I even appreciate the poisonous spiders because I know that they have a role in the ecology.
In the past, when our spider population becomes too numerous outside our house, I know that I need not intervene because our good friends the Butcherbirds will come and feed upon them thus solving our problem.
So, why am I once again singing the praises of spiders?
Well, it all happened a number of months ago.
I had noted that the Daddy Long-Leg spiders were flourishing inside the house and I felt it was time to cull them. I refuse to use poisons so I normally use the vacuum cleaner to remove any over abundance of spiders.
Being extremely lazy, I waited a week or so before assembling the vacuum cleaner to suck up the unfortunate spiders and also to clean the rest of the house.
Having managed to work up enough energy to set about cleaning the house, I noticed that the Daddy Long-Leg spiders had disappeared.
I was a bit startled and somewhat confused. Where had they gone?
Before too long, I came to realise that there was another spider living amongst us. It was a Huntsman spider. I suspected that he (I decided it was a he but I am sure that any spider expert viewing the photograph will immediately know if I am correct) must be responsible for the disappearance of the Daddy Long-Leg spiders.
I loved him immediately and I told the family that he was my new pet and that his name was Hughie and that he was now a valued part of our family.
Note that there are cobwebs about him which indicates that Hughie was at work at the time this photograph was taken.
As Hughie was a member of the family, we were always concerned about his welfare and also we would always check to see where he was.
I must admit that no one in the family wished to have his presence in our bedrooms during the night. We loved him but we did not wish to worry about the possibility of him crawling about our bed and body parts during the night.
So, if he had moved towards a bedroom at night time, we would always relocate him back to the living area.
We also had another concern for Hughie's well being. And that was the presence of my beloved Burmese cat Bill. Whenever Hughie ventured to the lower regions of the walls, Bill considered that Hughie was on for a game.
I knew that any encounter would only end in tears so we would ensure that Hughie was returned to the upper regions of the walls whenever he ventured south.
When I began to write this blog, all was well in our household. However I do have to admit that, since taking the photograph, there was been an unfortunate event.
I have taken time out to grieve so now I feel strong enough to complete the tale.
One day late last year an unusual event took place. It began to rain. I got overly excited and I decided to take my indoor plant outside so that it could enjoy the shower of rain.
Okay, that wasn't the real reason. The real reason was that because I am extremely lazy I do not dust and therefore I was really just hoping that the rain would wash away the dust on the leaves of my Peace Lily.
As I placed it on the front lawn, I realised that Hughie had been resting in the pot plant. I was in a hurry so I made a bad decision. I decided that Hughie would be fine. I decided that Hughie would wend his way back inside the house. Why wouldn't he? He found his way in once before.
A couple of days passed by. No Hughie. Then one day I returned home to find a body beside the doormat at the front door. It was indeed Hughie.
I was somewhat distraught. It appeared that he had indeed tried to make his way back inside but was unable to complete the journey.
I must admit that I do feel that I am completely to blame.
