I HATE SPIDERS!!

So, I get home VERY late last night from the Harry Connick, Jr. concert, and I'm literally ready to fall right into bed. As I was pulling back the covers, I notice Pepper sitting on top of my dresser staring intently up into the curtains over the window (which, by the way are new - I put them up a couple of weeks ago, and I kinda love how they look. But, I digress.) She's not doing her normal "stalking a bug/wiggle butt" thing. She's not meowing loudly as she does when there's a shiny thing or reflected light just out of her reach. No, she's just staring. So, I go over to investigate - AND SCREAMED SO LOUD MY ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD HEARD ME, I'M SURE!!!!!!!!!!!!! There, in one of the the folds of the curtain was literally the biggest spider I have ever seen in person. It was easily 4 inches in diameter. Even as I'm typing this my hands are starting to shake at the memory. It was awful.

I grabbed Pepper and fled the room, racing down the hall to the kitchen, where I cowered for a few second to gather my thoughts. Pepper was ticked that I'd taken her away from what I'm sure she thought was an exciting new play toy and went running right back into the bedroom. After some deep breathing exercises, I decided a wad of Kleenex and a shoe were probably my best weapons, and I ventured back in, too. I'll just make a long story short and say that it turned out that this colossal spider could also jump. And I ended up chasing it allover my bedroom for nearly half an hour. There was no way I could let it go, or even let it out of my sight, because I knew there was no possible way I would ever be able to sleep in my bedroom again if I didn't know that the thing was destroyed. Finally, it made a dash for a tiny space under the baseboard near my closet, and to my astonishment, if managed to fit all 8 of its legs in there. I used a flashlight to look into the crack, and discovered that the floorboards stopped short of the wall under the baseboard, and there was a gap that I'm guessing leads straight down to the crawlspace under the house. EWWWWWW! A completely open access-point for every creepy-crawly in the world to get into my bedroom! The spider squeezed itself into this little gap and disappeared, so I'm guessing that's where it must have come from to begin with. I couldn't very well kill it at that point, so I did the only thing I could think of - stuff tons of Kleenex into the crevice between the floor and the baseboard, and then put duct tape over it to hold it in place. That sucker's not getting back into MY house! At least not that way! Feeling at least somewhat relieved (although, I had the nagging thought that there could be more of these things lurking in other corners of the house) I finally went to bed. Where I laid wide awake for the next 2 hours. I really, really hate spiders.

So, on today's to-do list is a trip to Lowe's to buy some sort of caulk, which I will use to fill every baseboard gap in my entire house before night fall. I need some sleep tonight!

Kitty Wars

I can't explain it, but whenever the temperature and humidity gets ridiculously high, Bailey decides its cuddle time. He's not an overly affectionate cat normally, but all of the sudden he's demanding that I sit on the couch so that he can sit on my lap, or he tries to sidle up next to me while I'm brushing my teeth. My favorite is when I come in from doing yard work, completely sweaty and disgusting, and he climbs allover me. Nothing better than a coating of kitty fur to round out the disgustingness! And its not just me - Bailey suddenly wants to cuddle with his sister, too. Sadly, Pepper does not react to the heat the same way. She likes to stretch out under a fan and generally stays away form everyone. Sometimes their two personalities clash. The clash is demonstrated above. Witness Pepper, happily sleeping on the back of the couch, near an AC vent. Then, witness Bailey moving in on the party and attempting to look comfy while barely clinging to a corner of the couch because Pepper refuses to move over. Also witness Pepper's pissed off expression. What I was not able to catch on film was a few seconds later when the all-out fight for couch-supremacy started. It was a short battle, and Pepper won. But that's okay, Bailey just moved over to my lap, where he's now happily generating heat.