RE: spiders?

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

> OK, I can't stand it anymore!!  I recently got on the Q list and there
> was a thread going on about "spider-bites" and now I see it 
> again " not
> a spider to be seen"  Up here in Canada spider's don't get 
> big enough to
> be a problem for Quattros. (haha) What are you guys referring to?

Well, this subject usually comes up around the time of year that the weather
begins to turn cold.  Out here in the western regions of the USA we have
tarantulas with bodies that approach 6 inches in diameter (maybe more, maybe
less ... frankly I've never stopped to measure them).  On the chilly days
when the air is clear and the sun is bright these tarantulas tend to crawl
out into the middle of the road to warm themselves.  For some odd reason,
these spiders like to hang out in the corners on the road ... making them
are difficult to avoid in some situations.  What can happen is that if you
manage to miss one of the hefty arachnids with the front wheels, but hit
them with a rear tire you can have a situation not unlike hitting a small
puddle or patch of ice ... where you find that while you were tracking the
corner with a bit of understeer, all of a sudden the tail kicks out on you.
Since this is something you were not expecting it can be a serious safety
problem.  

... apparently in other parts of the world such situations don't arise
nearly as often ...

Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)
(... while there is actually some truth to what I wrote about, all in all
this was an attempt to bring some levity to the subject ... :)