Monday, June 8, 2009

Photos of My Phobia

I was cleaning stock tanks this afternoon and decided to move one that hadn't been used since wintertime to a different pasture area. Hubby had emptied it over a month ago and left it turned upside down. Now, I know better to be careful when I overturn anything out here on the wild plains of Kansas ... you never know what lovely variety of wildlife could be lurking underneath. Snakes are the common culprit, but they don't freak me out too much.

Anyway, as I grabbed the stock tank to overturn it, I gave it as large a berth as I could manage, just in case something decided to slither or run towards me. THIS is the last thing I imagined would RUN TOWARD ME. And yes, it ran TOWARD ME, not AWAY from me!!!! Before my photographer's brain clicked into place, I jumped 20 feet in the air and did the "OMG I think I just crapped myself" dance.

He (or most likely, she) immediately ran into the first crack that he came to -- so I ran to the house to get my camera, hoping he would stay in that crack. Huff huff puff puff... I am SO out of shape. This is the 2nd time I've RUN to the house to get my camera... the last time was the full moon several nights ago.

Here's a shot with my glove so you have an idea how big he/she was. I wanted it to come out of the crack so I could get a better picture, but at the same time I hesitated to agitate it... I had a quick vision of this thing running towards me and crawling up my pant leg and planting itself all over my face. I threw my glove several times and he didn't budge, so I picked up a pretty good size rock and rolled it towards him. As luck would have it, the rock ended up rolling right over him. I thought for sure that I had just squished him. Oops, sorry Mr. Spider. (but not really)

But no, he was fine... he just ran to another crack in the ground. (Can you see him just eyeballing me with those lil beady eyes?! Shudder!) Grrr, how was I going to get him to stay out in the open long enough for me to get some good pics of him??? I tried one more time with the big rock, rolling it towards him.... and finally, he ran out into the open and stayed there long enough for me to snap off two shots. That was it, and then he was back in another crack!

So, do we have any arachnologists out there? Can anyone tell me what kind of spider this was, aside from the uber-hairy and scary kind??!!

P.S. When I uploaded the photos to iPhoto and was looking at them (32 total), trying to decide which were the best to post, I kept feeling "things" on me, and wiping my arms, my back, etc....

20 comments:

  1. OMG! Susan EWWWWWE!! I got chills just thinking about it, the thoughts and description was bad, but to add pics. Your gonna give me nightmares!!!!! UGLY!

    I was reading your story to Andy and he really laughed at the moments when laughter was called for..he really enjoyed the story. It was almost over when I was telling him to bend down and look at the beady eyes and he did then he bit me in the arm, I thought I was going to crap MYSELF! I screamed and almost knocked myself off the chair! He said I scared you didn't I, you thought it was that spider, Butthead!

    Let us know what kind of ugly that was OK? Run Girl Run!

    Ps. Your playlist is exactly what I have on my IPOD!

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  2. Okay, I laughed like crazy over this because, even though I'm an entomologist (bugs) I would have done the very same thing.

    And I could be wrong, but it looks like a tarantula to me. (A spider is not an insect, so technically I shouldn't have to know what it is ... and besides ... I only like nice bugs, not ones that bite you, causing your face to turn blue and you to be pushing up daisies shortly after.)

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  3. thanks for the story and the cool pics

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  4. I don't know what kind of spider it is, but it's definitely big and scary! I wouldn't want it jumping out at me, that's for sure.
    Good job running for the camera and capturing some cool photos.

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  5. Great photos... You are brave as I would have done my best to high tail it away from there even if it meant losing my photo of the day opportunity.

    Thanks for sharing this, though, as I get to see another creature from a distance.

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  6. I don't know what it is...but I do know I don;t want to meet it!

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  7. I got the willies looking at these photos! His beady little eyes are going to give me nightmares!

    I admire your bravery in obtaining the shot! The things we do for our blogs. ;)

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  8. Tarantula!

    Spiders don't scare me.
    I wouldn't stick around to photograph a snake!

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  9. ewwww. That's so freaky. I'm feeling things crawling on me now!! ;)

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  10. I don't like spiders either, but it's good therapy to look at photos. When you make the shots yourself it must be devastating to the phobie. I look forward to see the next step. . .

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  11. Great story! I much prefer snakes over spiders!

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  12. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, I am not a fan of spiders....or snakes.
    Great photo's you got of it!!

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  13. What an entertaining post - I would lve to see the 'OMG I think I just crapped myself - dance'
    ... hilarious

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  14. I would have been jumping around and running too! So funny - but you got some great photos!

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  15. Just when I discover your awesome photography skills, you go and post something to scare me. EEK!

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  16. Holy smokes - that is some big, creepy bug-eyed spider! Love the shots of it!

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  17. Great Story And Fantastic Photographs !! You are Now Not An Amateur Photo Grapher But A Professional Photographer..Lovely..Also I Have Started My Own Website And Would Like You To Have A Look At It.I Would Love To Have Your Comments On That Also.Unseen Rajasthan

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  18. Yuck! Why did I have to scroll down to entries I missed this week! Nightmare city! Ewww!

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  19. Man, you weren't kidding. I'll keep my snakes and spiders, thank you. Good lord, yours are huge. My 4 year old will have to see these shots.

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I love all your comments, thank you!