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Saturday, September 3, 2016

effing arachnids and cutesy video

Looks like I've been a neglectful blogger this week.  I'll blame the effing spiders!  That and maybe there just wasn't a whole lot of excitement around here...

As far as effing spiders go, I woke one morning and as the day progressed, I noticed itchy welts forming.  Four of them in total.  I concluded they were spider bites.  I'm not sure if one big spider bit me four times, four spiders each bit me once, or some combination in between.  I'd rather not think about it.

Two were on my inner right thigh, one was a bit below and to the right of my belly button, and the fourth one was an outlier on the back of my right shoulder.  I'm glad to say that the worst is behind me, and that it wasn't quite as bad as the summer of the bees, but memorable nonetheless.

Apparently, they weren't poisonous bites or I could possible be near death by now.  But they itched and got all swoll up, and I felt a bit deformed for a couple of days.  The one beneath the belly button caused the most freakish deformity - from the swelling and gravity, I assume, I was left rather asymmetric if y'know what I'm sayin'...

Thankfully, that's behind me, and I never saw nor felt the culprit(s), but clearly this is in retaliation for the spider spraying I do during the summer.  I don't kill them, I just blast the spiders and their webbery from the front porch and door.  On the one hand, I look at all the little morsels they've caught in their webs and am grateful that those things didn't make it into the house, but on the other, it makes the front door quite creepy and unwelcoming.

So I blast them away, and for a little while, we appear friendly.  Soon, they're back and rebuilding the webs and, apparently, infusing me with vengeful venom.  I keep hoping for super hero powers to come of this, but so far, I got nuthin.

In other news, it was bike jam day at the university this week to kick off another year of Pedal Perks.  I didn't get any freebies or participate in any contests, but I was there for the "campus cruise".  It's just a slow pack ride through campus for anyone who wants to go along, which effectively ties up any car traffic that happens to regretfully cross its path.  How could I not play along with that?

Last year, a couple of brave souls rode on the back of a small, unstable, no-handles towed trailer to shoot video footage of the campus cruise.  The result was this cute little feel-good production.  If you're observant, you might spot me in red and Alice as her typical photogenic self:


UCCS Bike Jam Fall 2015 from Rich Moricz on Vimeo.


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6 comments:

LL Cool Joe said...

Ouch to the spider bites. I do remember the Year of the bees too. What is it about you that insects find so appealing? Does anyone else in your house get bitten? Saying that I'm sitting here with about 30 bites myself.

Abby said...

I wish I knew what the bugs find sound attractive. No one else around here seems to have these problems. Must be the bugs are all sexist pig bugs, it's the only explanation!

ShadowRun300 said...

I could imagine you would drive yourself crazy if you thought about what the spider(s) were doing. As I told you, I can handle heights, but I'm terrified of spiders crawling on me.
Glad to hear they weren't poisonous, but sorry you got so swoll up.
I think I spotted you and Alice! But mostly I was looking at your surroundings. I miss the mountains.

Abby said...

Spiders are creepy, but don't necessarily freak me out like heights do. Still, I don't understand people who pay money for them to keep as pets!
The mountains are still here :)

agg79 said...

Didn't you get stung by a bee/wasp some time back that also caused some swelling? I've gotten a few bites as well out walking the dogs. Didn't see what hit me but they were all ankle biters and left their marks. I have no love for those arachnids, big or small. Especially those hairy. evil looking ones. Too bad Reese ain't around to take care of them for you.

Abby said...

Yes, the bees had their way with me a couple of memorable summers ago. I miss good old Reese. The cat kills plenty of things, but I guess he's not into bugs.