Spider Man

Talk about confronting my fears. Although I vowed, after the initial spider relocation a month or so ago, that I would allow the remaining arachnids to live out their days strung between the hedges in our back yard, I found myself unable to fulfill that pledge. Slowly but surely, the spiders have been encroaching up us again. While the spiders between the hedges have been respectful and basically stayed in the same place, there has been a steady stream of new arrivals who have not been so considerate, and once again began stringing webs between the hedge and the house, off of our bedroom balcony, from the house to other bushes in the yard, and basically hemming us out of the back yard.

Today, rake and bucket in hand, I changed all that. I'd reached my spider limit, and nobody was spared from the wrath of my rake (almost). Even the peaceable spiders between the hedges had to go. I started on the ground, taking out the two rude boys blocking my access to the back yard. Then I went to work between the hedges, where there were a good six or seven large spiders and a huge mass of web to contend with.

After that, it was up to the balcony to dispose of the two invasions of privacy that had set up shop outside our bedroom. I swiped at the place there webs were attached to the house, which in turn floated in the wind and came dangerously close to hitting me (nasty). Next I went for the spiders themselves. On the ground I'd had luck spinning the rake and wrapping the webs around the end like a bunch of hideous spaghetti, which the spiders naturally clung to, allowing me to get the in the bucket. But up on the balcony I had to take a different approach (because there was no way in hell I was dragging a bucket up spiders through the house). My plan was to fling them onto the ground below, then go down and round them up. The first spider ended up in the gutter. I managed to fling the other one off, but I couldn't find it when I got down below.

So there are still two beasties hiding out somewhere, and as long they keep a low profile I'm willing to let them stay. We'll see what happens. Aside from them, here's my bounty (note the hapless grasshopper who somehow ended up in the mix and couldn't jump out of the bucket):



I took them down the road to their new home by the rice paddie and dumped everyone out, including the grasshopper. Sadly, they didn't all make it. One spider murdered another one, and another's bulbous abdomen was oozing innards after the dump, though it wasn't dead yet. I feel kind of bad about that.

Aside from spider wrangling, I wasted a large portion of my day watching the Red Sox eventually lose to the Rays in 12 innings. But they were able to snag game one, and are heading back to Fenway for hopefully greener pastures. The Rays are a bit scary though. Should be a nerve racking series.

We have Monday and Tuesday off this week, so Chieko and I are planning to drive the Hakusan Forest Road either tomorrow or the next day. It winds it's way up and over the mountains and especially nice this time of year, and at the end is a traditional village that is a World Heritage site. We're debating whether or not to turn it into an overnight stay at an onsen or something. That's the big decision for tonight. Either way I poised to finally get to put the new camera lens to good use.

Hope everyone enjoyed/is enjoying your weekend.