Nothing to fear, but fear itself?

This may be true . . . . . most of the time. But what if there is really something to be afraid of? I was overcome by fear just the other day, more than I have felt in a long time. I try to control my fear, because as Yoda reminds us: “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." My fear is of something very small, but potentially very dangerous -- I fear spiders!

There is a special kind of spider that lives in the west called the Hobo Spider. It has the same kind of bite side-effects as a brown recluse (not found in the west). The bite can cause skin decay, nausea, and all sorts of lovely, graphic results. Anyhow, ever since we moved to the lower 48, I have done tons of research on these particular spiders -- so I would know what to look for. I am glad I was aware and did my research because as we were working in our backyard -- I found them! Yikes! I first found a female Hobo in a rock pile and I thought where there is one, there is probably more. Unfortunately, I was right! I found the lady's companion, an icky male Hobo. I squished them both (carefully) and saved them in plastic baggies, so I could practice my identification skills. I went on-line to my spider webpage, and I am almost certain we have Hobos. Yikes!

Picture below is of a male hobo spider, identified by the large palps (which look like boxing gloves) females do not have them.

That night as we were watching a movie, a spider (that looked very similar to our hobos, but much smaller) crawled across our floor. I calmly freaked out. We squished it and added it to our collection. Moments later I saw a big spider (not a Hobo) crawl out from behind the stove. We had seen some spiders in the house before this, but mostly little tiny house spiders, that I do not mind too much. This night was crazy. I felt real fear and anxiety beginning to take over. Fear began to take hold . . . anger, hate, and suffering.

Luckily, we have prayer! A powerful, spiritual anti-venom that can instantly subside the effects of poisonous fear! I can NOT imagine trying to survive without it! I was put at ease, regardless of the knowledge that dangerous arachnids were freely roaming around the outside, and perhaps inside of my home.

Prayer does calm the nerves, but in most cases (with the exception of miracles) we also have to do our part to contribute. For example, you cannot pray to be healthy and then surround yourself with sugar. We could not pray for the spiders to leave us alone, if we did not remove them from our property -- we were considering seagulls swooping in to save the day as an option. :-) So, after that spider-filled night, Charles and I did our very best at going into the yard and destroying the kinds of areas that our Hobo friends enjoy dwelling in. We found quite a few more, maybe 20 or so. Much like Anakin Skywalker and the Sand People -- we killed them all, even the women and children! (Can you tell we have been watching Star Wars?) :-) It was not out of anger and revenge, as it was for Pre-Darth Vader. It was fighting for protection of our home and family! Always a just cause! So we did do our part, and will continue to do so!

We had the hardest time sleeping for awhile. If the kids would squeak, or if we felt something crawling on us, we would wake-up and flip out. Luckily, their season should be over soon. They should die off -- thank goodness! By next year we should be able to rid of them for good!

May the Force be with us!