Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Our Visitors Meet Different Ends!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Tuesday Slice of Life sponsored by 
Two Writing Teachers.
Today's slice is triggered by Elsie's poem.  Quick, go read it!   Then come back for my connecting story.  It is the season for spiders.

I casually scoot Miss Hadley's box away from her favorite spot.  She owns our mudroom vent during fall, winter, and spring.  She stretches her paws over this piece of real estate, her perfect spot of heavenly heat!  While it's rare to find her out of the box, I do occasionally need to clean the throne upon which our Princess slumbers.  (When we adopted her sixteen years ago, I pointed out to her that we already had the Queen of Everything - me, and the Princess of Quite a Lot - my daughter.  Therefore, if she wanted to join our royal entourage, she would have to be the Princess of a Little Bit, but I digress.)  
Hadley:  Princess of A Little Bit
I reach in to pull the blue fleece throne out for cleaning when a huge spider crawls out - whether it was in the box, or under the box, I'll never know!  My screeches startle Hadley, the spider scurries about, I hesitate briefly and then execute a firm stomp - crunch! Hadley eyes the spider, wondering if it would make a tasty snack.  I encourage her to stay away from the carcass while I retrieve toilet paper and send our unwelcome visitor to a watery grave.    

Why do spiders strike such fear in me?  My mother claims it was because I picked up a scorpion and was stung while still too young to know better.  Now I know better . . . and the only crawling critters I pick up are dead ones.  I did manage to raise a daughter who catches live spiders and takes them outside!  I have no idea how Elsie could hold the iPad with a spider on the screen.  I would have flung both spider and screen.   Lucky that spider dropped into Elsie's world and not mine!

Advice to spiders:  Choose who you visit carefully! 

7 comments:

  1. :-). I enjoyed the humor in this post. I t was light as a spider :-)
    I kept a garden spider in my classroom for a while one year.
    Landlocked out in the openness of the water table, I guess you would have joined the ranks of 'screachers' who entered :-)

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  2. I love your advice and the way you told this story, Spiders aren't my favorite but they also are not the "worst" thing in my book! Nice comparison between your daughter's response and yours!

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  3. Ugh...spiders! Funny how your slice compares to Elsie's in feeling - she was nonchalant, you...not so much!

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  4. They're arriving at my house, too, must be time for their birth, too, like all spring things! Glad it didn't 'fling' onto you, Ramona! I'm not afraid, but my daughter is! Who knows why! Have a great rest of the week!

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  5. You make me laugh :-). Size does play an important role in reactions. Since my spider was floating down from some unseen thread, the choice was the iPad or my body. I directed it to the iPad. I cannot stomp on any creature larger than an ant. I can just picture the scene in your mud room. Glad you had shoes on!

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  6. Loved the picture of your little princess. I had already read Elsie's and so yours was another chapter to spider stories...of course, yours had a bit of a different ending. I think the thing about spiders and bugs is that they sometimes startle us...but so glad your daughter does not have your fear. Thanks for the laugh.

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  7. "Now I know better . . . and the only crawling critters I pick up are dead ones." Yep, I am the same way. Cute picture of your kitty!

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