Arachnophobia

This photo has been cropped and enlarged several times. Even though the spider appeared willing to be photographed, I was unwilling to get too close to it. But this is approximately the actual size of the spider running loose in my garage. And although it would fit inside my humane bug trap, the thought of getting that close to this spider--well, it was just way too icky! The technical term for my avoidance.

I purchased the humane bug trap, shortly after I had a monstrous wood spider enter the house a few years ago. Incidentally, that wood spider would not have fit inside the trap. I am not exaggerating. I used a vacuum cleaner hose to trap that monster. And then I quickly took the vacuum cleaner outside, placing it on my porch, where it remained for several months. Again, I am not exaggerating. I have more than one vacuum cleaner, you see. Fortunately, my arachnophobia has gotten better over the years--otherwise, I do not think I would have lasted living in the woods this long.