From an early age, I have always had a fear of spiders. I know, it sounds irrational. I am a highly capable adult and yet the sight of those little things scampering across my floor makes me crazy. I have had a few encounters with the lovely eight legged creature and have mad respect for what they are capable of. Think, Australia, 2007 and the ensuing six month struggle.
At any rate, while living in Arizona, I had few encounters with the spider. We had a symbiotic relationship where we enabled the other to live in the space without much interaction. I mostly watched for scorpions while living in Tempe. Thankfully, I had no encounters.
I relocate to a new city and immediately, find the eight legged friends within my home. Daddy long legs, black things and cob webs. I try to remain calm and let them live within my space. For the last two months, well, they have become a little more aggressive. More cobwebs, transparency and sightings. The daddy long legs I can work with. The cobwebs I can overlook but the black eight legged things were starting to screw with me. There are two that play during the afternoon or so it seems. Again, I know how it sounds. Me being afraid of spiders. I reached my breaking point on Tuesday afternoon when I went to iron my work clothes. I retrieved my ironing board and set it up. I turned the iron on and waited. I was about to put my slacks on the board when I noticed the black widow like looking spider on my ironing board. This thing taunted me. Wouldn't move and dared me to do something about it.
I chose to iron on my mantel...lame, yes, but all I could think about was this thing jumping on me and injecting me with poison. Spider won that encounter.
I talked to one of my co-workers about it and she was like---omg, you gotta get rid of that thing. They are scary!!!
I came home and researched how to proceed. I didn't want to buy some deadly chemical that I would ingest. My aunt Bryn (Dr Bryn as I refer to her as she helps me with a holistic approach) has used hedge balls in the past. I looked into buying them and placing them around my house. The research suggested that they were moderately effective. Meaning, to me, that the black thing would triumph and continue to taunt me on my ironing board.
There were other websites that recommended using essential oils. Specifically, lemon or peppermint oil as spiders did not like either of these. Essential oil seemed more appropriate. I love peppermint oil and imagined how lovely that would smell in my house.
I sprayed everything. Went out of control with the spray bottles. I felt confident that I was winning my war with the spiders. How wrong I was.
I return home after my day shift to find two spiders roaming freely. The bigger one (I swear) was the one from the day before on my ironing board. It scampered into my bathroom near the toilet. All I could think of was of that video illustrating a public toilet where huge spiders lurk. I freaked out. I resorted to finding a toxic spray to deal with the issue and attempted to call my landlord to help me. He didn't answer his phone and so I embarked on a journey to find a powerful spray. In the meantime, my landlord called me to see what I needed. I told him of my spider issue and he told me to call him and he would take care of it. I bought a potent spray and headed home. Spider was still hanging out in my bathroom which prohibited me from using the bathroom. I called Matteus to get his help but he was unavailable for a half hour. I sprayed my doors, windows and a few cobwebs. All the while hating this action since I could smell the toxicity of the spray. I reminded myself that I needed to resort to the spray to avoid being bit.
My landlord swooped in and within a minute had the spider in my dustpan and out the door. I was in awe of how quickly he disposed of it. I feel a little better knowing the spider is out of my house for the time being. However, there is a chance that it will find its way back into my house.
I sprayed more toxic b.s. before leaving for work. I want to minimize its ability to return and air the place out before I ingest the toxic fumes. I feel torn that I wanted to do the essential oil route but it didn't give me the results I needed. Instead I relied on the toxic crap to get the job done. If only I had been patient.....
For the time being, I am without the widow and hoping that she will not return. I hope to retain that symbiotic balance in my home.
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