> > I find this story not in the least bit tragic; rather, it is merely proof positive that the best and only course of action when a spider makes itself known is to KILL IT!
>
> You're like my girlfriend. She lives in the countryside near Turin, so it's usual to see spiders of any size running and crawling in her garden or in her living room (sometimes also in the bedroom upstairs).
> She usually uses the vacuum cleaner to get rid of them...
>
> AP.

We live in the woods, about 4 miles out of town. Spiders are common here, but most of them are daddy longlegs. I don't bother the long-legged little fellers unless they get in my way. Then I take them by the leg and move them to a safer place. We have those big colorful writing spiders in the garden sometime. They are good bug control. I always heard that if they write your name, you are going to die, but unless your name is MWMWM you don't need to worry. I've also seen about a half-dozen black widows in the last 30 years or so. I always pat them on the head with a heavy object such as a sledge hammer or whatever is handy. We have those big soft brown spiders that look scary but are perfectly harmless. There are usually one or two that move into our den every year about this time. They run around the floor a lot, but I don't know what they are looking for. I usually find them dead in a corner somewhere about January. Sometimes I almost miss them when they are gone.
Howard