About Me

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I am a 29-ish yr old married mother of 8. My family is my life and I wouldn't have it any other way. My darling husband is my very best friend and together we are raising 8 of the best kids in the world! They are Rose(12) Sarah(12) Ammon(10) Malachi(8) Gabriel(7) Hannah(5) Maggie(4) and Abbie(3) We currently own 2 dogs, 1 bird, 5 chinchillas, 1,000,000 rabbits, 1 cat, 4.5 horses, and one ferret. We just purchased a home that is definately a "fixer-upper", with land and room for the kids to roam. Our goal is to run a mostly self sustaining farm and live in peace as we grow as a strong family unit. We have seen our fair share of hardships, but we are thankful for the many blessings the Lord gives us on a regular basis!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Meet Hairy!


This is our little friend Hairy! (okay it's not the actual "Hairy" but it's a picture I pulled off line that looks identical to him/her!)
This morning Malachi was cleaning the living room when he came running into the school room very excited! He had discovered yet another spider to put under his microscope! Annoyed that a spider was interrupting my day, and assuming that it was just a common brown, I had the kids get a jar... thinking we could slice it up and look at it later.
When I went into the living room and saw how big this thing was I freaked!!!! This is creepy! In reference to a coin it's about the size of a fifty cent piece! (with the legs)
AHHHHHH! I shewed all the kids away for fear that it might rip their faces off! Then I captured it in the jar and sat at my computer to figure out what it was.
Wellllll....It turned out that "Hairy" is a Hobo Spider, most commonly found in Utah, Colorado, Montana, and a bunch of other north western places (including Canada)...BUT...it is also found in...you guessed it ...ARIZONA! It's category? Dangerous...Highly venomous! (You may all scream with me now!!!) AHHHHHHHHHHH!
I opted not to post the pics of legs that have been bitten! Nobody needs to see that! I'll just say my boys thought they were "way cool" and leave it at that! The good news is that about 50% of the time they do not inject their venom when they bite...So you've got a 50/50 chance as to whether or not you're gonna' have a hole in your body if you get bit!
So, now, I am taking suggestions for the most horrible and painful death possible for this thing! Squishing is NOT possible...It's too big!

7 comments:

Brad Phillips said...

Leave it in the jar, sealed tightly. Your boys should enjoy watching as the spider slowly suffocates. If you feel it is taking too long, throw a lit match in there and reseal it. The fire will exhaust all the oxygen quicker, but the boys will still get to enjoy watching the slow and painful end to the spider....

Leisha Mareth said...

Oh yikes! It reminds me of when my kids found a black widow hanging out in their sand box!

TheRose said...

I have a idea....just simply barrow Jed's bebe-gun and shoot it's head off!

Cathy Shields said...

When Corey was on his mission he had to deal with these all the time. They had sticky traps that they caught them with and I have pics of the traps full. I know they are dangerous. So whatever you do, be careful

Unknown said...

Stick in the microwave! mmmmmmmm! roast spider any one? Well, they do it in India.

Melissa said...

Ok. Now you should be worried, not about Hannah's one sided conversations, but about the girls and thier tendancy to want to shoot the head off or microwave the spider...EWWWWWWWWWW! LOL
J/K. Actually, I think that I would leave it in the jar. Not that I really think that is an ideal way to end, but because I would be terrified that if I tried to kill it any other way it would escape and bite someone (namely me!)I HATE spiders!!! Oh, and right after you called to tell me about this spider, Jim yells in to ask me what kind of spider is big and black and has a red thing on it. Sure enough, there was a black widow in the corner of our living room! OK. I am really wondering if someone who is as anachrophobic as I am should be living here of all places!

Darryl and Cindy Cunningham said...

Darryl was bitten by a hobo last fall. He left his work jeans on the floor. When he put them on the next morning it bit him. He had a hole in his upper thigh for a while. Hobos do not climb like other spiders but like to climb inside whatever is on the floor. Why do you think cowboys would shake out their boots? Word of advice? This is a good time to teach the kids to shake out any clothing left on the floor, and never stick you hand in anywhere you haven't looked.