inside spiders

My mother and I have a huge difference of opinion.  I think spiders are a wonder of nature everywhere they are found.  My mother believes they were created to make wet spots on rolled-up newspapers.

While I was getting ready for bed, I glanced up into a corner of the bathroom and noticed a rather large spider -- inside an even larger cobweb -- going about her duty of catching the mosquitoes who have not succumbed to my serial Raid attacks.

There is a second mosquito trap in the corner of my living room.  But they are the only two spots where spiders have taken up long-term residence.  The living room web is pictured at the top.

Living in the tropics is nice.  Living with bugs is not.  Especially mosquitoes and no-see-ums -- those nasty little flying midges that leave welts larger than any mosquito has ever dreamt of.

I have an incredibly nice garden where I live.  It is cool and shady all year long.  But it is also sanctuary to things that go bite in the night.

The house has screens on all the windows.  They do not slow down the midges.  And there are gaps that allow more mosquitoes to slip in than illegal immigrants crossing the Rio Bravo.

An additional population slips in each week when Dora leaves the front door open to air out the place.  The insects accept it as our own little Open Borders policy.

Thus the Raid plug-ins.  The Raid air dispenser.  The endless artillery of Raid aerosol cans.  I am surprised that anything moves in this house.  Including me.

Even so, some of the insects manage to escape death by gas.  And that is where the two spiders come in.  Looking at their webs, they are certainly earning their rations. 

And, inside my house, the enemy of my enemy is my ally.

I have never discussed the spiders with Dora.  Maybe she is so fascinated with keeping the floor clean that she does not bother to look at the ceiling.  But those cobwebs have been there since I moved in four years ago.   Most likely, populated by several generation of spiders.

Or maybe she knows they are there and that they are welcome guests.  Anything that keeps me from welting up is going to have a place of honor in the house.

I wonder if either one Knows Peter Parker?