Welcome to Spider Gulch!

This time of year we go from living in The Cabin to living in The Cabin in Spider Gulch without even moving. Spider season hits pretty much overnight. The spiders that “grace” us with their presence every year are Golden Orb Weavers and, they are EVERYWHERE. Female Golden Orb Weavers are more colorful than the males and are a great deal larger than the males. The females build large webs and there are usually a few small brown males living in the webs. (Apparently this keeps them from getting eaten.🤷‍♀️)

I didn’t know until this year that the females actually molt as they grow. Now, I didn’t learn this fact from researching Golden Orb Weavers; I learned it from Kenn’s daily Spider Update. “Ooooh. The spider outside the kitchen window (or bay window, or sliding glass door, or wherever) has molted again. She’s really getting big!” I shuddered just typing that. I have never been a fan of spiders; something about those eight legs just creeps me out. I have not witnessed the evidence of the molting, nor do I need to. Ick. Just ick.

Since the spiders are everywhere, we really have to watch where we’re going. The first person through the front door in the mornings needs to look carefully before leaving because there is a high probability that a web has been spun across the doorway overnight. Failure to check before exiting may result in a face full of web and/or spider. They also like to spin webs across the base of the staircase leading to the carport; I just take the long way around from the front of the deck in a effort to avoid webs. If one of these spiders gets on me, I will just expire on the spot. So, if I disappear, you know what happened,🕷️🕸️

On a completely unrelated note, we also have a plethora of tiny toads this year. Making it safely through the spider gauntlet to reach the carport means watching our step so we don’t crush baby toads.

Can you find the toad?

I enjoy living in a rural setting, surrounded by wildlife; I’m just not a fan of arachnids. So, do you have spider season where you live?

15 thoughts on “Welcome to Spider Gulch!”

  1. Oh, yes. Spiders year around. I do my best to co-exist, but I draw the line at them being in the house. We used to have orb weavers occasionally, but I have not seen one in a long time. As to toads, last time I saw any of them was one night at Mom and Dad’s years ago when I went outside and they were clustered under the light by the garage, eating moths!

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  3. I laughed out loud at “if one of these spiders gets on me, I will just expire on the spot. So, if I disappear, you know what happened.” I am petrified of spiders and centipedes – both climb, walk and run way too fast for my liking. The only time I can deal with a centipede is if it is in the bathtub, so I bravely run the water and flush it down the drain. That sometimes happens overnight – ugh. The rest of the time I stand there, shoe in hand, ready to whack it, but that doesn’t happen right away either as I figure how best to do it and not fling it back in my face. We get the big spider webs that you are clawing your way out of by mid-August. I once had a huge black spider with wide legs at the left-side of the garage – it is a small garage and only accessible at the garage door. I had to pass it to get to the car and finally broke down and snagged my male neighbor, who was about 60 years old at the time, to ask if he’d kill it. He took one look at it and backed up and said “no way – sorry!”

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    • Years ago, I was working in my office cubicle and motion caught my eye; there was a *huge* spider headed toward me. I practically crawled on top of my desk and told the young airmen across from me, “Kill it! Kill it!” He said, “I don’t like spiders either!” But, he did dispose of it.🤣

      I don’t know how Australians deal with the humongous Huntsman spiders.

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      • Thankfully your young airmen manned up and did the right thing and got it for you. I was working on the 11th floor in an office building and had a large window near my desk. I saw something out of the corner of my eye and it was a huge spider hanging between the wall and the window on a big tunnel web. Now, I knew the spider could not squeeze in any places to get near me, but, this was an old building and the windows opened and closed and the window washers would not only clean the outside windows, but would open the window, then step inside to clean the inside. I thought “if I see the scaffolding out there, I’m making a sign that says: “please kill the spider and if you don’t kill it, please don’t open the window and come inside. Thank you!”

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