Yesterday Dalton and the neighbor boy had an Epic Spider Hunt in the house. They spent the entire afternoon tracking a wolf spider they found in the bedroom. This was literally hours of entertainment for them. Every time they found the spider, they would call me in to kill it. I told them no, I like wolf spiders and he was more than welcome in the house as far as I was concerned. I like spiders unless they are inebriated.
A couple houses ago, there was a giant wolf spider who lived in my kitchen. The first time I saw him, I tried to sweep him up and he ended up losing a leg in the Battle of the Broom. I can't remember where I put him, but he showed back up the next day -- seven legs and a sign saying "MannyRee's Kitchen or Bust." I had to let him stay after that, because there are laws about squatters and stuff; and rather than go through all the legal channels and possibly lose the house to a spider, I let him have the kitchen and named him Pete.
Pete was an awesome pet. I didn't have to feed or water him, and he made sure we didn't have flies. It was a pretty good arrangement, but he freaked everyone else out with his crazy spiderness paired with the horror-movie gait he acquired with the loss of his leg.
Pete lived in my kitchen for a very long time, and was the only thing left in the house when we moved. I like to think the new occupants have let him hang around.
My boys didn't think it was ok to let Pete Number Two live in their bedroom, so they tracked him down, jumped on the top bunk and screamed for me every hour for about four hours. They tried to Febreeze him, but Pete Number Two said "Not today, yo." Pete Number Two is my new best friend because anyone who can keep those two eight-year-old boys occupied inside the house for that long is pretty cool. Basically, Shucks is a crappy baby-sitter and just got replaced with a spider. Shucks is ashamed and moved under the house.
I'm looking to hire a squirrel to keep the girls occupied, and I'm working on training the killer dust bunnies to keep track of Donovan.
