Saturday, August 9, 2014

Don't Read This If You're Squeamish

I did the dirt and sweat cure today and it worked a charm. I feel better tonight than I've felt in four days. Okay, my wrist hurts like hell but so what? I pulled some goddam weeds, y'all! I pulled weeds taller than me. I ended up with all the chickens in the garden and Maurice too. It was fun. I've decided to quit feeling like I'm wasting my life when I'm pulling weeds. It's good work, I can listen to books while I do it or the radio if it's a good radio day and I'm not hurting a soul.

All right. Moving on. A nice person named Julia asked me in a comment what spider crap looks like. Basically, I answered in my comment back to her that anything you see under a spider is probably their crap. Spiders do, in fact, poop, just as we all do.
So. Here's one picture of spider poop.


Damn. Someone should clean this house. That's on a window sill and it's the crap of a small spider. Your regular-sized spider. 

Here's more!


That's on the porch-swing porch where the banana spiders live. Or the golden orb weavers to be more exact. That's an oak leaf for perspective. Here's one of them with her mate. 


She's probably three inches across, including legs. The male is bigger than your regular-sized spider and as you can see, is dwarfed by his web-building wife. Spider crap is pretty dry and I would imagine that's because the only liquid spiders get is from the vital juices of their prey. So in essence, spider crap is probably mostly made up of fly blood and guts. 

And no, this does not bother me in the least. I find it fascinating. 

Mr. Moon is home from a full day of doing carpenter work. He had a new helper today in the form of Owen. He told Owen last week that he would hire him to help and Lily reports that he was incredibly excited about this. He woke up this morning and Boppa was already there, working on our duplex next door and Owen said, "Mom! Hurry! I have to get dressed! I have to go to work!"
And work he did. 
Mr. Moon said that all day he kept saying, "I'm making the big bucks now!" He's getting paid ten cents for every bit of trash and nails and so forth that he picks up and earned about seven dollars today.  
Those boys. All my boys. I talked to Hank today and he was on his way to the beach with Togi and Taylor and he sounded so happy. And Gibson- well, he's always happy. 

And tonight, I am happy. I enjoyed writing the post before this one with all my heart and I enjoyed working in my jungle of a garden with all my soul and I loved giving my hens fresh, sweet, soft hay to nest in, and collecting their eggs and hanging the clothes on the line and folding them into the basket and bringing them in and now I'm going to listen to Prairie Home Companion and bake a lovely chicken (hypocrite! hypocrite!) and Jessie and Vergil are coming on Wednesday and I got to talk to Lis today and my blues got sweated out and my body feels good and I am clean from head to toe and it's supposed to rain tomorrow and may it be so, may it be so.






13 comments:

  1. When they're old and dried on, those spider droppings can be hard to clean up. Dr Bronner's does the job nicely... I have three itchy spider bites right now. Time for ruthless
    housecleaning.

    Owen is maturing so fast. Yesterday a social scientist, today a construction worker, tomorrow....?

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  2. You pulled weeds, I vacuumed mouse poop. Fun stuff!

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    Replies
    1. WARNING: You should NEVER vacuum up mouse poop. Some breeds of mice (e.g. deer mice) have a harmful bacteria in their poo which is fatal to humans. If you inhale it it can cause respiratory failure in a matter of days leading to death. Same as sweeping dried mouse poop, as it turns to dust and becomes airbound. Recommended to dampen it with bleach etc and use a tissue / cloth to pick it up and discard of it and tie the bag up. Then you can do your hoovering. Please look this up as its not well known.

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  3. I admit I am sort of aghast at those spiders. We saw one at a gas station in Alabama and about died, all of us. If one was on my porch, I might just sell the house.

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  4. We had Publix fried chicken last night and I told my husband we were terrible people. I think he thought that I meant because it was fried. Gail

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  5. I am with Vesuvius on this spiders. I have flies in my house and I am beside myself. Don't know why they are here or how to get rid of them. Don't want to find out what fly poop is like. I could go crazy. I am so glad you are feeling better Ms Moon. So glad. Sweet Jo

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  6. Oh, yeeuck! I suppose that's also what people call fly spotting. Maybe it's spiders, maybe flies. But what is fly crap made of? considering they seem to eat crap to start with.....
    the mind boggles...

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  7. A- Magic eraser does the trick pretty well too. I love that product.
    And who knows what Owen will be tomorrow? Hang on to your hat!

    Bob- I do not own a vacuum. I probably should.

    Ms. Vesuvius- They are mostly just pets. They don't hurt us.

    Gail- Ha! I hear you!

    Sweet Jo- Sometimes I get a fly hatch. That's all I can explain it by. Just suddenly- gozillions of flies. I hate it. And then, they disappear.

    Jenny Woolf- Good point!

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  8. I have seen spots like that but I had no idea it was spider poop. I don't think I stopped to consider what it might be. I just thought it was dirt. What other details am I missing in life??!

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  9. I sit in my cube every day wondering why women who stay at home feel they are wasting their lives. To me they seem to be building their lives. What can be more important than your home? I waste my life in a fabric cube staring at a screen and planning meetings and celebrations and cube space for people who for the most part aren't even my friends. I mean we are friendly at work, but we don't invite each other over for dinner or anything like that. How can raising children and making nurturing meals and memories with people you love be a waste of a life?

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  10. Steve Reed- That's how I always feel. WHAT AM I MISSING? Dear god. It's sad.

    Lisa- You know, back when I was younger, I agonized over that very subject. And yeah, I went to nursing school and I did work at a birth center and I've done other jobs but frankly, being home was what I wanted to do and it was the place for me. I feel so very fortunate that I have been able to do that but I tell you something- I will always wonder if I could have earned my own living and that feels very sad to me.

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  11. OK, thanks for posting the pictures. I have little black stuff like that too, but I always thought it was flea poop from off of the cats. I hate the fleas, but I hate the poison, too.

    I've had the orb spiders (or something very similar) in the yard, but never on the porch or in the hose. To me they are fascinating.

    Julia

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  12. We have a huge golden orb spider female with THREE fellows surrounding her--satellite males--outside one of our windows. They are indeed fascinating. And I'm not at all squeamish about any kind of poop except the human kind. And that I don't like to mess with.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.