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Blog Entry 25 of 35 The Narrative Opinions of Artica Burr

I'm a Buffalo native and author of fiction. I do like to spin a yarn so -dunno, dunno, if I'll deal you fact or fiction when I blog. To be honest as a spring breeze there is always a shred of truth. Up to YOU to find it! Oh, and skip my blogs if you lack humor or varied subject matter. Like it or not I think in what some call Narrative Verse. My pen name is Artica Burr, my Buffalo born name Cheryl Hugenschmidt, my married name Cheryl Goodrich, and my educational web site is located at www.articaburr.com Now you are fair warned! From time to time I address a more serious areas of concern. Might I mention there is no way to minus rate me!

Blog Url: http://buffalo.yourhub.com/~ArticaBurr

Gossip About the Black Widow

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Contributed by: Artica Burr on 8/2/2008

Ah the Black Widow.She spins her web, mates and devours.It has become a classic expression about flashy widows whose new husbands meet an early demise. It's the fodder of mystery writers. But let's smell the coffee here, it is also a real venomous spider. A glance at the map is an eye opener. There are some subjects not addressed during the norm of social exchanges. Here's one -spiders. Specifically let's talk about the Black Window Spider, and above all let's show our children a picture of it so they too are forewarned. Some children are facinated with insects. The Black Widow can be deadly in some situations despite treatment available. It is the female that is venomous.

I managed to acquire quite an education on my trip to the Lone Star State, some of which does apply to life back here in Buffalo. My first encounter with the Black Widow was at my daughters in San Antonio. Apparently these poisonous spiders respect no social barriers. Plain as day, beside her back door, big as life, there was a plump female Black Widow. They normally traverse the night but it was hot and I had hosed the porch and rinsed the wall to cool things down.She must have been hiding in a crevice.I delivered a quick hello with the sole of my shoe.

My daughter had mentioned the exterminater found some young ones on her lawn chairs after a nest dispursed in a tree. They were small and taken care of, or so we thought. I got curious and looked them up on the internet and discovered they can hatch 750 eggs. This is not a comforting thought. I took cursory note until I saw the map. We too live in the territory they call home. It was then that I made sure exactly what they looked like.Two days later there was the mother of all the demised baby spiders by the back door. She had the tale telling three red dots. Thered hour glass markings are on the reverse side. The lower body was very round, black, shiny and smooth.

When I think of all the times I work without gloves on outdoors... reaching under bushes..and in the garage. I camp so I'm glad I now realize they could be anywhere in shrubs.The web might be the only clue. It is not the lovely dew dripping Disney type web. It's rather sloppy and dense and can include a cotton type bag in the web which they sleep in during the day. I had been away for two weeks and returned to find - let me choke this out - you guessed it, exactly that in the bush by my own back door. They are more likely outside but do come inside and target unfrequented places. They will spin a web outside a window or door because lights attract insects at night which is this spider's feeding time.

To quote my daughter's exterminator, "They are"only fatal if you are allergic to their bite and you would not know until bitten. Existing health problems can come into play". Oh great. Reaction symptoms are numerous and I recommend you look this up on the internet. There is a wealth on informaton out there.

For information about the Black Widow Spider http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-Fact/2000/2061A.html

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