While digging a ten inch deep hole in the garden to hold my tomato plant, something caught my attention. In a tight huddle at the bottom of the hole, a mass of gray things twisted and turned. I knelt down to take a closer look.
Baby spiders.
Dozens of them.
I considered leaving them an digging a second hole, when from a little cavern next to the babies emerged momma spider. She was the size of a racquet ball ball, and she didn’t look happy.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a spider that big. And knowing that those little babies could someday grow into a hundred brown behemoths with bad attitudes, my remorse for disturbing them quickly diminished. I was only left with one real alternative to resolve the situation I’d unearthed.
Lowering my shovel like a giant hammer, I walloped them all.