{"id":5795,"date":"2013-12-19T08:03:27","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T16:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mixhart.ca\/blog\/?p=5795"},"modified":"2013-12-19T09:17:41","modified_gmt":"2013-12-19T17:17:41","slug":"black-widow-magnet-true-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/black-widow-magnet-true-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Widow Totem–True Story"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"widow\"<\/a>
Black widow found inside my daughter’s skate this past October\/13.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The black widow spider seems to be intent on becoming my totem<\/strong> (animal spiritual guide). I had yet another surprising encounter with one<\/strong>, while skating downtown on the outdoor rink (of all places).<\/p>\n

I often report on finding black widows in my home and blog or Facebook about\u00a0the experience. I discover black widows in my home and garage all autumn long. Sometimes, the spider is shockingly huge and Peter (husband) has squished one with a tennis racket before I can rescue her. Often I find them in dangerous places: making a web on the spindle of my toddlers crib<\/strong> (5 years ago), above the piano my children play daily, inside my daughters skate, etc. Living in the Okanagan Valley of BC keeps me black widow aware. I never put on a pair of skates or ski boots stored in the garage without checking for spiders first.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"witch\"<\/a>
For Halloween this year, I dressed up as a witch and the spider on my shoulder is my pet black widow named Scarlett–my medium.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am fortunate that I am a huge anachrophile. I find all spiders fascinating and beautiful. My children sometimes scream at the sight of the giant house spiders that roam our house. The house spiders are lucky; I let them live in my home happily, as they help control other, more obnoxious insect pests.<\/strong> I like to joke with my girls and say, “That one was big enough to have a tail!” \u00a0My kids know that they\u00a0don’t hurt a spider under my watch.<\/em><\/p>\n

However, black widows are something else. They are extremely poisonous.<\/h4>\n

Thus, I relocate the black widows into the forest behind our home.\u00a0Their venom is 15x more toxic than rattlesnake venom. Of course, they use only a small amount of venom in most bites–enough to kill a small pet but most adult humans survive the bite.<\/p>\n

But Sunday morning’s incident took even me by surprise. It was December 15, a beautiful sunny, warm winter day, perfect for a skate on the downtown out-door rink.<\/p>\n

I checked my children’s skates for spiders before I loaded them into the back of the car.<\/strong> Peter checked his. My skates were in a skate bag, all ready and waiting for me to grab and place in the car.<\/p>\n

As I sat downtown, on the skate bench, and pulled out my skates, I was surprised to find a large, dead, black widow in the centre of a web between my skate blade and skate boot.<\/strong> I flashed her around to show my astonished family. She was a healthy size, and her hour-glass abdomen shape was a deep burnt-orange colour. I tried to shake her and her web from my skate so I could put it on. Suddenly, the dead<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0black widow was alive! <\/strong><\/em>She\u00a0began to crawl up the skate to my hands. “She’s alive!” I screamed and dropped the skate into the grass (its mild in my city +3 C and the rink is artificially cooled). My brother-in-law says I danced a crazy jig as I screamed and tossed the skate<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In typical black widow form, she refused to leave her nest. I had to flick her from the skate with a stick but then she started climbing towards another skater’s empty shoes. I couldn’t live with myself if she hid in another skater’s shoes and bit them, so I had to find a longer branch and relocate the poor, cold dear.<\/p>\n

What is it with black widows and me? I never thought I’d be doing my spider relocation work this time of year.<\/p>\n

\"rock\"<\/a>
My black widow rock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The photo is of a rock I purchased from the Okanagan First Nation in Osoyoos, BC. I carry it with me as a symbol of one species from the natural world that seems to intersect with my world in a curious way. My life is destined to merge with black widows regularly,\u00a0it seems. I may not know why, but I like that a creature that represents powerful female energy found me. For more about unusual animal stories read A magic Cat Named Pyewacket<\/a>\u00a0and Wolves Don’t Bark<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The black widow spider seems to be intent on becoming my totem (animal spiritual guide). I had yet another surprising encounter with one, while skating downtown on the outdoor rink (of all places). I often report on finding black widows … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[2251,2250,2151,2056,126],"class_list":["post-5795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feminism","tag-animal-spirit-totems","tag-black-widow","tag-black-widow-spider","tag-black-widow-spider-okanagan","tag-spiders"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t