Nothing about living in the woods is simple. Meddle with this piece and the one over there falls apart. Encourage a pretty flower and the next thing you know you’ve grown a briar patch that can devour a spaniel. Housekeeping under these circumstances is chancy.
Woodpeckers make holes in the siding, but you don’t want to shoot the woodpeckers because they’re getting rid of the carpenter ants that are eating the siding. You haven’t lived till you’ve had a dozen treefrogs hopping about in the living room. (It’s a long story.) But they eat the darned gnats. It’s a little bit of a surprise to have a garter snake poke its head out of the woodpile, but it does its job, too, keeping the mouse population down. Mice are cuter than snakes, but snakes have the good manners to stay out of the Writing Studio and Bait Shop. Mice have no manners.
So today I was looking at the dusty honeycomb blinds that keep winter at bay on the north side of the house. Definitely time for spring cleaning. A shadow moved behind the blind. Huh, I thought. Must be a spider on the window. Wait a minute . . .
Well, eventually of course I had to give up taking pictures in order to Take Measures. Spiders are very good about eating insects but they have no respect for boundaries. I don’t know how to remove a bold spider crouched in the middle of a honeycomb blind, but I can tell you with authority that a vacuum cleaner will remove the miscreant from the last couple of inches, yes indeed.
Torch Lake Views 
Sybil
March 28, 2011
Reminds me of, “There was an old lady who swallowed a fly …”
Gerry
March 29, 2011
Oh dear oh dear, I know how that ends.
Carsten
March 29, 2011
She’s a lovely little spider. I used to catch them and keep them in small boxes. It was sort of a game a girl from my school class and I had. The goal was to catch the largest spider.
Did you have a close look on it? In any case you can watch this one:
http://c-langkjaer.dk/wordpress/2011/03/spider/
Note to arachnophobes: Carsten’s image is a very close view indeed. Stand warned. – Gerry
Gerry
March 29, 2011
Thank you, Carsten. You’d love the wolf spiders who occasionally invade the Writing Studio and Bait Shop. The next time I see one I will take its portrait for you immediately prior to evicting it from the premises. Or perhaps afterward would be better. Yes, I think so.
Fee
March 29, 2011
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa *takes breath* aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Okay, now guess who doesn’t like spiders (not even the fairly small ones we get here)? However, as the cat is generally disinclined to perform pest-control duties to order, I have to resort to the muckle lump that is the Dyson DC14 … nothing escapes it! And I mean nothing. Ear-rings, Lego, beads, coins, stray Weetos, hair elastics, small children, all are fair game for my purple friend.
Gerry
March 29, 2011
You do not want to visit Carsten’s blog today, Fee. No indeed.
P.j. grath
March 29, 2011
Good story and pictures. Wish mice were so easy to Take Measures against. I do have to tell you about a book, though. It’s called (I think) THE VOICE OF THE INFINITE IN THE SMALL. I’ll get back to you on this re spiders and insects….
Gerry
March 29, 2011
I’m glad you liked the post, P.J. I look forward to learning more about yet another irresistible book. As for the mice, I keep a cat, so they are somewhat less of a problem. Somewhat.
Anna
March 30, 2011
Ugh! I am not fond of spiders! Usually, if a spider goes its way, I go mine… and we ignore one another. Those are great shots! I’ve lived in woodsy areas, so I know what you mean! You live with critters of all sorts. Neat post and photos. 🙂
Gerry
March 30, 2011
Thanks, Anna. So you don’t want to visit Carsten’s post either! I can deal with the spiders. You go tramping around taking pictures in places where there are diamondback rattlers. Outside my comfort zone.
Robin
March 30, 2011
Beautiful spider. I love the way you captured the light with it.
I know what you mean about the vagaries of country living. It’s can be interesting, especially trying to achieve some sort of balancing act between human needs/wants and Mother Nature.
Gerry
March 30, 2011
Thanks, Robin. In this case I, um, put my human needs/wants ahead of the spider’s. Although who knows, perhaps it’s making a new life for itself inside the vacuum dustbag. There’s a happy thought . . .
Barbara Rodgers
April 1, 2011
Yikes! That’s where spiders that dare to come inside my house go – straight into the vacuum cleaner. Terrifying little monsters… Great pictures!
Gerry
April 1, 2011
Wolf spiders are too big to go into the vacuum cleaner. I have to take those outside in a pair of those little bathroom Dixie cups and fling them off the deck. Glad you liked the pictures . . .
Barbara Rodgers
April 1, 2011
Oh dear, I’ve never seen a wolf spider in the house before! A few in the woods and once there was one on my brother-in-law’s car. If I saw one in the house I think I would dial 9-1-1!!!