Thanks for posting this! K&R

the arachnids 3 times while overhauling rear drum brakes on cars stored for long times in garages, then resurrected. Graceful long front & back pointing legs, velvet black with deep orange hour glass. Couldn't kill them, just let them head for the street gutter.

hunt them and play with them. I opened cupboards and they would fall out. I also would open covers on my bed and they would be there. I really, REALLY hate them. Did I say I hate them?

Our local species has a red stripe on their back hence the name. They live everywhere, city and country. I used to have them living under my bed when I was little living in a small country town.

Ohhh, how I hate them. I still have nightmares.

The thing is they are not the most venomous spiders in AUstralia and are rarely lethal to healthy adults. That honour goes to the Funnel Webs, including the famous Sydney Funnel Web Spider.

That one lives in our biggest city Sydney. There is a close relative just as lethal that lives in the nearby country areas though. so nowhere is safe.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi.

I love your country but your bugs blow my mind.

In Alaska, we have wolf and black/brown reclusives that can kill you or destroy your skin but not much else. We do have a great frog that allows itself to freeze solid underground and get through the winter to thaw out in the spring fully alive. I love the natural world so long as it doesn't take its stingers and crawl into my shoes.

don't like spiders either.

That was creepy as hell, but good. It was interesting to learn about the antivenin. I knew black widows didn't kill many people, but I had no idea that you generally have to tough out a bite. Yeesh.

now that the weather's starting to change. We usually just trap them with a glass and put them back outside where they belong.