Thursday, September 07, 2006
(Not so) Itsy bitsy spider
I've shared with some of you about the creepy crawlies and creatures of the night that I encountered while visiting Double Harvest in June. These include a giant moth, baby lizard, tarantula, rats, cockroaches, geckos, and other misc bugs & spiders. Please note that I do not find all of these creatures to be gross. In fact, as many of you know, I actually like bugs and strange animals... just not when they threaten to crawl on me while I'm sleeping. You have to draw the line somewhere!
However, I do have a special aversion to the arachnid family - otherwise known as creatures with 8 legs. 6 legs - no problem! 100 legs - great! 8 legs - see ya later!! One particularly geeky night during my college years, I even calculated a formula, complete with theorem, explaining why spiders are creepy, and how you can measure their scariness factor. Sadly, this is true.
Unfortunately, due to the arid, tropical climate in Haiti, tarantulas are prevalent. The good news is that, for the most part, they only come out at night and they avoid humans. The bad news is that those facts don't make me feel any better. So after returning from my June trip, I purchased a rather large, stuffed tarantula to become more accustomed to them. It took me a while to get comfortable touching it but now I force myself to do so on a regular basis. I don't know if it has helped and I don't really want to find out! Please pray for God to take away my fear of spiders. (Yes, I'm totally serious.)
The Spalding Family is so great too. I requested that, upon my return, the place where I will be staying is fumigated - that I would rather breathe carcinogenic air for a couple months than have to worry about stuff crawling on me at night. Imagine my surprise and delight when Arthur mentioned that they had already begun the fumigation process weeks ago! Not only that, they've been killing off some of the rats too.
Here's the rat story from Marty Dittmar, who was down at Double Harvest last week: "We were digging a ditch about 50 yards from this spot to bury the new internet cable from the new satellite dish that Double Harvest put up. There was a huge commotion, yelling, running, etc....we ran over to see all the Haitians chasing this HUGE rat. Now a dead rat. Boy oh boy are they big there! :) Ughhh! Had to take a picture. I didn't ask Creche to hold the thing, but he did and I snapped it!" Editors Note: I'm not so sure that rat is dead - I mean, it's looking right at the camera!
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# posted by A*Dub @ 4:51 PM 
