Mysterious and spooky. They’re all together ooky … those *&^# spiderwebs that cross my path every morning!
Yep, nothing rivals stepping right into those gossamer spiderwebs that have been spun between trees or bushes overnight. Due to the angle of the sun in late September and early October mornings, you don’t always see those icky strands before walking through them. Nothing creeps me out more; how I hate those nearly invisible threads that leave me pawing and clawing the air to ensure one did not settle onto my clothes, or worse yet … in my hair! Banish that thought as I’d likely have a heart attack if that happened!
The unsettling spiders and their mysterious webs will disappear after we have had a few hard freeze events (dipping below 28 F/-2C). But, in the meantime, it’s much morning angst for me.
We are having a lovely week of weather. Mother Nature gets an “atta girl” and it makes up for the past two seasons which have been less than stellar in my opinion. It’s been fun to stroll at the Park and just enjoy the sun on my head, coat flung open and no gloves, because who knows when the crummy weather will arrive and park itself on our doorstep until next April?
Last week I had a horrifying experience with a spider and it was inside the house! Well, horrifying for me anyway. Not all of us are spider lovers like fellow blogger and macro-photographer Tom Peace. I may enjoy looking at Tom’s extreme close-ups of spiders and their kin, with their buggy eyes and hairy legs, but in my domain, they are not welcome.
Last week I was doing laundry and pulled out the lint filter to ensure there was no lint before turning on the dryer. I usually wipe it clean with the spent dryer sheet when I take the items out of the dryer, but decided to check anyway. I saw something white on the side of the plastic edge around the filter, so I nudged it with my fingernail. I thought it was just a piece of paper. Big mistake! Suddenly, a long brown leg poked out of a half-formed cocoon and a spider began to stir. Well that was an OMG moment – how did he/she get in there and was it prepared to stow away over the Winter? It might have caused a fire? I almost dropped the filter gizmo but held it far away from me as I raced upstairs for a paper towel (okay, a wad of paper towels big enough to smoosh a tarantula). I am terrified of crawling insects and I never leave the dryer open longer than needed to take out the laundry. I’ll never reach in the dryer again without wearing cotton gloves (no judgement please).
I loved the TV show “The Addams Family” as a kid, and, when I Googled around to ensure I had the exact wording to the show’s theme song for this blog post, after many decades, I amazed myself that I knew all the words and even knew when to snap my fingers to the music. Then, for a little more nostalgia, I Googled “The Munsters” theme song. Nothing to sing to – just hum along and the latter left an ear worm the rest of the day.
Homeowners have been busy decorating their abodes in harvest and Halloween themes. Today’s photos with a nod to the witchin’ season were taken on September 21st when I was at Heritage Park. It was steamy hot that day as I stood there taking pictures of the Halloween decor at the house next to the entrance to the Park.
My parting shot is a blessing for this harvest season and an early Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadian bloggers.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
I loved the Addams Family as a kid too! I remember creepy Uncle Fester and Cousin Itt! Thanks for reviving those memories. I will have to check out the blog you mention. I am in the spider-loving camp, as you know. I would love to see some close-ups! 🙂
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I loved them too Laurie – that show was very clever and started out from a cartoon drawn for “The New Yorker” originally. I watched “The Munsters” too, but thought “The Addams Family” was better. They were on TV the same time frame. I almost mentioned you and spiders – I should have included Tom’s last spider post, but since I mentioned macro photography in general, I just gave the blog post name. I’d never seen macro photography before – pretty amazing as to his insects, and woodland treasures. Here is the hairy-legged/bug-eyed spider Tom recently featured – probably a jumping spider: https://tom8pie.com/2019/10/02/wordless-wednesday-not-halloween-moon-landing-style/
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So far I’ve bought a pumpkin for the front porch. That is all the decorating I have done. Maybe this weekend!
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I’ve seen some nice decor and I love the porch pots of mums. Today I cut my walk at the Park short and strolled through a few neighborhoods to take some pictures before the rain comes along and messes thing up. So I saw another squirrel tearing apart a homeowner’s display – they will be mad tonight when they get home. He gnawed the front of a big pumpkin and climbed up a cornstalk and started shredding the back of it. Lost his footing and tore part of it down. I took pics, but it was a shady area and hope they came out.
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I get some scratch marks on my pumpkins but no real damage on anything.
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This squirrel took a big chunk out of the front and it was not a carved pumpkin either!
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Wow! You have squirrels on steroids.
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Yes, they are destructive … he was chewing on something, likely the pumpkin when I first saw him. I’m dying to see the photos – I’d like to upload them tonight but we are expecting a thunderstorm to roll through any time now.
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I was visiting the Berkshires a few years ago, driving aimlessly around those little roads from when I passed through one village that decorated for Halloween. All over town, little ghosts and graveyards. It was charming. Have no idea what town it was because I was lost. Somewhere around Dalton, I think.
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That sounds fun Keenan and here in Michigan, we have the village of Romeo which is small and they have fun events all the time. One of the news anchors on the all-news station I listen to on the radio, lives there and is always singing its praises for their peach festivals, parades down the center of Main Street, but especially Tillson Street at Halloween. It is the same as what you saw – a whole neighborhood decorates to the hilt for the season. They have a whole row of homes that have skeletons in various poses out front. It is all fun and tastefully done and is listed as an attraction on our tourism bureau’s website: https://www.michigan.org/article/trip-idea/inside-look-terror-tillson-pure-michigan-halloween-experience
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How sweet! And how delightful for those who live in the community!
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Yes, isn’t it? I would love to live in a small town. I have a friend who lives in the village of Honeoye Falls, NY and she says the townspeople fight mightily to keep the quiet and quaintness of their village when franchise stores/restaurants are itching to come in. They were able to thwart Dunkin Donuts’ many attempts at building a store in Honeoye Falls, simply by protesting to their local government. They are similar to Romeo with the townspeople gathering in the village square for Christmas carols, fireworks shows, parades for the 4th of July.
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I remember that show too! I wish Halloween was celebrated in India too. We have few themed celebrations though not very intense.
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It was such a fun show and so clever, wasn’t it? We have a 2019 movie version coming out here in the U.S. in theatres tomorrow, just in time for Halloween. This may surprise you, but Halloween in the U.S. is the second most popular holiday, just after Christmas. People spent 9 billion U.S. dollars (900 crores) each year for Halloween – pretty amazing since it is a one-day holiday! And it is especially fun with a young one – your little boy would have a wonderful time dressing up and going trick-or-treating.
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Happy Thanksgiving! I’m looking forward to teaching all my American friends the correct day to celebrate Thanksgiving.
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Thank you Janel – Happy Thanksgiving back at you! I have lived here in the States since 1966 but am still a Canadian citizen. I like the idea of having Thanksgiving in October – here it has become so commercialized because people go shopping for bargains on Thanksgiving afternoon and don’t even wait for Black Friday anymore. In fact, I heard today that because of Amazon’s big three-day sale in the Summer, less people than ever will be going to bricks-and-mortar stores as they got all the bargains at that big sale. October the weather is much better for long-distance traveling as well!
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Now that song will stick with me all day!!! You are hilarious Linda!
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I wonder if this 2019 version of “The Addams Family” coming out tomorrow will be as funny or use that theme song? Yes, it is catchy but wait … did you snap your fingers while you sang it too?
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Hahaha of course!
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Oh the Addams Family was the best. I loved the TV show as a kid and I like the movies– although I don’t know anything about this new one coming out. And now I’ll spend the rest of my day singing the theme song and clicking my fingers.
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I used to love the TV show too Ally, but I never saw the movies or the cartoon. I’ve not heard much about the 2019 version coming out tomorrow. I knew that theme song would be an ear worm … it’s bad enough to hear it in your head, but if you clicked your fingers, your credibility would be an issue. 🙂
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We share a loathing for spiders. Ugh!!!
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We sure do Anne – how did this beast get into the dryer – is it not airtight inside? I was horrified and could not help but think what if it climbed into the laundry and I usually dump clean laundry onto my bed to fold it when I bring it upstairs … so, if it disappeared into the bedclothes, I’d be sleeping out in the car!
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Shudder!!!
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Love the Addams too
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Did you think about that song all day long Chocoviv?
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Omg yes in October!
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I love the Halloween song “The Monster Mash by Bobby Boris Pickett” – I think it is very clever. https://youtu.be/-tHyRQOdqf0
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Me too!!
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The kids will love it too!
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Absolutely!
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Ehhhhhhhhhhh….! Creepy spiders!
Please don’t wear gloves. The chances are far better, in Michigan, to be struck by lightning than by getting a serious bite from a venomous spider. I assure you, they are 1,000 times more afraid of you than you are of them. They help eradicate nasty (undesirable) insects in your home; you should be paying them!
But, i must admit, i do have a blood-curdling true blog story to tell on and around Halloween. It will curl your hair! It’s about the gigantic, huger-than-huge, tarantula-like Fishing Spiders that live by water and that even invaded our river-front home. But i truly feel that being bit by that spider (in the upcoming story) was perfectly fine. It makes my fondness for spiders (and bond with them) even stronger. (Got any bugs i could eat? Tee-hee) 🙂
Very cool Halloween decorations! 🙂
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Well Tom, I like your odds better than the odds that play in my head about getting bitten by a spider! I think I will go to my grave suffering from arachnophobia. I saw that picture of a Fishing Spider in Indiana that made the rounds on the internet a few years ago and decided I’d faint dead away if I ever saw one of those. You wouldn’t even need the macro lens for a Fishing Spider. I have not bought grapes since two Black Widow spiders were found in separate packages of Kroger grapes here in Michigan. Yikes! If you saw how I pull apart a bunch of bananas with produce bags to check for spiders, you’d be howling with laughter. I am looking forward to your Halloween tales. Glad you liked the decor. I like harvest and Halloween decor and today I saw another squirrel tearing apart a nice harvest display – he gnawed on a big pumpkin taking a piece out of the front of it, and was doing his best to pull down the cornstalks from the pole light. I took some photos and hope it was not too shady and they came out. That squirrel shot me a guilty look, just like the last squirrel who was messing where he shouldn’t have been messing around. 🙂
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I suffer from Arachnophilia, the love of arachnids. 🙂 I love what Sabine said! Cool! 🙂
So, here — according to my spider friends — is how they (easily) get access to your dryer filter area. The flap on your outside dryer vent — on the outside port — is likely warped. Many of the plastic ones warp easily from the heat emitted. Menards and other such outlets, sell metal vent flaps that do not warp. When the dryer finishes drying, they seal rather tightly… in a closed position. We have a metal one.
Or you could just not do anything and have another OMG moment or two. 🙂
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I did know Sabine loved spiders as we discussed it one other time, and Laurie, a fellow blogger and retired science teacher, once did a blog post mentioning a spider she rescued from floating down the drain.
That’s the first time that’s every happened and the dryer was installed in 1985 and the vent is indeed plastic. I know as I reach in to ensure there is no fuzz collecting in there under the flap. Thanks for checking with your spider experts Tom. I’d rather not have an OMG moment again – I was shocked as I thought it was air tight and all these years, I’m reaching in the tumbler to scoop the clothes out blindly. I felt sick. 🙂
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Today there was a big Wolf Spider in the garage by a big bucket of screws that i had to find some screws in to fix a closet door. I was disappointed that i had to disturb the fellow. But he’s OK, thank goodness! When i encounter spiders, i am worried about them being OK, not me being OK. 🙂
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I’d have run for the hills to be sure Tom! For a while I was following a woman blogger from Traverse City, Michigan and they had a Wolf Spider living in an underground nest of some type near their back door stoop. She had to use that door as she had a dog and would not let him out in the front yard. She would post pictures of that spider and was grateful when they had their first freeze and snow and did not worry about going outside anymore past the spider which loomed nearby. I wish I was content to have small spiders around, let alone those scary Wolf Spiders. We had a lot of rain yesterday and this morning there was a centipede in my kitchen sink. I keep the drains closed all the time. I was able to kill it as it was not large – if it was large, I’d likely still be standing there quivering as it could not get up the sides of the sink and likely I’d have to put water on it to flush it down the drain … but first, I’d need to pick up the drain and set it aside (and what if it ran up my hand/arm?) 🙂
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Unlike you, Linda, I love spiders. Whenever I encounter them inside the house I just carefully capture them and take them outside. Their webs are works of art and help them trap their meals. Nature is marvelous! You have great autumn and Halloween decorations in your neighborhood. 🙂
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I know you do Sabine, and, as much as I enjoy the gifts of nature, I wish I could embrace the whole concept of spiders like you and Tom and another blogger, Laurie (whom I mentioned to you when she traveled to Oregon and hiked near where you live). She has written about seeing them in the shower and rescuing them from going down the drain – I, on the other hand would have the water full force on them. I don’t like that they, like centipedes, move so quickly and if one is on the ceiling or wall in a room I am in or must pass through, I am beside myself. I walked around the neighborhood after leaving the Park today – I just hated to come home as it was so beautiful outside. I found another mischievous squirrel tearing apart a nice harvest display – the homeowners will not be happy when they return home and see what he did. I had to get home for work, but in the time I watched him, he made enough damage for five squirrels. I hope the pictures turn out – there was a big tree casting some shadows on the display.
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For some reason I often find spiders in the sink and have to help them get out. They seem unable to climb up on that kind of surface. It’s too slippery I guess. As to the squirrels destroying the neighborhood decorations, I didn’t think they’d be that brazen! But they are wild creatures. I’m sure your pictures will turn out, a shadow often adds to a photo’s intrigue. I look forward to that post, Linda! 🙂
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There was a medium-sized centipede in my kitchen sink this morning Sabine. I could not reach the drain and I leave the drain shut all the time, so would have to reach in the sink to pick the drain basket out, and I killed it, heart in my mouth the entire time. I wish I was not scared, but I am. He was in there, did not come up the drain so he must have been crawling around in the kitchen, which does not give me comfort at all. I was going to look at my photos last night … I took photos all week at Council Point Park as we had such gorgeous weather. Usually I don’t wait so long to look at the photos and put them on the computer, but I was trying to keep up here at WordPress. I will look at them and am looking forward to seeing how they turned out – hopefully as you say, shadows were cooperative. I saw Grady yesterday – I have begun feeding him again, just him, in the backyard this time, not in the front on the porch and hopefully the Fox squirrel does not intrude like before. I put six peanuts out before I went out on my walk. Came home and wanted to see if he ate them and he was right there eating – he ran about 10 feet away – he sat there watching me and I got the camera out and it had been a little gray Thursday and yesterday and I was on the dregs of the battery but it had juice … otherwise it would shut right off. I have two batteries and rotate them and should have put a fresh one in before I went out, but they are brand new batteries, so thought it had enough juice. It flashed very slowly unfortunately – really delayed so I’ll kick myself if the up-close Grady shot did not come out well. That is the longest he has stayed in one place when I was outside the house. Usually he grabbed food and bolted even when I was inside the house looking at him through the screen door. So, he must have been hungry and maybe finally understood I was safe to be around. That Fox squirrel was destructive and I would have liked to stay until the bitter end … I have no doubt he would have taken the rest of the corn stalks down as he was hanging from them and they were rustling like crazy.
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We went walking on a state park trail this past weekend and had to be very conscious of where we walked. Those long threads were everywhere, and on more than one occasion, we almost walked right into an invisible web, spider and all. I have to confess that I find spiders very interesting, even though I certainly don’t want to come into physical contact with them, and am very appreciative of all the insects that they trap and eat. They are most welcome to all the mosquitoes that they want. 🙂
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This morning it was very dewy here, almost 100% humidity when I left the house. I could see those intricate webs, so no problem steering around them. I do know they are helpful to catching insects – if only they did not move so quickly. We still have our mosquitoes, plus that EEE mosquito virus that has killed three people and another seven are either in the hospital or sickened by the virus. They did aerial spraying to try and kill those mosquitoes off a few days ago – the people who raise bees were worried about the bees ingesting the pesticide the next morning.
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The mosquitoes were awful at the state park. I got a complete work out between hiking and flailing my arms, trying to keep the mosquitoes away. Living near farm fields, I worry about the aerial spraying too, both for the birds and insects, and for us humans. I remember when I was a kid, a truck use to come around to the neighborhoods in town, spraying for mosquitoes. Just for fun, some of the kids would ride their bikes right behind the truck. Back then, we really didn’t think too much about breathing that stuff. Of course, now we know better.
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I have not been to any of the woodsy areas and won’t return until after a few hard freezes – most of the parks are at/near marshes. I returned to the Community Garden the day I was at Heritage Park and did the same thing – swatting and flailing my arms to ward them off and I didn’t stay longer than five minutes tops. I figured there were no swampy areas there and it was safe. Yes, we never thought of any of the pesticides back then. We’d pick the clover in the yard and bite the ends of the “petals” as it tasted like honey. We never thought that was wrong either.
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I can just see you running through the house to get the paper towels! I’m not a fan of spiders in the house either. I prefer them outside where they can catch all the other annoying bugs and ticks! Great shots of the decorations! I loved those theme songs, too. Glad to read you were able to get in some miles in the nice weather!! 🙂
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Yes, I even ran back and took the whole paper towel roll under my arm in case I “missed” … I am scared to death of spiders and centipedes and this was not in a “whackable place” so I was beside myself. 🙂 Today was our last nice day and by noon time, it started to rain and has continued most of the day/evening. We have a storm rolling through any minute now. End of fun late Summer-like weather.
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Way to stay armed and dangerous to them!! Yep – our fun summer-like winter has left our area too – we had snow flakes yesterday 😦
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We had snow in the U.P. but I don’t know if it was flurries or anything more. Likely just flurries. They were playing football on my all-news station from 9:00 – 5:00 today so didn’t hear a newscast or weather for hours.
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It’s been snow-raining here for 24 hours. Yuck. 😦
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That weather does not get a like. We had a longtime weather forecaster (Sonny Eliot) and he made up his own weather words … he would say “snaining” … it usually snows when the Lions play the Packers and it is Monday night football at Lambeau Field.
It snows enough – you don’t need it in October for goodness sake.
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LOL – that’s a clever weather forecaster. Yep – I’m guessing there will be some flurries at the game tonight. I’m not ready for winter yet…!
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I don’t mind spiders oddly and yet I’m not too keen on the look of earwigs or, worse still, cockroaches. And I’m not keen on slugs either, especially when I’ve touched them by accident! The scarecrows look fantastic. 🙂
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Hi Clare – a few fellow bloggers have said how good spiders are, but I am not swayed (centipedes either) because they move so fast. I wish I was not afraid of them because I really go into panic mode when I see one in the house. When I was still working on site, I went in the suite early one morning and was making coffee and turned around to see one running up the wall and then across the kitchen counter – I am surprised I didn’t faint on the spot. I ran and got a shoe (always had spare shoes under my desk) and was ready to whack it, but knew I couldn’t do it if I missed and it ran and disappeared. Luckily my boss came in just then and killed it with a paper towel. I could not have stayed with it “at large”. I’m okay with slugs, even when I had them in the yard one year – they were eating everything around them! I liked this display too – I usually try to get scarecrow pics for my Fall posts if possible.
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I’m an Aussie, everything here is dangerous, well the creepy crawly kind anyway. Really enjoyable post and I remember Gomez and Morticia, and the Munsters and still laugh at some of the antics.
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I’ve not been to Australia but understand it is very beautiful. My boss went on a catamaran trip around the Great Barrier Reef a few years ago and showed me his photos – so lovely. The creepy crawlies would be worrisome to me there as well as here! I hate being afraid of creepy crawlies – I don’t like anything that runs faster than I do.
Amorina – I think the original “Addams Family” had a lot of fans – many bloggers have recalled that show with fond memories. It was clever and fun at the same time.
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If I tried to avoid walking into webs I don’t think I would ever go to the farm. I am ok with it but really don’t like the feel of them on my skin so long pants and sleeves are best.
We are getting ready for Halloween – we will be hosting a party again at the farm. If the weather is nice we plan to decorate a path through the woods and have a camp fire and straw bale castle for the kids to play in. We will have the barn decorated in case the weather is bad.
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That sounds nice and I remember you decorated the barn last year as you had pictures – first year for your barn. Is it on Halloween night Ruth?
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Our party will be on the 26th, the Saturday before.
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You will be able to show us pictures for Halloween then. 🙂
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That’s the plan. 🙂
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spiders can feel the cooler air and so seek out warmer places. They also follow the females who also head indoors. I would check your dryer vent outside to see If there is a screen over it? It most likely came in through the vent opening.
When hiking I get webs on me all the time. I’m probably a few pounds heavier coming back out!
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Tom Peace, the macro photographer also had a hint – he mentioned getting a metal door that goes over the dryer vent to thwart spiders coming in – that’s the first time I’ve seen this happen (that I know of anyway) – it made me feel a little sick as I always just grab the dried clothes and run upstairs and plop them on my bed to fold etc. If a spider went into my bed and I didn’t know it? Or I saw it and couldn’t catch/kill it? I have always been afraid of spiders and centipedes. Yesterday morning I found a centipede in my kitchen sink … I keep the drains closed, so that means it was “at large” upstairs … not happy. I shut the cellarway door and put a blanket at the bottom all year around so nothing comes upstairs from downstairs. P.S. – funny that the females seek the warm house first.
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If you put a few moth balls just inside the dryer vent the smell would be enough to stop spiders from venturing forth into your house I bet! You’d have to replenish next season of course but by putting them in there around August any spider searching for a home would think twice when they got a whiff!
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That’s an idea – I thought of the peppermint oil that Ann Marie gave me last year – she gave me that and some eucalyptus oil to put on cotton balls around the house but I wasn’t sure if putting the oil in there by saturating a cotton rag would start a fire. Maybe a mint sachet? Mothballs out to keep them out of there. My mother used to put mothballs around the back of furniture many years ago … don’t know if it was so moths would not eat the carpet? I never remember seeing a moth in the house. I have no idea why, except remember those peppermint candies … not Mentos, but round white mints that look like moth balls? My mother had them in a covered candy dish and I found what I thought was one of them when I was playing on the floor. I smelled it to see if it was candy (I hope I was not going to eat it but I was quite young) … so I smelled the stupid thing and it got stuck in my nostril … the mothball and that strong smell. Don’t ask me how or why that happened, but I know I got a lickin’ for being inquisitive and dumb. Never snorted a mothball again. 🙂
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The spiderwebs get me, too, Linda, when I’m leaving my house in the dark, heading out to work. It’s the worst!
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I wish I was not afraid of them Pam – it is a great fear I have. Spiders have always been a bugaboo with me (pardon that intentional pun).
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My youngest screams every time she stumbles upon one in the house no matter how small. 🤪
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Your youngest would get along with me just fine Pam. 🙂
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🥰😘
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