A love-hate relationship

My bow today has something that I was afraid of and fascinated by for a looooooong time.  This one made its debut on April 11th, but I'm only now wearing it.  I used to hate spiders.  Etsy shop is SweetAngelDreamBows.

My earrings also have spiders on them.  Etsy shop here is FullCircleGift.

Yes, I used to be TERRIFIED of spiders, and I still...when I first typed this up I hated brown recluses with a passion, but now I feel sorry for them.  But for awhile if I saw ANY spider it died, plain and simple.  The Who summed up my opinions in "Boris the Spider."

There he is wrapped in a ball
Doesn't seem to move at all
Perhaps he's dead, I'll just make sure
Pick this book up off the floor

I wonder if it hurt John Entwistle's throat to growl like that?  I know it would mine.  I wonder if John Entwistle was afraid of spiders?  He was the one who wrote "Boris the Spider," and it kinda sounds like he didn't like spiders much.  But anyway, my vitriol towards most spiders has cooled quite a bit, to the point that I'll let them crawl on my hands.  I still don't go out of my way to be friendly with spiders, but for the most part I leave 'em be instead of moving Heaven and Earth to kill them.  I've even grown quite fond of jumping spiders, as scientists think that jumpers possess at least some ability to reason, an incredible feat for one so tiny.  This video shows how a jumping spider uses several methods to outwit (and eat) a much larger species of spider.  Pretty wild!  If a creature that little is that bright, then it's got my respect.  Plus, I think jumping spiders are kinda cute with their big eyes.  Some even have iridescent jaws or dance like birds of paradise.  Further still, I've met a couple that were FEARLESS!!!  When I was in college I poked my finger at one to make her jump, but instead of jumping she spun around, raised her front legs, and bared her teeth like this!  I was...oh, I'll say maybe a hundred times bigger than her, but she came at me anyway.  I had a laugh and left her alone after that, and I don't recommend scaring the wits out of jumping spiders.  They're best left to their own rat-killing.

Alrighty, so jumping spiders are okay, but what about the others?  Well, I tolerate common house spiders (those creepy little brown ones that live everywhere they can) because they eat mosquitoes and gnats.  House spiders aren't as bright as jumpers, but I love how they can still take down and devour something bigger than they are.  I'm tremendously fond of wolf spiders, but I try to keep them out of my house because they can deliver a fairly sharp bite and my cats and dogs don't know better than to avoid spiders.  As for black widows, the ones that EVERYONE seems to fear, I would prefer that they stay out of my house (so far they've done just that), but as long as they don't surprise me they don't bother me.  But I won't have brown recluses in my house, not with animals about.  I usually kill those if I find them, but even then I try to be quick about it.  No use torturing the poor thing for being venomous and scary-looking.  Likely if I didn't have pets I'd leave 'em be because I'm smart enuff to know not to tangle with spiders, but my pets are not.  My boy cats are particularly snoopy, and if it moves they try to catch it, even if it's something teeny-weeny like a gnat or a flea.  They don't understand that brown recluses bite and their bites pack a wallop, so I try to keep the brown recluse population to a minimum in my house.  Unfortunately, I've seen and disposed of quite a few.  Like I said above, I try to be merciful when I do it.

What are your opinions on spiders?  Love 'em or hate 'em?

Hugs and cobwebs,
RagingMoon1987