Celebrating my Friends

I love it when my friends have good news to share, and earlier this week I received this press release from Slim Randles:

Albuquerque-based writer and former mule packer Slim Randles will receive The Rounders Award at a reception October 16 at Governor Susana Martinez’s residence in Santa Fe. Named for the classic novel by Max Evans, The Rounders Award is given by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture to “individuals who have lived, promoted or articulated the Western way of life.”

 Former recipients include artist Grem Lee, novelist Max Evans, musician Michael Martin Murphey and humorist Baxter Black.

 Randles, whose weekly column “Home Country” reaches 2.2 million readers in 44 states, is also the author of nine books, including the national award-winning “A Cowboy’s Guide to Growing Up Right.”

  Also receiving the award this year is Santa Fe-based art dealer and raconteur Forrest Fenn.

Slim Randles

Since Slim has been so generous in sharing his columns with us, I thought it only fitting that we celebrate him today. This is quite an honor and so well deserved.

This has nothing to do with celebrating friends, but I laughed out loud when I read the following in Louise Penny's first novel Still Life.  A witness is explaining his aversion to violence to Inspecter Gamache and says, "I'm not a brave man, I'm afraid, but I can't tolerate killing. Killing anything. I have spiders in my home with names."

While I have learned to be more tolerant of spiders since I moved out to the country, I draw the line on naming them. Although our daughter once named a spider that built a home on her porch. Our grandchildren were young at the time, and our daughter used the presence of the spider as a science lesson, letting the kids chronicle the life of the spider as she spent the summer with them, laid eggs, and then went to spider heaven. Yes, that's what she told the kids. (smile)

Have you ever named a spider or any other bug? Do you run in terror from anything that creeps or crawls or flies too close?

Spiders? I'm not Afraid of Spiders

Today being Halloween Eve, if Halloween is important enough to have an Eve, I thought I would have some fun with spiders... er, I mean about spiders. I'm not nearly as terrified of them as I used to be, but still, there are limits.

I thought about doing this blog the other day when I took this picture. This spider has lived outside one of my kitchen windows -- outside being the operative word here -- since early spring. I have watched it since it was a tiny thing as it grew, caught bugs, repaired its web, and laid a jillion eggs.

I had no idea one spider could make so many little spider egg bags. I counted at least twenty on the eave above the web.

Since moving out to the country, I have had to become much more tolerant of insects and other creatures than I used to be, but it took a while before I could become comfortable letting a spider keep its home in my garden or around my house. I grew up with a father who was terrified of spiders and I learned his lesson well.

Once, when I first moved to Texas and knew I was going to die from having a huge tarantula bite me one day, I had to call my neighbor - a native Texan - to help me with this spider I saw on the room divider by my front entry. Mind you, I was a good 25 feet away in the entry to my kitchen, frozen in fear.

I kept trying to be brave enough to cross that line between my kitchen and my living room so I could face this monster alone, but my feet wouldn't move from tile to carpeting. So I had no recourse but to call my neighbor to save me. A few minutes later, she came in the back door and asked me where the spider was.

"Up there," I said pointing to the divider. "At the top of that post."

She walked over, looked around, then reached up. "You mean this?" she asked, pulling down a piece of tinsel left from Christmas decorations the month before.

Gulp.

I am proud to say that I am not nearly as phobic now, but I do draw the line on the spiders invading my house. As I write this, my husband is vacuuming two spiders out of the bathtub for me.


What about you? Are you afraid of spiders? Have any funny stories to share?