A quickly moving box (head) gathers no spiders...

Whew. Just coming up with that title took a round out of me!

Okay...the latest in the spider saga.

I have a few remaining trips to the old apartment to take care of the two cupboards that somehow didn't concern me two weeks ago when I actually had a moving crew and boyfriend around to help. Well, tomorrow is the last day of the month - a fact that started to concern me this weekend, and the juicer, kettle, and cleaning products under the sink started to worry me.

You KNOW what happened with the spider this weekend. I still haven't forgotten his soft touch on my right cheek, and I dreamt of him all night after our encounter. That sounds romantic but it was really horrific, as I am sure you can imagine spider dreams are to an arachnophobe.

I had planned on parking in the alley and using the back door but spotted a tow truck prowling in the area. I did NOT want to give him the satisfaction (or commission) by giving him a reason to take my car away, so decided to park on the street and face my fears, and my new creepy crawly tenant.

Our initial encounter happened when I casually sauntered through the front door, so rather than opening it up and just walking in, I unlocked the door, took a deep breath and kicked it open. The effect, to passersby, must have been like the Buffalo Bill at the OK Corral. All I needed was to draw my pistols.

The door, being spring loaded, just slammed back in my face.

And I was still too scared to go in.

"Wait!" I exclaimed out loud.

"What is this in my hands?" I asked myself.

It was a big cardboard moving box.

And again, to passersby, it might have appeared unusual but to me at the time this made perfect sense...I put it over my head and shoulders and entered, prepared for spiders to rain down from the heavens. I carefully pushed my way in against the heavy door, got past the wall into the empty apartment, whipped around to the window blinds where spidey was last seen, threw the box down behind me and yelled, "HAH!"

I backed away from the blinds carefully, scanning the expanse for my little multi-legged friend. It occurred to me that in a good horror movie, I would back right into him, hanging in wait for me by a long string of web.

I gasped, whipped around and faced...nothing.

Whew. I have to go back today and am not quite sure what I will do or wear yet. I might just take a friend and have her go in first...