Even though we are really still only in autumn, I decided recently it was time for a fire. We had had a couple of cold nights, almost frosts, and though it was quite warm outside during the day, the house just hadn’t warmed up. I had plenty of wood left over from last year, and plenty of kindling picked up (one of the joys of having eucalyptus trees in the yard, and nearby) and a friend had come round with some “inbetween” wood….bigger than kindling, but not as big as the really big stuff.
So I opened up the firebox of the heater, ready to set the fire. I was quite surprised to find two huntsman spiders in residence on the inside of the door. Quite large huntsman spiders. Now I’m not scared of them, but they are large, and they are hairy, and they will bite if they feel threatened….and I was going to have my arms within inches of them, putting the wood into the heater. Plus the fact that I didn’t think it was nice to close the door with them still on there, and have them cook in the fire. So I got the broom, and “encouraged” them to move. One decided to squeeze between the door and the airspace between the firebox and the outer casing of the heater. I thought oh good grief, I can’t really pull the heater apart and get it out, hopefully it will find a cooler spot and/or a way out. So it was on its own. The other one went to the side of the heater, and refused to move. It just sat there, and waved its legs at me whenever I tried to move it on and flattened itself up against the heater even more. So that one was on its own too.
I got on with building the fire, and started with the dried out leaves that fell from the eucalyptus tree. They make excellent fire starters, and placed on the kindling, then some of the bigger wood, and lit the fire and watched proceedings. It caught nicely, and I went out the back to get some bigger stuff for later. When I came back in I expected the spider to have moved off the heater, but no! Instead it was still there, but had “elevated” itself, so that only the tips of its feet were on the heater. It looked really funny and reminded me of the spiders from miniscule!
After a while the fire calmed down and I put some bigger wood on. The outside of the heater wasn’t quite so warm to the touch but the air around it stayed warm, and Gypsy and I were very happy with the heater. The spider must have been too, because he didn’t move, although by the next morning he had moved to the opposite wall. I have had the fire on a few times since then, and he hasn’t come back……
Mamaroo's Diary 