RE: spiders?

[Kneale Brownson <knotnook@traverse.com>]

At 06:48 PM 9/28/99 -0700, Buchholz, Steven wrote:
>> 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 ... :)


Much preferable to the usual postings on this subject, Steve.

Kneale Brownson