Tarantula

Add the tarantula to the rancho’s indigenous species. Mrs. Charm saw a black one last night on the patio with a body about four inches long. It had just walked up out of the flower bed. She reached for a dust pan to smack it with but the attached broom fell down and the tarantula reacted to the noise by scurrying back into the bed.

So we looked them up on the Web and she was consoled to learn that they are rarely harmful to people and not aggressive–unless you’re a mouse, a lizard or a small bird. They’re even sold as exotic pets. In six years we’d never seen one in the back forty. Although the pool guy did report fishing a dead one out a few months ago, probably looking for a drink in the drought and apparently done in by the chlorine. I’ll have to be more careful pulling weeds in the future. I was already on the alert for snakes coming out in the spring warmth.