Creepy Crawlies

[Kathy Marshall]

So after a hard days work, I came home and started cutting up some logs to go out in tomorrow's mail, put some finish coats on a few pieces, then decided to turn a small dish from one of the logs I cut up.
I'm standing at the lathe, turning the inside of the dish when I see movement from the corner of my eye. I turn to look, and walking up the aisle as bold as you please is a big, hairy tarantula ! The lathe is running, lights are all on, and the trailer is vibrating lightly, and still this thing walked right up the ramp and into the shop (trailer), it was moving at a pretty good clip and coming right for me!
I used my Thompson gouge to flip it outside (bet Doug never thought it would be used for creepy, crawly control!), and now it's mad! It righted itself, turned to face me and tried to stare me down. Well, I wasn't having any of that! Flipped it off the ramp, grabbed a small log, and said adios!
I know, I know...no pics, it didn't happen, but didn't think anyone really wanted to see pics of the "remains" ewwwwww.
Lived here almost 50 years, and I think this is only the 2nd or 3rd tarantula I've seen, and hopefully the last.
If I hadn't seen it in time and it had crawled on my foot (wearing sandals), I'm sure I would have jumped high enough to hit the ceiling. Needless to say, I found myself checking the aisle every few minutes until I was done!

[Jon McElwain]

Gee whiz, he probably just wanted a turning lesson! Glad it all turned out in your favor, and I hope the Thompson is none the worse for it!

[John Keeton]

As if 115* summers weren't reason enough not to move to AZ......

[Russell Eaton]

Having been spider bit several times, I don't like them very much. I think I would need someone to watch my back while turning.

[Andrew Kertesz]

I think I would have just moved it farther outside. Spiders are the one thing that really creeps me out but outdoors they are really beneficial in bug control.

[Sid Matheny]

I have been bitten several times but still enjoy seeing spiders. I had not seen any of these Argiope Garden Spiders in a few years but have them in different places outside around of both the shop and shed this year. I have always enjoyed seeing spiders and these are large enough to get a good look at and not worry about them bothering you or you bothering them. They are also known as the Writing Spider because of the ZZZZZZZ pattern you see below this one. All of these I have seen has this pattern in their web.

Even had to move these a couple of times when the buildings were spray washed and then again a week later for painting.

Sid

[Paul Williams]

Kathy, I was sure you were going to say that the creepy crawlers were in the wood you shipped. Oh well no surprize for some creeker this time.

[Wally Dickerman]

I've lived in Az. for 14 years and have yet to see a tarantula, except at our Desert Museum. There I cautiously held one in my hand when offered by a park ranger. Big and hairy. There are areas in Az. where during a certain season when they are on the move there are lots of them to be seen.

I do have quite a few black widows here. They are seldom seen during daylight hours. I don't go rustling around in the bushes at night though. They aren't aggressive but will bite if provoked. Their bites are nasty and long lasting. I you have a woodpile outside you may see a scorpion scampering around. Hey, all God's creatures, right?

[Ken Garlock]

Greetings to Sid and the Argiope. We had a half a dozen webs several years ago. The are interesting to watch. I threw a grasshopper in the web and in about 5 to 10 seconds the hopper was encased in silk.

Several days later my wife saw a humming bird wrapped up in an Argiope web. I get a stick and managed to get the hummer, still wrapped, off the web and onto the stick. After several tries to just shake the hummer loose, I had to unwrap it by hand. Needless to say, that hummer was in a hurry to get away and find some food. I am sure that will be the only time I will ever handle a live hummingbird.

About two or three years after we had moved into our new home, my wife found an old black tarantula on the wall of the patio. She got out the wasp and hornet spray and after several shots, killed it. As I recall, its body was almost as big as my fist, not that I got that close to it.

[Chris Burgess]

You should have poisoned him and cast him in Resin and made a paper weight.

[Vernon Oberle]

Our remote plant is in Kingman AZ. We don't have a problem with spiders it's the scorpions we get from them when they send back part crates. Now my programmer keeps them in a terrerium. He is trying to dry the dead ones to make pens.

Vernon

[David DeCristoforo]

This reminded of something that happened when I was a kid. My dad was rototilling the "front yard" (we lived in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains) and I was sitting there watching this big ugly tarantula crawling up his pant leg. I kept pointing to it and shouting at him but my dad did not know what i wanted and he could not hear me over the noise of the tiller motor. Finally I got him to look down and when he saw the spider, he totally freaked out! He let go of the tiller and began windmilling his arms, swiping at his leg. Must have leapt four or five feet off the ground. The tiller kept going because he had locked the little lever that engages the drive. Between trying to swat the spider away and catch the tiller before it chewed it's way into the garden, well, you can imagine. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard before or since. Needless to say, the old man failed to see any humor in the situation at all.

[Jeff Fagen]

A womans gotta fend for herself,"It's the law of the west"!

[Charles Goodnight]

Ya know, another alternative would have been to invite it in as a pet. They aren't poisonous to humans, and they do like to eat the local bugs that you really don't want in your shop. Personally, I would be so excited about a tarantula walking into my shop I would probably turn a small house for it, and offer it a place of honor amongst the wood shavings. About the most serious thing a tarantula will do to you is (1) make you jump when it walks on your foot, and (2) they have itchy hairs on their body that stick in you and break off. These pass for what they call personal defense. Makes picking up an angry tarantula less than totally pleasant. (on the other hand, a happy one will be pleased to walk all over you without causing you anything other than emotional discomfort.)

[Dick Wilson]

Psssst Kathy, that spider came out of your wood stash Maybe you ought to send the stash up my way so I can thoroughly inspect every piece. The best light I have to do the job properly is on my lathe....of course