Spiders vs Vacuums

As you may recall, I like playing with spiders. They make very interesting objects to hunt however they don't seem to do well when I eat them. Back in London, I only encountered a couple spiders (and a couple houseflies that didn't last long once I got them) but here we have encountered at least half a dozen in the house in the last week. And that doesn't include the one that was hanging out on the flower bush outside (J called him Alice. Alice is dead now after an epic battle involving a hand weeder and a pot. I will leave that story for another time).

All of the spiders that J and N have found in the house have been ones with really small bodies and really long legs. They seem to like to hang out in the corners near the ceiling. The first one they found was in the bed room up near the door. J named him Frank. At first I thought that they were going to get me to go after it. I have to admit that I liked the idea of the hunt again, but there was no way I was going to get up there to go after it. J couldn't even reach it! So I was a bit curious as to how they were going to deal with it. Just a note, neither J nor N like spiders. 

Later that day, I learned how they planned to deal with it. A small portable vacuum that has a long extendable hose. I am sad to say that Frank met his demise to the vacuum before I was able to play with him. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, Frank was not the only one. In the same corner there has been Frank Jr and Frank Jr Jr. There have been a couple in the lounge down stairs. And last night there was a HUGE one (legspanwise ....laid flat the span would have been larger than my paw!) moseying its way up the wall. The most amusing one (although N would not agree) was the one that N found crawling on her sweatshirt when she was trying to put it on. That resulted in a scream and the sweatshirt being thrown to the ground. That one ended up escaping but we may have gotten it some other time. 

So at the end of the day the lesson for the spiders trying to make homes in our house: Beware of J and the vacuum!