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Basement spiders, kitchen ants

The home has been invaded by insects.

A brown spider in the basement, crawling around near the back door on the boot rack.
Above is one of the spiders that I've been finding in the basement near the back door. My kitty has been vigilant on spider-watching duty, although she's a complete slacker on spider-eating duty.

What kind of spider is this? I'm not an expert on spiders. In fact, they kind of creep me out.

The kitchen has been invaded by small ants. We've laid out four ant traps, but I'm running out of patience with this whole "oh, they'll take the poison back to their secret ant lair and they'll all have a fatal feast" method. I don't want ants on my cutting board, dishwasher, countertop .. anywhere. It's kinda gross.

I've asked around and apparently this ant/spider thing is a springtime tradition in Halifax. The ants are just a little early this year. One feller told me that we'll be grateful for the spiders in about two weeks, when the blackfly invasion begins. That'll last about two weeks. And judging by the contents of our mailbox, we're in for a junebug invasion later. (The evidence is a mailbox full of last year's junebugs.)
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Comments

  1. JasonMay 1, 2009 at 2:42 AM

    oh gawd... the spiders were really bad in my house last spring. here's hoping they stay out of both our beds this year! blech.

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