Differences Aplenty

I chatted recently with one of my Aussie coworkers about my spider encounter. As you can imagine, he had much more impressive stories to tell. I will admit I was wowed as much by his "no worries" attitude as I was by the story. I know I would be incapable of that same nonchalance. Matt bought some property south of Newcastle and the previous owner was a hoarder. I guess Matt's property has lots of areas to clean up and he is getting to it as he has time. One day he was running the chain saw to clean up some logs and realized at some point that his thigh was swelling. Since Aussies are experts on spiders, he decided that since he didn't feel the bite it must have been a white-tail spider.

Eric and I recently picked up a free card with pictures and descriptions of some of Australia's spiders on it. It has a handy magnet on the back so we have it on our refrigerator so we can learn what to watch for and to be horrified daily at some of these creatures. The card has three categories: (1) Dangerous and Deadly; (2) Venomous - Poisonous - Painful Bite; and (3) The Low Risk Spiders. Even one of the "Low Risk" dudes has a description of "mildly toxic". Excuse me, how is that "low risk"?

Just so you know, my Huntsman Spider (who has been named Charlotte by Isabelle) was in the "Low Risk" category. On the other hand, Matt's spider was in the "Dangerous and Deadly" group. Matt described how his thigh where the spider must have attacked was raised by 3-4 centimeters. I was just beginning to picture this inch and a half high or so of swelling when he went on to say how later his skin there was kind of dying off and peeling and pretty much being altogether gross. What blew me away was this whole thing did not cause him to go scurrying off to the doctor at a speed-limit ignoring pace. If I surmised I had been bitten by a white-tail spider I would read the description on the card, and I quote, "May cause horrific ulceration to skin of sensitive people" and make a beeline (or should it be spiderline?) to the doctor. Well now I'm back to that shivering that I thought I was getting over since Charlotte has been notably absent.

I guess Matt has lots of spiders at his place so it's just business as usual. It suddenly occurred to me that he has a young boy and how in the world can the poor kid play in the yard? Matt explained that you just have to teach them to check their toys before they start playing with them, call for Dad right away if you see one and don't get near it, and always shake out your shoes. I don't really have any toys to inspect and there's no one to rescue me at the moment, but you can be sure I'm shaking out my shoes if I leave them outside. Actually, I'm beating the crap out of those things before I put them on because if there's a clingy spider in there, I want to whack it into unconsciousness so it'll come out of my shoe when I move onto shaking it. Silly overkill you say? Not to me!