Arachnophobia

I always hated that John Goodman movie but for some reason I ended up watching it a lot when I was a kid. I blame a certain mean-spirited older sister because now all of my worst fears are coming true. Today as I was cleaning the house a little bit I found a spider in one of our concrete-block walls and thought it looked dead. Just to be sure Holly poked a spoon in one end to nudge it towards the outside world. It didn’t take the hint and we had to go on a spider hunt throughout the house.

The prey:

Our humble hunting weapons:

Even though it was so close to the outside it chose to come back in and headed straight for the bed which just meant that we had no choice but to destroy it by any means necessary. Unfortunately the most powerful weapon at our disposal is the size 12 running shoe so it was pretty difficult. This tarantula was really fast so we when we finally chased him from behind the bed he went straight for the lavandero and hid behind it where we couldn’t reach. At this point it was a waiting game and, thanks to summer vacation, we were committed to sleep near the sink with one eye open in order to catch her. Luckily she moved first and we got a preliminary blow and forced her to drop her giant sack of eggs she was hauling around(after which dozens of little spiders were released but were easier to catch than the mama). Finally, Holly administered the lethal strike with my Chaco (next time we'll be more prepared with nail guns and molotov cocktails like in the movie).

For now we’re spider-free but we might have really angered the entire next generation of blood-thirsty tarantulas. I think I’ll give away my Chacos and try to blame the whole thing on a neighbor just to avoid any revenge smashings.

P.S. Mom & Dad - We're looking forward to your visit! Don't worry, this only happens once a month or so.