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Wednesday, August 18, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
City of Sisters awards
community grants
Tales from a
By Sue Stafford
Sisters
Naturalist t
Correspondent
by Jim Anderson
An eight-legged
ed
wonder
For over 50 years I9ve
been watching for the giant
European house spider to
show up somewhere close by
so I could shoot photos of it
and share it with all you won-
derful people.
Wouldn9t you know, when
it did show up, it was right in
my very own bathroom here
in Eugene. A huge, mag-
nificent, eight-legged giant,
right there on the wall in the
narrow space between the
shower stall and bathroom
inner wall. You couldn9t miss
it 4 it measured more than
2.5 inches across. What a
beautiful beast! It looked like
a skinny tarantula.
But the space it was occu-
pying was so small, I couldn9t
get in to photograph it.
<Sue!= I shouted. <Please
bring your camera, there9s a
giant house spider here that I
need photos of&=
My wife, Sue, is more
than the chief cook and bot-
tle washer in our home; she9s
my boss, my dietician, helps
me cope with my heart and
back issues, tells me what I
can 4 and cannot 4 do, and
she is an excellent photog-
rapher. Without that beauti-
ful woman and Franny of
Hospice, my goose would be
cooked.
Sue came running into
the bathroom, camera in
hand, and with a lot of diffi-
culty, shot the photo you see
above. She couldn9t get close
enough to the beautiful beast
to get the close-ups I needed
of the spider9s eyes for posi-
tive ID.
It9s the arrangement and
makeup of those eyes that
PHOTO BY SUE ANDERSON
They don’t come any bigger around here! The giant European house
spider.
drives the scientific commu-
nity nuts. For what it9s worth,
the giant house spider actu-
ally is known by three names
because of the eyes.
The World Spider Catalog
settled on: Eratigene atrica,
Eratigene duelica, and
Eratigena saeva. Then, in
2013, the scientific com-
munity decided to let it go
with just the genus name
Eratigana. But in 2018 it
went back to the three old
names. Thank goodness we
have a common name that
fits its size and description.
So I took what Sue did
get of the amazing spider
and I immediately sent it
on to my dear entomologist
pal, Eric Eaton (who has just
published a great book on
wasps), and asked him if my
take, or rather, Sue9s <take=
(pun intended) of the spider
was who I thought it was.
And he agreed.
Now, before you make up
your mind to smash that huge
spider to tiny bits 4 if and
when you see one 4 let me
tell you it can9t kill you. The
venom of the giant European
house spider is not harmful to
you, me, or your kids.
Sure they have venom;
all spiders possess venom.
But this one is not harmful
to humans, and it9s not ambi-
tious about biting big things;
it would rather eat small
insects and run and hide
when spooked by something
like a human, dog, or cat.
How did they get here
from Europe? I have a hunch
they arrived inside some-
one9s trunk that sailed here
Kiwanis Club of
Sisters would like
to thank all of the
sponsors who made
this year’s race
a success!
Hoodoo Ski Resort •Therapeutic Associates Inc.
Dr. May Fan • Sisters Saloon and Ranch Grill
David & Laura Hiller • Bruce Rognlien • Berni Huggett
Jan & Hank Failing • Lance & Suzy Ramsey • Lairds
Taylor Tire Center • Bob Grooney • John Meyers
Green Ridge Physical Therapy • St. Charles • Bedouin
Step & Spine Physical Therapy • Momentum Promo
https://sisterskiwanis.org/runtothetop/
way back when.
To make you feel better,
there are only two spiders
you have to worry about
if you find them in your
home. One is the infamous
and dreaded black widow,
who probably has been with
us since spiders first began
to walk on Planet Earth. It
likes quiet, dark places, like
basements, crawl spaces,
under wood piles, and in old
badger holes. All you have
to do is stop moving if you
run into the widow9s web.
It9s so strong it crackles like
glass when you go through
it. Look around you and then
slowly back out of it and
don9t go back.
I have been told the
silk of the black widow is
extremely strong. In fact, it9s
been said all the cables on the
Golden Gate Bridge could be
replaced (by weight) with
black widow spider silk, if
you could arrange it, and
they would be stronger than
ever. Imagine how beautiful
that would be as well!
The other spider to watch
out for is a visitor from
California and places back
East: the little brown recluse,
aka violin spider, Loxosceles
reclusa. There9s nothing
really different between
the violin spider and oth-
ers except the violin-shaped
mark on her cephlathorax
(the cover over her middle);
it stands out like a sore thumb
on most 4 but unfortunately,
not all 4 of them.
That little gal has a very
See GIANT SPIDER on page 11
The Sisters City Council
awarded community grant
funds in the amount of
$20,000 to 17 of 23 appli-
cants. The funds are to be
used by nonprofits and other
entities providing projects or
programs in the Sisters area.
Grants were awarded
for the purpose of meet-
ing essential needs, educa-
tional enrichment, recre-
ational opportunities, and
other miscellaneous com-
munity needs. Awards were
made to:
" Age Friendly Sisters
Country, $900
" Assistance League of
Bend, $1,000
" Circle of Friends, $750
" Family Access Network,
$2,480 (utility assistance)
" Family Access Network,
$500 (shower tokens)
" Furry Friends, $1,000
" Heart of Oregon Corps,
$1,400
" Lines for Life, $960
" Mission 22 (ElderHeart),
$900
" Rotary Club of Sisters ,
$300
" Seed to Table Oregon,
$1,300
" Sisters Cold Weather
Shelter, $1,550
" Sisters Farmers Market,
$1,100
" Sisters Skatepark
Alliance, $3,660
" SMART, $ 500
" VFW Post 8138, $500
" Wellhouse Church/
Market, $1,200.
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