Halloween and Zombie Spiders

Zombie spiders have come to my front door just in time for Halloween. No, they are not toys nor made of plastic with tiny motors to make them come to life. These are real and very BIG spiders. Here is the tale of the Zombie spiders.

Last week I went out to get the mail. Here in rural Florida we still have mail boxes at the end of the drive way. Upon returning with my daily mess of junk mail and a bill or two, I noticed a huge spider in the bushes next to the door. Let me note here: I am insanely scared of all creepy crawlies. My brain tells me, "they are much smaller and more scared of you". My heart tells me, "oh crap, look at how big that bug is". An insect may not hurt me but it can make me hurt myself in trying to escape its presence.

Anyway, I declared war on this spider. Go for the chemicals. (Dow chemical would be so proud of me). I will admit that I do have a tendency to drown the subject way before any chemical has a chance to take affect. My attempt at the use of bug spray was useless. I could almost hear the spider laugh in a tiny little voice. Have you ever seen the original 1960's version of the "Fly"? If you have you will know the tiny little voice I heard. Only this time the voice was saying, "ha, I laugh at you and your chemicals".

Time to pull out anything that might stop this monster. You might know that, (in my mind), this spider is now getting larger by the moment.

I have a craft room off the screen porch for all my little projects. Aha! Spray glue! That should stop him in his tracks. A quick spray and that seemed to stop him. My turn to laugh and feel that I had won the battle.

Day two of the Zombie spider battle. Again, out to the mail box for the daily load of junk. Coming back to the door, I noticed (NO, IT CAN'T BE) the Zombie spider! Come back to life. This time I used spray fixative. Again this seemed to stop him in his tracks. His web now covered in an assortment of modern chemical warfare.

Whew! Finally victory on battlefield of the front door. Or at least I thought!

Day three of Zombie spider battle. Again, to the mail box and back to the door. I am doomed! As I looked to see if the Zombie was indeed dead, I noticed a movement on the other side of the door. Dang, there is now his Mom. Bigger, badder and much scarier. Zombie Mom spider seemed to be glaring at me with her multitude of eyes. ( I am not sure about that, but it seemed possible). I had lost the battle. I needed a Prince to my rescue.

My prince came in the guise of my Grandson. He laughed at my tale of the Zombie Spiders and simply took care of the matter with a shoe. Ha, I never thought of that!

Happy Halloween to all my friends and family. BOO!

Meditation with Basset Hound

Feeling a bit tense this morning, I thought a bit of meditation might be needed to calm my mind. Lyle Love-It, my Basset Hound, also need a bit of sunshine to calm his mind. So we went to the back yard. While he contemplated all the new smells on the yard, I contemplated on my need to calm my "monkey" mind.

After a bit of listening to my breathing and trying to bring some calm in my day. I sat and watched this lovely, funny, and sometimes very serious dog.

Lyle is a beautiful dog. Perfectly Basset. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure to be in the company of a Basset Hound, will tell you that they are unlike any other dog.

While he walked around, I sat and watched. His beautiful tail straight up with the white tip as his flag. His nose to the ground and those wonderful soft ears gathering up any scent of interest. Calmly, he investigated all that there was of interest in and around his area of the yard. I could almost see the information flowing up his nose to his brain.

What scents he recognized and the ones he didn't. There were scents that required him to scratch over with a flourish of dirt flying from his back feet.

Lyle discovered a strange noise this morning from the neighbors yard. They have just started to raise chickens. Wow, that really confused him and required loud howling to let them know that he was there. I could tell by the look on this face that he just couldn't figure out where that strange noise was coming from.

When he decided that the chickens were aware of him, he then had to come and tell me all about it. Lately, he has had to tell me a lot of things. He puts those big front paws in my lap and then has an entire language of growls, yips, and grumbles that he uses to tell me the latest news. He does this with a sincere and serious expression on his face. Maybe he thinks I do understand. It is really funny and it is hard not to laugh when he is being very serious. I say things like: " really? are you sure? that's good." Or other things one would say when having a conversation that you don't really understand. When he thinks I have been informed well enough he gets down and moves on to what he thinks is his next task. Usually, a nap.

I found that watching him was as calming as meditation. Plus, he gives such nice loves as he drapes those wonderful ears across my hands and looks at me like I am the only one who understands him.

Basset Hounds are truly wonderful dogs. My advice: get to know one and you will need little if any meditation.

October 2, 2011

There is finally a chill in the air here in North Florida. If you will remember, some time ago, I mused on where my internal temperature was the most comfortable. Well, when I went to bed last night I was aware that is would be cool this morning. I refused to turn the AC on for another night. Opened a window and turned on the fan. That didn't work so well. We have one very small window that opens in our bedroom, so it took most of the night to cool down. I awoke this morning and it was 48 outside. Ahhh, the wonderful cool. I opened the doors and turned the ceiling fans on to cool the rest of the house. Duh, that took about 10 minutes. It got down right cold. Shut the doors and turn the heat on to take the chill off. My attire went from tank and pj bottoms, to t-shirt and pj bottoms, to socks, jeans, and 3/4 length sleeve top. The heat is still on until the sun moves enough to warm the house. Then I will reverse the attire for the day. It is hard being temperature challenged.

Yesterday, I spent a wonderful afternoon with my daughter-in-law. We went to lunch and then shopping. We laughed and it was wonderful to spend some time with her.

While we were eating lunch we noticed a bunch of "Red Hat" ladies. I just don't get that society. They look so silly. Maybe that is the point. I wondered what would make someone join such a seemingly stupid group. I wondered if they were rejected cheerleaders, sorority girls past their prime, or just needed something to belong to. Maybe all the above.

One of the ladies seemed to be the one in charge. She wore a huge hat with very large feather plumes in it. She resembled a cartoon character. She was at the head of the table and seemed to be the one giving the instructions to the rest of the seemingly adoring fellow chickens. It was fascinating to watch these 60-something women.

I came home, put on a new CD of blues music, had a glass of wine, and played with my basset hound, Lyle Love-it. I truly think as I get older the more rebellious I become. I like that. I like the freedom of my age to say and react as I want. I like the fact that I don't really give a hoot who likes me and who doesn't. There seems to be a lot less pressure to conform at this age.

So maybe the "Red Hat" ladies are rebelling in their own way but I really like the fact that I don't need to dress up in silly clothes or belong to a group.

On to history of the year 1951. In October of 1951, "I Love Lucy" debuted on CBS. Now you can see reruns of Lucy somewhere on T.V. nearly everyday. Lucille Ball was wonderful comic, but more than that she was one of the first strong business women. She knew what worked and what didn't about her talent and her business.

Also pertaining to women of the 50's and 60's, a Mexican chemist, Luis E. Miramontes synthesized the first oral contraceptive. This would free women forever from the fear of unwanted pregnancies and free women to pursue and achieve things beyond their biology. It would also, allow families to grow at a rate that allowed for real success. Especially the middle class. Seems that some would like to take that away these days.

There was an alarming amount of Nuclear testing. Both the US and Russia racing to see who could destroy who first. The really scary part of all that is that now we have every rouge government in the world trying to attain the same capabilities. There are powerful idiots all over the world looking to promote their agendas with this capability. The USA has just as many crazies wanting that power as any other nation in the world. Scary!

Well, as we move into fall, the autumn of my 60th year, I am finding that there is a reflection of who I am, and wonder who I will become. There are so many possibilities. I do know however, that I will not be wearing purple with red, nor big silly hats with feathers. Ha, I can't even decide what I will wear the rest of damn day.

Happy October, everyone!