The Beauty of the Spider

Spiders.  What comes to mind when you hear that word?  Do you cringe?  Grimace?  Shudder?
  
The spider has been a creature to create a sense of terror for years.  A bit of proof would be in the third Lord of the Rings movie.  Frodo is hunted by a giant spider named Shelob. 
Why was it a spider?  Why not some other arthropod?
Perhaps it is because of the spider's mysterious and predatory nature.  This, plus a homely appearance make this arachnid a focus of fear for many.

But look who's talking.
I was terrified of spiders for probably most of my life.  I really am not sure why.  If you had asked me the question at the time, my answer would probably have been, "Because they're scary," which would not have been very helpful.
But however long I've been afraid of them, I have been fascinated with them for just as long.  In fact, in this past year or so, my fear of spiders has been shrinking away, and my interest in them has grown.  After all, what's not fascinating about the spider?  They are hunters, they have fangs and, in about thirty species, quite dangerous venom.  They have incredible reflexes and can really move when they need to!

Hold the phone, Henrietta.
The list of reasons that spiders are intriguing is the exact same list of why they are feared!  Why?  Sometimes it is a matter of age, like with me, and sometimes not.
Perhaps we can change that.
The next time you see one of those leggy creatures, take a few moments to find something neat about what you see before you hit it with a shoe (unless, of course, it's a brown recluse, then hit it NOW ).  If you are terrified of these creepy crawlies, perhaps in a little while you won't find them as frightening as you once did. 

Perhaps you will see the beauty of spiders.


From your blogging friend,
Meghan

The (Perhaps) Never-Ending Story Part 8

     Scarecrow stared with wonder at a shiny, new drain in his straw hands.
     Mr. Steel was feeling quite intellectual as he fingered his new chart lovingly.
     Howard was smacking his lips at the sight of an instant-porridge-kit.
     Renae, though pleased with her friend's satasfaction, was impatient to be moving on. 
     "Let's go," she said, dragging them out of their stupors.  "I'd like to be moving on.  This is a big department store, and it could take us a little while to find what I need to get home."
     " 'Dat's true enough, sistah," replied Howard.  "But do youse even know what you needs?"
     Renae shrugged.  "I was thinking some kind of map, perhaps."
     "Well, hey!  You don't even need to buy anything, Renae!"  The Scarecrow was beaming with the genius of his realization.  "There's a big map mounted--"
     Suddenly, everything stopped.  Scarecrow had paused in the middle of his statement with his mouth open, fellow shoppers had stopped dead in their tracks, and nobody could move a muscle for a grand total of 6.85643 seconds.  Then everyone was moving again as normal; it was over.  For the next seventy-two seconds, that is. 
     Hence the title, 'The Great Wal-Mart of Pause'
     Mr. Steel sniffed in some agitation.  "That's getting really annoying.  You were saying, Scarecrow?"
     "I was saying that Renae doesn't have to buy anything because there is a great big map mounted at the front of the store."
     So that's where they headed, and when they had finally found it (they had gotten lost several times), Renae took a good long look at that map.  She then was wide-eyed.  From where they were, Renae's house appeared to be on the other end of the world. 
     So, after a little bit of hyper-ventilating, she began the long journey home.
     Her friends couldn't come; they had things they had to do back at their homes.  Renae was alone.
     Three days of walking brought her to a sign in the road that told her she was going the right way.  It said, "Three miles to the Shire".

Cheese and Pickles

There once was a meat-ball under the couch,
It got squished, so it said "ouch".

That reminds me of the cupboard under the stairs;
The doggy had none (you see, the cupboard was bare).

Rats chew through cinder blocks just because they can,
I wonder who pays the Ice-cream Truck Man?

But you might wonder what this has to do with cheese and pickles--
Oh, and that reminds me, I'm very distracti-bibble.

I once jumped from talking about how blueberry-innards are green,
To remarking how I thought mushroom spores are just disgusting.

We just bought dried mushrooms for cooking, called champinions,
Let's see, what rhymes with that?  Oh I know: minions.

Where did the word 'minion' come from anyway?