A Widow's Might! Not As Strong As Mine!

Ooooo!  YUK!  Really?!  YES!!!  There is such a thing!
A Brown Widow.  In Florida!  Read this. Or this.

And we had (3) of them on our back lanai.  And who do you think took care of these awful creatures?  You are correct - ME!  (to give John credit, he offered to do it after work but I didn't want to wait until then)

Several weeks ago after mowing and edging the lawn I was sweeping the lanai.  I saw a couple of spider webs that had what I now know is the egg sack in the web.  I swept the webs down not thinking anything of it.

At our house in Pebblebrooke we always had spider webs at the top high corners of the pool lanai.  They were almost impossible to keep on top of.  They were the result of the 'golden silk banana spider.'  Spiders in Florida is not a new thing.

Well, Macey and her friend, Janiel had been collecting snails (since its been raining here so much lately).  They were creating a 'snail farm' in an old fish tank of ours.  They came bounding into the house with the announcement that we had BROWN WIDOW spider egg sacs on the lanai.

Now, how did these two smart girls know this, you might ask.  My friend Nicole (Janiel's mom) had told me about a month ago that she had killed several - one out front, two in the garage and one on their lanai.  Little did I know (but the girls did) that the distinctive egg sac is the tell-tell sign.  See it here.

The next day after talking to Nicole and deciding not to wait for John's help I headed out back armed with my trusty bug sprayer jug that has a 'pump  action' gun to spray a continuous stream of poison on its victim.

It didn't take long on the first web to determine that the spider was in the very corner of the deck box where the web was a little thicker.  You could just see parts of a couple legs sticking out beyond the cover.  I got ready and sprayed!  It stayed put at first and then it was on the move!  YIKES!  I just kept spraying and spraying and spraying and spraying.  It was a fighter.  Finally it lay on the ground in a puddle all done in.  Thank goodness.  YUK!  Did I say that already.

The 2nd one was even more hidden.  The web was from the top of the bucket the kids stash their swords, balls & stuff in outside and extended to the opening of a plastic watering can we have outside.

I started by spraying inside the opening of the watering can.  Then I noticed a spot where it connected to the bucket that was thicker.  I pumped the sprayer and aimed up under the edge of the bucket and started spraying (without getting too close, I wasn't going to stick my head down far enough to get a look under the edge).  It took a bit of spraying but sure enough - out came the spider!

After triumphing and sharing with my friend she told me they seemed to like the hinge area of the screen door.  I didn't check right away.  I remembered a couple of days later and when I went to check - there it was!  The 3rd one!

I saw the egg sac first and was having a hard time telling if the spider was there. Sure enough.  It was close to the same color as the dark color of the screen door.  I'm not sure if it was a darker Brown Widow Spider or if was indeed a Black Widow Spider.

I stood back and sprayed.  I was worried it would get away since it was up higher.  I was worried it would climb up and I was running out of juice in my trusty sprayer.  It eventually met it's demise and fell to the ground.  Can I say YUK one more time.

The phrase "the eensy, weensy spider went up the water spout" has a completely new creepy crawly eerie meaning now. 

The Smith's Have Goats!

Gotcha!  Yes, the Smith's have (3) baby goats - it's just not these Smith's!  I'm not overly clever very often but I thought I was pretty clever with this one.

The other Smith's are the previous Bishop of our branch and his wife - Bill & Louise Smith.  (No relation - darn it!  They might not want to claim us but we would claim them in a heart beat.)  The have (3) three week old baby goats that they are bottle feeding.  They had invited anyone who wanted to come and see them and take a turn feeding them to come on by.  So come on by we did.






It was a Monday.  What better thing to do for FHE - thank you Macey for your insistence.  John was in Palm Beach Gardens for some partner meetings so he missed our little family 'farm' experience.  It would probably have brought back some fond memories of home.  He grew up on  a small farm.  I don't think he had goats as a child but they did have cows and chickens.

I had taken two of the young women to Joann's after school to pick out their TREK skirt & bonnet material.  One of the girls lived out in the same area as the goats so I offered to take her home.  We called the 'other' Smith's on our way and they said, "come on out!"  We had a blast in case you can't tell.  The kids thought they were in heaven.

Parker insists that's the life he wants to live - on a farm.  I've tried to impress upon him all the work that this would entail.  He seems to think it would be 'fun'!  He moans and groans when I ask him to let the dog out, mow the small backyard or take out the trash.  Mmmm - I think he would tire of 'life on the farm' real quick.

Our Shadow Is Gone - Jan. 6, 2011

I don't remember exactly what the day consisted of but it seemed like it was kind of a busy day.  With what - I'm having a hard time remembering now.

After school though - Macey had invited her friend Janiel over after school.  Her friend Jenna from across the street was here when Janiel arrived.  I was visiting for a few minutes with Nicole, Janiel's mom when she dropped her off.  Her other little girls got out of the car and we were all mingling together.

Next thing I know the older girls come bounding down the stairs all talking at once.  "Mom, one of the hamsters is dead."  My next words, "Really?  Are you sure?" They all said at once, "Yes, yes, and the other one is eating it."   YUK!  Trying to be calm, "Ok, well, bring the cage down so we can figure it out and take care of it."  So, they bring the cage down and yes, yuk!  It was a little disturbing.  Nicole and I tried to shoo the littlier girls away.  I didn't really want them to see that.  Dead it was.  Ham the hamster was still alive but our Shadow was gone.

Quickly, I'm instructing all three bigger girls to do different things - never mind that its not their hamster.  "Macey, where's the shoebox from your new tennis shoes from Christmas?" "Find a bucket in the garage so we can get the other hamster out of the cage so we can clean it."  "Get one of the old towels out in the garage so we can clean and dry the cage."    "Where's the leather glove?" (the remaining hamster nips when we have cleaned the cage so therefore the need for protective hand covering).

The girls were going to go bury it - Macey carrying the shoebox coffin, Janiel carrying the camera to take pictures of the burial and Jenna carrying the shovel.

Jenna, Macey & Janiel

Shoebox for Shadow

However, I decided they needed to wait for Parker since it was his hamster that had died.  I headed to the bus stop to get him.  He got home and they all headed into the 'woods' behind our house together.

It wasn't too long before Parker came back in upset & mad.  He and Macey had been arguing about who was going to do what.  Who got to choose the spot to bury Shadow, who got to dig the hole, who got to do this and who got to do that.  So I go out back hollering for Macey to come here!  I made her friends stay in the backyard while Parker, Macey and I hash out in the house all the "he said this, and she said that, and he did this and she did that"stuff!  Macey talks back in a nasty tone and gets herself in more trouble and then ends up in tears which isn't unusual lately.  I had to tell her that if she & Parker couldn't come to a resolution then the friends would have to go home.  Family comes first.

In the end it was one of those teaching moments where we get to talk through their actions and words.  About the fact that if they had just been thinking of the others feelings, been willing to communicate more clearly with each other and willing to really listen to what the other person was saying - all the arguing could have been avoided.
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What is really fair?  How should things be divided?  Who should do what?  How would you feel if the tables were turned and the other person was treating you the way you are treating them or they are saying to you what you are saying to them?  If one person decides on the 'burial' spot then maybe the other person should get to dig the entire hole.  Macey was concerned that her friends wouldn't get to do anything.  I had to point out that it wasn't their hamster that had died.  They could each put a shovelful of dirt on after, etc.

It all worked out in the end.

You hope the whole process produces some good because these teaching moments can be exhausting and emotionally draining for the mom at times.

There wasn't much play time after all this.  Our time was limited as it was.  Everyone got a small, quick, personal microwaved pizza (friends, too) before needing to get out the door and down to the the other ward's building to help a friend set up for her son's Eagle Court of Honor.  Whew!  What a day!