More on Fred

Katy thinks that Fred is a girl because of her web. That's what Mariana (housemate) thinks too. She calls it a "she." I said we should name it, since it's been there since September, and Mallory said Fred. Eh, I shrugged, why not? Even if she is a girl, she can still be Fred. It'll be short for Winifred, just like in "Once Upon a Mattress." I kindof hope it's not a girl because I don't want lot's of little Freddies crawling around either.

I already did look up poisonous spiders in the U.S. (bc Fred is stripey, and I heard once that stripeiness in insects and spiders indicates that they might be poisonous). The only poisonous species in the U.S. are the black widow, brown recluse, hobo spider, and yellow sac spider. It's not any of them, that I can tell.

Already I've gotten better with Fred, though. Some days I sit and watch him/her for a few minutes. One day he/she wasn't there, and I got worried. I thought we'd lost our Fred to old age and the bitter New England cold...which hasn't really come yet. How long do spiders live, I find I ask myself. How much time do I have left with this new reluctant friendship.

Time will tell. But I've gotten used to Fred's presence. She's welcome on that window. But like I said before, I'd prefer him/her to stay there. I have yet to see any bugs in MY room. Therefore, Fred's services are best put to use elsewhere. I don't want to wake up to find Fred lying in bed with me. We're just friends...we're not there yet. :P

PS: I put the pictures in to clearly demonstrate 1) Fred's scary size and 2) Fred's scary stripiness.