LifePundit

Three Strikes

Did you miss me? I've been gone.

I've been out in the back yard doing primal scream therapy. I've had it. We were struck by lightning for the THIRD time this summer on Monday. This time was the worst. Not only did we lose our phone service, Internet and cable TV, but the lightning fried our well and two televisions.

This afternoon the well and all else (except for the dead TVs) were fixed. This is beginning to make me really cranky.

I was washing a tomato when it struck one of our TVs. Yes, I know better than to have my hands in running water in a lightning storm, but when you have a lightning storm every single afternoon during the cooking-dinner hour, you start to get slack. Fortunately, my hand was not in the water at that moment, but when the lightning blew out the TV in the kitchen and I heard the breakers go I did what all sane people would do. I screamed and tossed my tomato, which splatted on the floor.

When I realized that I was still here and the tomato needing cleaning up, I was grateful that I wasn't dead but was rattled. (I don't really think I was close to being hit but I was standing without three feet of the fried, turned-off TV and it made quite an impressive BANG-YOU'RE-DEAD sound.)

I'm glad none of us were hurt, the house didn't catch fire and that the horses weren't struck. I'm trying to hold onto that thought instead of....

Why do we have insurance if we can't file a claim?
(If we file a claim we lose our "no claims" discount.)

Anyway. When it gets right down to it, I've discovered that running water is even more important to me than the Internet and the telephone.

Even if said water is so full of Clorox (they shocked the well after putting the new pump in) that the whole house smells like a laundromat and we're buying bottled water even for the cat and I'm only washing whites.... And of course the hose is running in the yard, trying to run all that Clorox out.

So what this all means is that I'm back. At least until struck again.

Making Peace with My Spiders

This is a Carolina Wolf Spider, which if you didn't know, is my state's official spider. Really. They voted on it and picked a state spider. Does your state have a spider? If not, you're deprived. Now our children have to learn about the wolf spider at school. You can click on this picture to enlarge, if you dare.

Did you know that if you look at the word "spider" long enough it looks spelled wrong?

We have wolf spiders and other spiders in our house. Since Lily has studied the wolf spider at school, I know that the wolf spider is my friend, in spite of the fact that it is a huge, hairy and fearsome looking spider, however you spell it.  Really big. When I Googled "wolf spider" I found a site devoted to keeping them as pets. No thank you. I'd completely lose my ability to spell.

If a wolf spider is crossing the road at night, their eyes shine in your headlights. Really. You can see them shining on the road at night. That's a big spider.

Or you can see them in my laundry and elsewhere in my house. Sometimes I put them out. Sometimes I let them stay in to eat whatever bugs they find. I don't like spiders and I don't like bugs. Whichever one eats the other is my friend, so spiders get to stay unless I'm in a mood.

But what about the other spiders? One good thing about the wolf spider is that it doesn't make a web. While I sleep, it's stalking its prey. (How do I sleep, you ask? With medication.) What about the spiders with webs? I've long thought about it. First off, what are they eating? If they're eating bugs, they are my friends, though I don't like what they've done to my decor. It's Halloween every day around here.

What if they're venomous? Guess what. Almost all spiders are venomous. You'll find that out if you Google them. I'm not happy about this, though the Spider Myth Site says that few spiders carry the kind of venom that hurts people.

We do have black widows in the yard. Used to have one living under the well cover. She had babies. They weren't cute. Why didn't I kill them? I have no idea.

So far, I haven't found any black widows in the house. I do check my shoes before I put them on. But I haven't answered my question. What are the other spiders doing?

Apparently, they are spiders specially adapted to living indoors (they won't survive outside) and what they're doing in my house is eating bugs.

I don't see any bugs, so they must be doing a good job.

They get to stay. Except for the hairy black tarantula-looking thing that wasn't a wolf spider that was by my bed this morning. Don't know what he was, but he's been flushed. If you're a good spider, and you're pretty safe either way because the only spiders I know are the wolf spider and the black widow, you can stay in the house, so long as you stay away from the people and our beds.