Okay, after Saturday's post about Leamington being the Tomato Capital of Canada, but having the potential to be just as famous for its spiders, several people expressed interest in the spider thing. So, just to show you that I am not really all that arachnophobic (honest), I’m going to tell you a bit about the spiders...right after I brush down my arms and legs. First of all, I have no idea why there are so many. I could guess that it’s the warmer temperatures here in “Canada’s Sun Parlour” (the other name this area goes by) and the extra humidity, but I grew up in the same basic climate in Detroit, and we weren’t overrun there. Perhaps it’s the proximity to the lake? But even people uptown in Leamington have tons of spiders. Truth is, I really can’t say why.
People spray the outside of their houses here; there are quite a few companies in the Yellow Pages that advertise this service. I generally like to be as green as possible, but I just can’t help myself where spiders are concerned. And the company I called has assured me that the spray they use breaks down quickly after contact, and is approved by "the province". Okay, just get it done... *brushing off again* When I first moved here in the summer of ’05, I never gave bugs of any kind a thought. But the house I bought had been empty for several months, and thus had not been sprayed for spiders. Unchecked, it’s not a pretty sight.
Most of the spiders here are slow-moving orb weavers (which makes it nice when they get inside, because they’re easier to dispatch than a speedy wolf spider). Outdoors, they build their webs in the night, but the webs soon become so heavy with bugs that they break apart into long threads, dotted with captured fishflies and midges etc. The first morning I stepped out my front door, I walked right into a creepy mess, and had strings of fishflies plastered all over my clothes. That was when a neighbor told me about the spider spray service. Since that time, I spray every year like religion. It also reduces the number (excuse me while I scratch again) of earwigs. At least orb spiders, in their place (as far from my house as possible) have some redeeming aesthetic value. Their round webs are lovely to look at, and the spiders themselves are actually (I can’t believe I’m saying this) quite pretty. Not so with earwigs, which look like they belong in Men in Black, battling Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Well, that’s about all there is to say about Leamington’s other big crop. I’ll just head to Google Images for some *shudder* photos to show you...I can do this…
Shamrock orb weaver photo from www.geog.ubc.ca
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