Wind was blowing rain into our living room window in loud sporadic sheets.  Sweet Little Miss Q was staring wide eyed as leaves ripped off branches and swirled away out of view.  Dense clouds turned the sun into a gray-blue twilight that lasted from dawn to late morning.  Only poultry remain on the farm as the butcher has come and our pastures recover over winter.  Though we are striving to have breeding livestock year-round, I’m not upset that I don’t have to water hogs, chase sheep, or mend fences today.  I will watch the storm and maintain caffeine levels.
Coffee is a food group on days like today.  I need the energy to continue the battle against spiders attempting to colonize my home.  Spiders of all shapes and sizes have decided that our humble abode would be the perfect place to nest.  I’ve found them in boots, blankets, beds, toilets, you name a room and I’ve likely chased a spider there.  My methods of removal vary based on my level of horror: when a choice specimen was crawling up the chest of my 15 month old I squished a quarter sized arachnid with my thumb and forefinger, when one crawled out of the towel drawer in the kitchen the weapon of choice was a cheese slicer, and when one dropped onto me in the shower I’m not sure which karate chop move did the trick but only one of us walked out alive…
The farm is a horror show in terms of spiders, webs and their ability to get in or around my hair or on my baby. I don’t mind spiders, they are important to food-webs and I am in awe of their natural ability to spin silk art.  But I pity the spider who chooses to jump from the chicken coop door onto Little Miss Q or flies through the air to land on my head… “oh was that an alder cone falling from that tree?” NOPE.
A few fun facts about spiders from Random History: 
1)There are typically 1 million spiders in 1 acre of land
2)Spiders are not only pollinators of plants but support bird and small animal diets
3)Spiders help control insect populations (which is increasingly important for years like 2015 when insect populations boom, thus negatively affecting food crops, timber production, and other environmental sectors)
4)Some of the most deadly spiders in the world include black widow and brown recluse (both of which have been found in the Pacific Northwest).

So, though I love spiders and all the work they do, I will fight the good fight to keep them out of my house and off my baby. If that includes squishing a quick little spider with the baby monitor as I write blog posts- so be it.

     
Little Miss Q watching the storm