The other day one of my coworkers was showing pictures of his garage remodel. It was a beautiful, fancy space that I would have felt guilty driving a car into. I think his garage is bigger than my entire condo!
My very first thought, which fortunately I was able to refrain from asking, was, “Where do the spiders live?”
Growing up, and even as an adult, every garage I ever had was unfinished: no drywall to be found and with exposed beams all around. It gave more depth for storing stuff, and to me it simply was how garages should be.
In those little alcoves lived the spiders. My Ma taught me that spiders eat bugs that we don’t see, and we should leave them alone. Daddy Long Legs in particular were our friends, even when they chose to live in the house.
Being a Southern California gal, I grew up with a healthy respect for the black widow spider.
I saw several growing up, mainly in the garage.
A couple months ago, DH2U and I were doing some work in the garden (a huge treat for me lately!) when I exclaimed, “A black widow!”
“Where?”
“There.”
“Ummmm. Please point. ‘There’ is not specific enough.”
He had never seen a black widow before, having grown up in a very different climate. After looking at it for a while, we kept our respectful distance and continued gardening.
As I was asking permission to use the story for this post, DH2U pointed out that I’m good at using pronouns without explaining their antecedents. My response: “I know. It is part of my charm!” Fortunately we both laughed at that!
Survey – Garages: Finished or not? or Am I the only one that reacts so calmly to poisonous spiders? (It would be so different if one were climbing on me!)
Grown Up, Now What? 
I’m calm with spiders, but I think I would react differently if they were poisonous. Yeah, that would be different. I mean, after all – they’re poisonous. Well, I guess if you respect them and don’t mess with them, you’ll be fine. It’s kind of like how I respond to snakes. Some people freak out about them, but I react calmly – but only for the non-poisonous ones yet again.
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You have such a common sense approach. I know snakes and spiders tend to freak a lot of people out. Snakes to me are a bit creepy, mainly because they don’t have legs. If it doesn’t have legs, it shouldn’t be able to move that fast!
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I react calmly to spiders, and like you, just work around the black widows. We have quite a colony here, which surprises me, because I always thought they were solitary. Anyway, they behave themselves. I get a little freaked out when big weird bugs that I have never seen before jump right on me though: http://olderthanvintage.blogspot.com/2013/08/sometimes-nature-is-too-much-even-for-me.html
Growing up (also in CA), our garage was partially finished but we had an unfinished cellar – no walls, ceiling, or even a floor, so it was full of interesting critters.
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I can’t believe you had a cellar in California! They are mythical creatures like unicorns.
That was one creepy bug to have on your face. I would have panicked with something like that on me as well. On a plant, it is beautiful.
I didn’t know black widows could kill scorpions! They have become even cooler in my mind.
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I have an ignorance about poisonous things that keeps me from reacting with alarm when I see them. I simply stay away from any and all spiders, snakes, and even rodents. What? Mice can be poisonous if they eat rat poison, can’t they?
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I think your “stay away” strategy is very smart. If you respect all snakes and spiders, you don’t have to worry about getting bit.
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