Finally...Fall!

{Gorgeous fall leaves}

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After a long hot summer, this past week has been bliss. The winds have changed, the humidity is gone, and I even saw a few red leaves among the endless green trees that line the highway on my way home from work. Fall is no doubt my favorite time of year, and I hope these crisp, cool days will stick around for a while. I love the firey oranges and reds that top the branches, chilly Saturday afternoon football games (Go State!), and picking out the perfect orange pumpkin to sit on my porch. I don’t even mind raking the leaves that fall in my yard. And don’t even get me started on Halloween…the spooky holiday has always been one of my fav times of the year. While I embrace the ghosts and ghouls (and candy!) that come haunting ‘round my door near the end of October, there is one eerie autumn visitor I’m not looking forward to. Spiders. Ick! I had my first one-on-one battle of the season with a huuuuuge arachnid this afternoon on my front porch, and after much squeamish hesitation (and a desperate call to my mom, begging for guidance), I managed to take him out with a continuous stream of ant and roach killer, followed by a beat-down with my broom. Now, I know that spiders are helpful and kill the bad bugs, blah blah blah…but this was not an instance where I could accept and be at one with the Great Outdoors. This sucker was brown and about the size of a half-dollar. Plus, I swear I saw little fangs sticking out. It was a shame he was so creepy-looking, because his web that he had woven from the top of my porch to the middle of the pillar was actually kind of pretty. It looked especially distinctive as the late afternoon sun shone down through the trees, the beads of poisonous spray highlighting the web’s delicate design. I wish I had taken a picture, but the overwhelming urgency to destroy this little bugger overtook my sense of finding the beauty in nature. Now, I’m constantly on the lookout for creepy crawlies lurking in the corners of my home and under my bed, since my mom made sure to tell me that this was “that time of year.” Aside from the shuddering fear that spiders will be crawling all over me as I sleep, I have to say that I am utterly delighted that fall has finally arrived.