The food chain

I am glad to be at the top of the food chain. Really have you thought about how lucky we are that we are not hunted and eaten by predators? I am however grateful for those hunters that live outside my back door. They have eight legs and eight eyes and really like eating flies and moths. Since I am not particularly fond of flies or moths I am happy to let these creepy crawlers eat them to their heart's content.

Last night my husband watched as a spider stalked and viciously attacked a poor innocent moth (har har) outside our back door. He watched as the moth was apparantly paralyzed for a moment while the spider tried to make it's way back to the moth. Alas, the moth got away. By the time he convinced me to go outside and take a look at this marvelous creature it had found itself a new target and was happily eating away. Just today I go outside to throw a stinky diaper in the diaper pail outside and I found this:

In case you can't tell from the picture that is a spider eating a fly.

Now before you go calling me a "spider lover" let me make it VERY clear that I hate spiders. If I find one in my house I will kill it without even thinking twice about it. Well I might think twice about which method I will use to kill it, the shoe or the vacuum (The vaccum, by the way, does not kill them. I discovered this after we bought our bagless vacuum with one of those clear canisters and the spider was STILL crawling around inside after he had been sucked up into the vaccum.)

Outside my house is a different story. I usually leave them alone if they are not "bugging" me. I think I now have a greater appreciation for spiders and the hard work they do to make our world a better place. Today I salute all spiders, big or small, who contribute their small part in freeing the world from bugs and other pests. Thank you!