Why run with the crowd when you can run around in circles?

Sunday, April 05, 2009


Has anyone noticed what’s been missing from the house?

Spring is the time of year that war is waged against spiders, as they move up from their down low winter hideouts and build webs in the corners of the ceiling. Most of my friends’ houses are usually lively with spiders, but not this year.

At first I thought this might mean no spring, but no, the grass is turning green, night temps are above freezing, the toads are horny, there’s above average roadkill. Spring is here.

Yesterday I de-cobwebbed my own house for the first time since moving here in the fall. Being such a country abode, the house would normally be overrun if I ignored the arachnids all winter.
Not only were there no new webs, but the ones hanging from the rafters were very old and dusty, obviously having been abandoned some time ago.

Not one spider egg to be found in anywhere.

I’ve heard about the disappearance of bees and the decrease in bird populations, but where have all the spiders gone? Methinks of that line from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “goodbye and thanks for all the fish.” Are the smarter creatures migrating to a new planet? And how will future generations explain about the birds and bees if there aren’t any?