had noticed the webs. In each of those three areas I found a big, fat Black Widow hanging upside down, signature red hourglass shape perfectly exposed. Some of them, had I not noticed the webs earlier, were directly in a path that I might take on a normal walk at night and they were hanging about knee high. Crazy, huh?
It almost seems like someone dumped a ton of baby Widow spiders on my property a couple of weeks ago and they’re all taking up residence around my house. I’m going on a serious hunt shortly to help get rid of the nasty little buggers. I mean, one built a web hanging off my mailbox and one was hanging off my neighbor’s box, stretching out towards the street.
As I mentioned earlier, I found one in my shoe, almost by pure accident. I normally leave my shoes next to my bed but this time of year I rarely wear shoes. The last time I went golfing I left mine in the garage but eventually moved them into my bedroom, right next to my bed. On that day I had some work to do so rather than my slipping on my traditional flip-flops for this time of year I reached for my shoes. My finger detected a piece of [what seemed to be] spider silk so I took a second before jamming my foot into its cover. Thank God I did. I looked inside and there was that trademark “crazy” web. I took it into the bathroom and began slamming it on the counter. Pretty soon a big, fat, ugly (yet stunning!) Widow fell out. What would have happened if I jammed my foot in there? I don’t know for sure but I’m certain it wouldn’t be fun for my tootsies. This is Black Widow season and they seem especially populous right now. Time to keep the kiddies indoors at night. And, time to watch what the hell is in front of me if I go for an evening walk!
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