Bending the Third Rail
Because We Should, We Can, We Do
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Loud, Proud .02
PETALUMA'S SPIDER MAN: Upon finding a spider in the house, 99.98 percent of people smash it, scream and wave their arms or carefully capture the intruder and carry it outside.

Charles Griswold of Petaluma, whose name appears in a news story being carried around the world, is part of the .02 percent that lets an indoor spider be.

Charles, an arachnologist and a curator at California Academy of Sciences, is also a leader of the research project that has found at least nine new species of assassin spiders - they attack only other spiders - in Madagascar.

The discoveries have been a highlight of his career and he'd love to talk more about them, but Charles is headed to Australia to search for more of the tiny, murderous spiders.
I save spiders. And any other creatures who find their way into the house.

Except ants.
4 Comments:
Blogger Lynne said...
I usually let them be as well. Mostly because I'm too lazy to carry them outside.

Blogger Ms. Jan said...
I draw the line at rodents. Take no prisoners. Show no mercy.

Blogger Lynne said...
LOL, I have to confess I live trap the little mices. Drive them about half a mile away and turn them loose in the woods. One morning as I did this, a little cream colored baby fox was caught in the headlights. He craned his neck to peer over the lights, then turned to disappear into the woods. I imagined him announcing to his buddies, "Hey guys! Meals on Wheels is here!"

Blogger Greyhair said...
That's hilarious. You're probably right!

Ms Jan doesn't tell the truth.

Ask her about the mouse we caught in the pantry.

We have a motion activiated light in the pantry. It kept going on "by itself". On further investigation, I caught a mouse in a electric skillet. With MsJan's help, I carried it to a vacant lot and let it go. She was right behind me.

She is freaked out about rats. And unfortunately, Sonoma County has had an (unexplained) explosion in the rat population....