May 18, 2008

This spider was hanging on the side of my studio door. Jackson told me it was a Black Widow and I argued with him. I thought Black Widows were smaller and kinda furry. . . not bubble-butted and slick. (I think I got the body shape confused with Brown Recluse).

Jackson eased over to the edge and peeked under it's belly and saw the red markings. Again, I told him he was wrong because the Black Widow had the red on the back. I thought it was one of those 'fakers'. . . those animals that appear to be the poisionus/dangerous kind but aren't.

Gerald finally got over to the studio and he said it was a Black Widow. I took several pics. . . and yes, I used a zoom lens - but I still got much closer than I wanted. But, I had to have pics to compare with pics I would find online, because I still didn't believe it was a Black Widow. And what do you know? The pics I took look just like several I saw online. . .and the pics I saw online had pics of spiders with the red hourglass on the belly and on the back. So, even though I wasn't TOTALLY wrong. . . they were WAY more right than I was!

Now it takes me ten minutes to get in my studio when I go over there because I spend so much time looking around for spiders before I get near the door!



Yes. . . I'm still VERY SCARED of spiders. . . but it's weird. Sometimes I can see one and be more fascinated by it than scared. I guess I'm going through one of my 'big girl' phases. I'm sure it won't last long. Especially if I see another spider and no one is around to kill it for me!