Spider In The Window

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I looked at the outside temperature. Nine degrees Fahrenheit (-12.7º C). I had to bundle up for the cold walk to the mailbox. I put on a heavy shirt and a winter coat. I marched down to the mailbox hoping there would be something in the mail to reward me for my frozen hike. I slipped the key in the lock, opened the box, peeked in and found nothing. The third day of no mail at all. Well, at least it’s good for me to get outside and walk around so in a way it was worth the outdoor excursion. I got back to the house, inside, took off my coat and heavy shirt. Then I noticed something in the big living room window. I took a couple of steps towards the window when I realized it was a spider. It’s not unusual to find a spider or two in the house. I don’t think there’s a house anywhere without a spider or two in it. As I approached the window I realized the spider was not in the house–it stuck to the outside of the window. I thought the poor thing must be dead. After all it got down to minus ten degrees Fahrenheit (-23º C) earlier in the morning. I stared at the spider. I couldn’t tell if it was a hobo or just a regular house spider. I put my finger on the window to see if it would move. It did not. I snapped the window with my finger. No movement. The spider had its legs slightly folded in like most spiders do when they die. I stood there thinking about putting my hand on the window to see if the heat would penetrate through the glass. I was just about to put my hand on the window when the spider moved. Well, I don’t know if it actually moved because what it looked like was it lost its grip on the window and fell. On the way down it hit the small outside ledge of the window sill and bounced outward away from the house into the snow. One thing about these cold spills is they tend to kill a lot of bugs and spiders. If we have several fairly warm winters in a row then come spring and summer there are a lot of bugs and spiders. A winter with extremely cold days tends to lessen the amount of insects we get come spring and summer. A cold winter won’t kill all the bugs and spiders, just lessen them. The thing is, if the spider was inside the house, it would be dead meat. If I see a spider outside, that’s fine. But any spider I see inside the house is toast. (I had better decipher this for any one whom English is a second language. What I mean by “dead meat” is I’ll kill it. Using the word “meat” does not imply I’ll eat it. The word “toast” used here only means I will kill–not put it in the toaster and toast it.) Here’s a little spider song for your enjoyment: