Troubles in Paradise

It truly is beautiful here and I love it and would be so sad if I had to live somewhere else. The weather is great, and while most of the country is literally frozen we are enjoying a brisk 70 degree day with only a few light showers. But there are some serious drawbacks to living in Hawaii. Cost of living, distance from family, home prices, etc are all somewhere on the list. But for some of the creepier problems, a picture is worth a thousand words.



Yes, that is a quarter next to it. Meet the Hawaiian Cane Spider, aka Heteropoda venatoria. I'm delighted to say this fine specimen was not found in our home but was instead discovered by one of Jay's co-workers, who captured it and gave it to Josh. He's got great "boy" instincts. Josh instantly christened it "Webby" and even took it to school for show-and-tell, where it was much admired by the four-year-old crowd.

I hate these things. The area we live in was once agricultural land, used primarily for growing sugar cane and pineapples. These spiders abounded, hence the name "cane spider." There are enough left around to occasionally freak people out, but I have only seen them in the house twice. Once in our third story, newly built and supposedly well-sealed apartment, and once lurking on a Tupperware lid in my Dad's kitchen. Both of those were smaller than this one, but the fact that they were free and jumping around the house made them much scarier.

Halfway through writing this I started to think of what people in other states deal with -- rattlesnakes, Brown Recluse spiders, bears, coyotes, angry moose, etc. So I guess this little guy isn't much to complain about. But that doesn't mean I'll be happy if I ever find one lurking in my linen closet!