Spider Tails of the Brown Recluse

Aren't you glad spiders don't have tails?  ...or wings!  ::::Shudder::::   Did you know there are over 70,000 variety of spiders in this world?   I really hate spiders.  

It must be Spiderday, not Saturday!

***Don't watch this video!***  

(Can't say I didn't warn ya.)

Thursday night, I was really late getting home…Ole Boy was already in bed asleep…but not for long.   As I was trying to unlock the door, I saw a movement near the knob.   I tried to tell myself it was just the shadow of my hands as I was inserting the key, but that theory was quickly laid to rest when a huge spider planted itself between the lock and the door frame.   He was positioned to enter the house when the door opened; if, of course, I had any intention of opening the door.

I called Ole Boy.   He didn’t answer, which is standard for him; he can sleep through a tornado.   To my relief, he called me right back.   I said, “I’m outside and there’s a huge spider on the door.  I can’t get in!”   He said there wasn’t anything he could do from inside.   That answer wasn’t good enough, I thought.   He looked out the window and told me to use the broom to knock it off the door.  (As if it wouldn’t land on me if I did that?)   He then opened the door, and the spider went right inside.  I squealed, and he slammed the door shut.  I am certain he didn’t realize the spider was now on his side of the door.   We never did see the spider again.  I don’t know where it is.   Yeah, I’m not happy about that.

Yesterday, in my car…guess what?  That’s right.  A spider!  Not the same one…thankfully, a smaller one, but man!  It could jump!  A nearby young man decided he would help me and tried to kill it, but only managed to scare it.   I am 99% certain it ran out of the car, the window was down and the door was opened.   There is that 1% fear.   Not happy about that, either.

This is the best spider story I've ever heard.  I don't know that it's true, and I've seen several variations of it...but I love it just the same.  

During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific Island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire, he had lost touch with his comrades.

Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he made his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves.  Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed.

As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be Your will, please protect me. Whatever Your will though, I love You and trust You. Amen."   

After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, "Maybe the Lord isn't going to help me out of this one."  Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave.   As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave.  "Ha,” he thought, "What I need is a brick wall, and what the Lord sent me is a spider web. God has a sense of humor."

As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while. "Lord, forgive me," prayed the young man. "I had forgotten that in You a spider's web is stronger than a brick wall."