Friday, April 27, 2012

Come Quickly, Fall

Yes, that's right.  Spring has just started, and I am longing for fall.  Oh, so much.  Maybe you would too if you had visits from such lovely creatures as I have.

Today I took the children out to play.  I had to check the yard and porch for black widow webs and the spiders themselves, removing the webs as much as I can.  This is normal when the weather warms up here.  It gets tiring of nobody being able to go out to play until I have made sure everything is "safe", but it's something I have had to adjust to.

Then, when we came inside, one of my daughters alerted me to a bug speeding across the floor.  A good old friend, the wind scorpion.



It's actually not a scorpion at all, but a spider.  It gets its name because of its resemblance to a scorpion, and because it, well, runs like the wind.  Its bite will not kill you, but is extremely painful, as they have four jaws.  Horrid.  I would show you a picture but you might get nightmares.  Thankfully, this one was a baby, so I smashed it with my shoe before it could get away.  Much better than having it run over my foot by surprise (I've had that happen--I jumped up on the couch that time).  I spread fresh cedar granules in the house to build up our defense (hopefully).

But that's not all.  Just a few minutes ago I went into the kitchen and found a surprise.  Can you guess what it was?


Yes, a black widow.  In the kitchen.  Me.  Not happy.  I quickly grabbed some natural bug spray we have and squirt her.  She quickly ran away, but I am hoping the spray took its deadly effect on her.  I am glad we have found a spray that is not a harmful neurotoxin, but we are almost out so I hope we can get more soon.

What I am really, really dreading is the scorpions.  Yes, that too.  I have found them in our house in previous years...But thankfully, I have never been stung, nor have the children.  Oh, I am so thankful for that.  I am always the one who finds them for some reason!  They must like my feet.

Oh, fall cannot come soon enough.  I hope your warm weather is doing you better than it is me!  And if you know of any natural remedies to keep black widows away, please let me know!

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19 comments:

  1. i wish i knew what to recommend but i don't. if i hear of anything i'll let ya know :)

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    1. Clorox Cleanup with Bleach spray- with a green label....that will kill any spider quickly - including the dreaded Widow

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  2. Oh, that's terrible! I hate spiders of any kind, and especially the dangerous ones. We have killed two black widows this year, but thankfully they were outside. We kill them outside, because they were where the children play, and I don't want them coming inside! We also have many brown recluse spiders here. Not fun.

    I hope you find a remedy to your spider situation!

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    1. I kill the black widows too--they are just so plentiful here! I don't know if we have brown recluses here, though I've heard we do. Those make me even more worried because from what I've read, they aren't as easy to identify.

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  3. Ewwww! I just jumped out of my chair when you read that one of those scorpion spiders ran across your floor! We get a few bugs during the warmer weather as well, but nothing as scary as your bugs. I just hope your children don't get bit by one by accident!

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    1. Sorry, Mara! I hope they don't get bitten either. Thankfully no one has so far.

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  4. Just a few more reasons I do not mind living in NY. I'll take the snow storms over "icky critters" anyday. Those pictures gave me the heeby geebies (not sure those are even spelled correctly).

    Thank you for the wonderful visuals. ha ha. Enjoy your summer.

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  5. Oh my! We struggled with black widows and brown recluse last year! Wolf spiders too! Honestly, and I know its not environmentally good, but I had Orkin come out and kill every little nasty spider and bug. I know they serve a purpose but my youngest boy has a scar on his arm thanks to the bite of the wolf spider.
    Spiders are at the top of my, I cannot stand spring and summer list:( I want to enjoy the season without worrying about being bit!
    Good luck with keeping them away!

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    1. We used to have someone come out to spray, under the assumption that what he used was "natural". Then our baby daughter would start coughing after he sprayed, so we quit with that. Now we use some stuff from cedarcide.com and are very happy with it.

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  6. Dear Mrs Q,
    I think I would be worried too if I had to put up with suchthings on a daily basis!
    Whereabouts in the USA are you, I wonder?
    I am not a spider phobic, and tend to have the attitude 'live and let live' about creepy crrawlies, but Oh boy, would a situation like yours change my mind!!
    I really hope and pray that you can avoid a bite. The worst we have here is a wasp sting in the summer!
    Best wishes to you and yours,
    xxx Hazelnut

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    1. I am not a "spider phobic" either, but the dangerous bugs I definitely want away from us! I'm in the SW.

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  7. Mrs.Q, I know how you feel. I live in north Texas and we have a real bug problem. I have been stung about seven times by scorpions in the twenty-five years we have lived here.We live in a very wooded area. I don't know of any natural repellants.I do as you do just keep wiping or sweeping them away.
    I agree with you - I am ready for fall.

    Linda

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    1. I can't believe you have been stung 7 times! I am so sorry! There is some natural repellant stuff available (for scorpions too!) on cedarcide.com. We have gotten some and so far have had great results.

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  8. My mom lives in the country near a wooded area and she gets spiders and scorpions too. One year we put moth balls under the house and around the foundation of her house. It helped with the spiders and scorpions and snakes. This year she has had a large number of snakes. She got some snake repellent at Tractor Supply. If you have those stores where you live, you might check with them about something for spiders and scorpions. It takes a lot of moth balls for a large house and they are expensive.

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    1. Oh, I would not use moth balls as they are toxic. The stuff I have mentioned in above comments repels snakes too so maybe it could help your mom. Thank you for your suggestions!

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  9. Oh, bless your heart, you sweet mommy. I hate black widows and luckily that is all I have to worry, poisonious wise. I killed 6 big mommies and saturated 5 egg sacks a couple weeks ago when i cleaned out a planter box in our yard.

    Jesse

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    1. I think I would rather have "just black widows" too, haha.

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