Black Widows Come Calling

In September, while cleaning the garage, KR brought the lid to a storage box inside and set it on the dining room table. Her eye caught movement in one corner of the lid where her thumb had been. She peeked in and went numb when she saw a big, shiny, VERY black spider. Running to the kitchen for an empty jar, she came back to see the spider scurrying across the table. Carefully plopping the jar over the spider, she slid it to the edge of the table and onto the upturned lid, catching the spider inside. Once the creepy crawler was safely behind glass, she tilted the jar and viewed its round belly, clearing seeing the bright red hourglass shape characteristic of a female black widow. The next day, while sweeping the garage, she discovered another smaller one and put it in the same jar. The two didn’t get along very well and before long, the little spider became food. The grandchildren loved to watch that big spider and the thing lived in the jar for over three months, kept alive by an occasional bug.