I was busy most of the day with a garage sale, so my niece Sophie surprised me with a guest post. She's nine and three-quarters years old, and loves to work out in the gardens with her Mom and Dad.I don't know if she remembers that I once offered to pay her one dollar per paragraph for guest blogs. I'm guessing not since she made her post one big paragraph.
Here's her post:
Do you remember those spiders in our backyard last year? The ones that were so big we were afraid they would carry off our kittens? Well, we were outside transplanting little rose bushes dreaming of our dog pen that we plan to create in our little woods when my mom went off in search of her clippers. She called me over to tell me that she had found a praying mantis on the Alberta Spruces. And then my mom saw something that freaks us out – a two inch long fat spider, along with about 10 sisters, and even worse – there was an egg sack. A big egg sack. An inch in diameter egg sack. My dad had the nerve to say, “Great! Keep them! I love spiders!” Keep in mind each spider can grow to about 3-4 inches. Sometimes that doesn’t even include the legs. What is my dad thinking? Of course, this comes from the same person who loves snakes. My mom and I were so freaked out that we are considering getting rid of the Alberta Spruces. Do you think that will get rid of the spiders? Please vote: 1. Keep spiders and move away. 2. Cut down Alberta Spruces hoping the spiders will go someplace else. 3. Capture the spiders and take them to Aunt Carol’s garden so they will eat her rabbits.
I don't blame Sophie one bit for trying to figure out how to get rid of those big, ugly spiders. But please vote no on moving them all to my house, please! There is another choice, but I suppose they won't hear of it.
Comments
Kathy, the older sister
By the way is that the little purple flower that grows on the sweet potato vine? They are the dickens to photograph. I've taken about a hundred shots of those things and can't get a good picture.
;-)
Robin... Yes, that is a sweet potato flower. It was just "right there" when I was looking for something pretty to take a picture of to include with this post. Sophie is a smart little girl.
Laurahinnj... I'll pass your vote on to Sophie to see what she thinks. She and her brothers are normally not afraid of bugs and spiders, but these particular spiders really are enormous.
And they are benefical to the environment - eating harmful insects. It would be fun to get a book on spiders and try to find out all about them and even give them names! (I've actually done that.)
Tell Sophie to have fun with her new "pets".
BTW, she deserves 2 dollars!
P.S. Sophie likes the $2 suggestion!
I'm with the pro-spider crowd though, they may look unfriendly and a bit huge, but they're eating tons of bugs. This is coming from someone who gently catches bugs that are in the house with a glass and a stiff piece of paper and carries them outside.
I vote to give Sophie $1 for each future post she writes to keep us updated on her spiders.
Besides, spiders are COOL!
We keep over 40 tarrantulas as pets ;).