Everyone has something they're afraid of. Something they wouldn't want to find in their house in the middle of the night.
For Indiana Jones, it was snakes.
For me? Spiders.
I cannot stand spiders. I loathe them. I fear them. They make me go all shivery. I once refused to allow my boyfriend to touch me after he vaccuumed up a few spider eggs sacs until he'd washed his hands 97 times.
I've gotten a little better over the years.
I am now a trained spider killer and I kill on sight.
Now, you may be asking yourself why I'm posting about spiders on a liveaboard blog. It's an interesting question. And if you haven't spent much time in marinas you probably don't know that spiders love marinas and boats. Love them.
And if you don't keep up with them they'll take over a boat. And they'll go sailing. And they never flake the sails correctly.
Ahem.
So when I lived in DC, there was a serious spider problem at my marina and I purchased a corn broom from Wal Mart specifically for killing spiders and wiping away their webs.
Then winter came and the problem got a whole lot better.
Now that it's spring and I'm at the new marina in Baltimore, the spiders are back, pesky things.
Today, for instance, I went for a short afternoon sail with my pal Pastor Mark and my dad. And Mark points out a spider on the boom. So I take the winch handle (I'd just been tightening the jib, so it was handy) and swing it at the dangling spider... and throw the winch handle overboard.
Luckily it was the floating kind.
Also unluckily I don't have a net, so Mark did man overboard maneuvers, Dad grabbed my feet and I hung three-quarters of my body over the side and managed to snag the handle.
Unluckily I didn't kill the spider with the throw and Dad and Mark refused to let me try again with the winch handle.
So now, I must ask you, faithful readers, if any of you have any awesome spider repellent techniques. Do you? I hope so. Because there's a lot of spiders here and I have only so many winch handles I can throw overboard...
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Burn Baby Burn. Buy a flamethrower!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness - I'm sorry, but I am laughing at the mental image of the whole thing! My usual technique involves a shoe (or two if the spider is dangling), however my son has taken an interest in them, and likes to gather them on a paper or something so he can watch them before putting them back outside! eek!
ReplyDeleteInteresting.Are you afraid of giant centipedes, too? Midges? Punkies? No-see-ums? Roly-polies?
ReplyDeleteI suggest you form a twelve-step group. It did the trick for me--I was frightened to death of bacon, but now I can stand my ground and spit right in its eye.
There's a lot of good poop on spiders at http://www.pestproducts.com/spider.htm.
Find out what they eat and leave a little trail of it over to the hose-napper's boat.
Um, Hugh, flamethrower might damage my fiberglass, whatcha think?
ReplyDeleteAnd oh my gosh, One Christian Mom, I am sooooo glad I don't have little boys playing with spiders anywhere near me. I'd die.
And Dad... words fail.
Ally, So without so much as lifting a finger a solution for your plight has come my way through the last page of the May edition of imPractical Sailor. The 1st suggestion is to clean the infested areas with a solution of water and natural, phosphate- and clorine-free 20 Mule Team Borax soap (www.20muleteamlaundry.com). The 2nd suggestion was all natural and biodegradable EcoExempt IC2 concentrate or Dr. T's Cobweb eliminator available online. For a support group for DIY Pest controllers, see (www.domyownpestcontrol.com) and for arachniphobia see (http://community.livejournal.com/arachnophobia/profile). - Ray
ReplyDeleteWe aren't sailors, but we have a beautiful older Commander 410 and keeping the spiders off is a chore... no sooner have I walked the deck, decking every spider and wiping out every web I see, but by the time I've circumnavigated the whole deck, the pesky little stowaways have rebuilt! I've begged my husband to lug his power washer up on the flybridge to spray down the ceiling of the marina, but in the meantime, I bought a product that is a natural insecticide for use in homes (I think it is a Hot Shot product, and I got it at Lowe's.) It has a lemon grass oil base, smells great, and works!!! Spray it on the spiders, make sure you get a load of it on their backs, and they die. Still, it is a lot more fun to play batting practice with a Swiffer duster in the evening when the big ones are busy making new nests! Good luck with yours!
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