August 5. Spider-Dog
Watched Spider-Dog prank video on YouTube. (Thanks to reader JD Hades for recommending this video!)
August 6. The Spider Vanishes
The Wolf Spider that spent all of yesterday up in the corner of the kitchen ceiling has now vanished. Could be anywhere. I liked it better when I could see it.
Watched trailer for Eight Legged Freaks.
August 7. Too Much Information?
Wolf spider still missing. Back when I saw a wolf spider in the mailbox, I looked up wolf spiders and learned that they like to crouch in little hiding places and then leap out at their prey. Now I’m wishing that I could forget this little fact, because I’m imagining wolf-spider hideouts everywhere.
Made some good progress on the Spidermania script today. I seem to be using “SKITTER SKITTER” as my go-to spider sound effect so far.
August 9. Spider Invasion
Okay. Remember that giant yellow sac spider that I captured and released back in May? Yeah, I had forgotten about it too, but today it returned with a vengeance. Sort of.
At 4 AM, Janet woke up when something bit her arm. It was a tiny baby yellow sac spider, with a surprisingly strong bite! We found a dozen or so of its spider siblings wandering around on the bedroom ceiling. That dastardly spider from May must have laid eggs somewhere, and now they were hatching!
Now, after a day of intense cleaning and moving furniture around and washing blankets and vacuuming everything in sight, we’re exhausted. Janet eventually found a couple of small nests tucked in behind one of our window screens. But will there be more baby spiders? Every little dot of fluff on the wall is a potential spider. Every little twitch is a spider walking on my skin. I’m not making progress! I’m becoming more afraid of spiders!
I know it’s irrational, but it feels like we’re encountering more spiders than ever before. It’s as if, by confronting my fear of spiders, I am somehow angering the spider gods!
August 10. Spider Gods
Are there spider gods? Yes! Today I read about the African spider god Anansi, who is a bit of a trickster god. And Navajo stories talk about a Spider Woman, or Spider Grandmother, who teams up with their Sun God, Tawa, to create our world and all the creatures in it. It seems that spiders are often associated with creativity in mythology, because of their intricate weaving of spiderwebs.
August 11. Spider Model Progress
The spider model is coming together. It just needs a butt and a paint job! In its current buttless state, it looks a lot like a facehugger from Alien. So it’s great that normal spiders have spider butts, I guess? The spider model is bigger than I expected. But I’m not as freaked out by it as I expected to be.
Is this aversion therapy?
I’m trying for systematic desensitization, but it feels more like aversion therapy this week! 🙂