Monday, April 4, 2011

Long-Legged Daddy


There’s a daddy longlegs under the sink in my bathroom.  Most people would have long ago squished, sprayed, or vacuumed it up—or taken it outside into the yard.  I haven’t found it in me to do any of those things.  So I watch.  Like a gymnast, he twirls, stretches, wanders around in about a six-inch area.  I’ve never seen him leave his little haven.  I don’t know how he can survive.  I don’t know what he eats.  But I consider him my own personal “Nature Channel.”  He is fascinating.  He’s not harming me or anyone else.  I can clean around him with impunity and expect him to respect my need for minimal order in my bathroom.  Wikepedia tells me that these creatures—also known as harvestmen--are not spiders, but an order of arachnids (which I thought meant “spider”) that has been known to exist for 410 million years.  Evidently, people have been letting their daddy longlegs sit under their sinks for millennia. 

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