How I became a hero today
By The Horse
@TheHorse (238306)
Walnut Creek, California
October 17, 2016 2:37pm CST
Forget about working with troubled kids. Or being first on the scene when some dude had a heart attack while driving a couple of years ago. I became a hero today because I moved a big spider outside at work.
The thing really was big, maybe three inches across, with a large thorax and abdomen. I thought at first she was one of those large garden spiders that don't bite humans but look mean (I'll attach a picture of one of those from near our garden in Oakland four years ago)). But the marking on her abdomen wasn't quite right.
And she wasn't hairy enough to be a tarantula, although horny tarantulas are running all over Mt. Diablo right now, looking for mates. Smallish wolf spider? I don't even know if we have those here.
Anyway, here was my technique: I put a large coffee cup over her. I then gently slid a piece of paper under her. Then I picked my little "cage" up and put it on a book, so the paper wouldn't buckle. I took that whole thing outside, put it on the ground, and picked up the cup. She had a half-hearted threat gesture going, but realized she was free, and scurried off into the bushes.
As I was leaving the office (with my captive spider in hand), I asked the two petrified women there if they'd like to say goodbye to the spider before I released it. They said "no" in breathless harmony.
Am I a sexist pig? Or is capturing and releasing spiders still primarily a male job?
19 people like this
18 responses
@LovingMyBabies (85923)
• Valdosta, Georgia
17 Oct 16
Lol glad you helped them! In my home I'm the one to take care of the spider killing because my husband is terrified of spiders.
4 people like this
@LovingMyBabies (85923)
• Valdosta, Georgia
18 Oct 16
@TheHorse No just don't have a choice in the matter. Lol
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238306)
• Walnut Creek, California
17 Oct 16
@hora_fugit Harumph. Wouldn't a school boy just have squished it?
3 people like this
@Letranknight2015 (52665)
• Philippines
17 Oct 16
If the intention is to save them, then your a hero.
3 people like this
@Letranknight2015 (52665)
• Philippines
18 Oct 16
@TheHorse well, they are heroes too, wished we have them here, but I doubt my mom would want that
2 people like this
@TheHorse (238306)
• Walnut Creek, California
18 Oct 16
@Letranknight2015 I don't think I'll keep one as a pet or anything like that. I HAVE held a tarantula, but that was many years ago.
@teamfreak16 (43586)
• Denver, Colorado
17 Oct 16
Ok, that photo wigged me out. I have a great phobia of spiders.
3 people like this
@hora_fugit (5859)
• India
17 Oct 16
Pigs can't pick up or catch the spiders. And I hate the spiders.
Maybe horses are good to have. As long as they can keep the Spideys away. Do I sound Daily Bugle now?
1 person likes this
@hora_fugit (5859)
• India
17 Oct 16
@TheHorse Yes, stomping comes more naturally.... or 'accidentally'!
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238306)
• Walnut Creek, California
17 Oct 16
@hora_fugit It was tempting. But I snorted and bucked and looked for a coffee cup.
1 person likes this
@allen0187 (59721)
• Philippines
18 Oct 16
You should have let yourself be bitten by the spider - who knows, you could have ended up being a superhero!
2 people like this
@allen0187 (59721)
• Philippines
18 Oct 16
@TheHorse sounds painful indeed!
Wolf spiders - that's a bad a$$ name there! I wouldn't want to be near one as well.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238306)
• Walnut Creek, California
18 Oct 16
@allen0187 I read today that they're not particularly aggressive. But I remember from my days at Summer Camp in Michigan that it's best to avoid being bitten by one.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189833)
• Boise, Idaho
18 Oct 16
Ugh! I remember when I was a little girl my aunt found a ugly spider in a bunch of bananas she had just brought home from the store. Black and big. Not a widow though. I will never forget the shreak she let out when she was putting the groceries away.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (189833)
• Boise, Idaho
18 Oct 16
@TheHorse .....It sure looked the part. That memory stuck in my mind all of these years.
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
21 Oct 16
I think that it is actually, although the two woman co-workers handled the strange snake at the bird store quite well a while back.
@nanette64 (20363)
• Fairfield, Texas
18 Oct 16
Cool beans @TheHorse . Let's see...I've removed a large snake from a downspout for my neighbors; scooped up a little frog that somehow came up into my bathtub; managed to get a scorpion off a drapery and out of the house; helped a Grandaddy Longlegs out of the house; scooted several baby opossum's from under my kitchen sink out the front door and swished a young raccoon that gained entry through the front door. You and I are good with nature.
1 person likes this
@shivamani10 (11035)
• Hyderabad, India
18 Oct 16
you are really a hero. What a good hero you are doing this..
1 person likes this
