Has anyone heard from MrsSmith recently?

[vaskidmark]

If so, tell her not to read this.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27246823

In hindsight, there were better places to hunker down for a kip. But James Payn wasn't to know that as he clambered into the goods van of a waiting freight train. He was just thankful he'd found somewhere to rest.

What's more, it seemed like he'd hit the hobo equivalent of the jackpot - the carriage was loaded with bananas. James cheerfully helped himself to a few, then drifted off to a contented sleep.

But Payn, a Liverpudlian who had been riding the railroads of America, had Goldilocks' luck when it came to stumbling upon free board and lodging. When he woke, it was to a sensation plucked straight from an arachnophobe's nightmare.

The carriage was dark. The door was sealed. The train was rattling along the track - and something had just crawled over his face. Something large. Something hairy. Something leggy.

All y'all know where this horror movie is going, right?

stay safe.

[RevDisk]

Hrm. So, trespasser driven insane by his misconduct. I like. That's a standard that's gonna be hard to reach, but even the journey is worthy.

[Boomhauer]

Nice

To answer the title question, she's OK just really really really busy. Heard from her last night.

[Harold Tuttle]

intrepid arachnophiles leave their phone numbers with the grocer, as big spiders will arrive with bananas

[Harold Tuttle]

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/11/potentially-deadly-spiders-found-in-supermarket-banana-bunch/

A British family was forced to flee its London home after dozens of apparently deadly spiders sprouted from a banana bought from a local supermarket.
Consi Taylor, 29, was halfway through eating a banana when she noticed that the small white patch on the piece of fruit was not mold but something far more alarming.
“I had a closer look and was horrified to see they were spiders,” Taylor told The Sun newspaper. “They were hatching out on the table, scurrying around on my carpet.”
Taylor took a picture of the spiders and sent it to her local pest control company for guidance. It said the tiny critters could be Brazilian wandering spiders,
a species that Guinness World Records designated the world’s most venomous spider in 2010
The Taylors evacuated their home and had it fumigated, according to The Sun.

[Harold Tuttle]

A shopper had a terrifying moment when he picked up a bunch of supermarket bananas
and found a large tarantula hanging off.
Mark Drinkwater, 42, said he was left with his 'heart beating through his chest' after
discovering the spider in the fruit and veg section of his local Lidl supermarket on Monday morning.
He claimed the spider was the size of his hand - although staff at the store said it was no more than a couple of inches.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2335950/Tarantula-bananas-sir-Shopper-reveals-terrifying-moment-discovered-spider-hanging-bunch-fruit-picked-supermarket.html#ixzz312yA5QOU
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[Harold Tuttle]

How common is it to find a spider in grocery store fruit—and are spiders more common in grapes and bananas from certain regions?
For the bananas, you have a reasonable chance of getting them in ones imported from anywhere in Central or South America,
the main sources of the fruit. I have no idea of the actual risk, but there are different types of wandering and huntsman spiders
throughout Latin America. You pretty much have a chance of getting black widows—which are found all over the world—in grapes anywhere they grow.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dangerous-spiders-grocery-produce/

[geronimotwo]

i've never seen one or heard of one being seen before this.   

[BlueStarLizzard]

I hope Mrs. Smith doesn't like banana's, because if she reads this, she'll never eat a banana again.

(i find myself fortunate, because I don't like banana's. While I'm not nearly as phobic about spiders as she is, I draw the line at having tons of the little buggers explode off my fruit snacks)

[230RN]

Nice

To answer the title question, she's OK just really really really busy. Heard from her last night.

Give her my warm regards, s'il vous plait.

Terry

[Scout26]

I hope Mrs. Smith doesn't like banana's, because if she reads this, she'll never eat a banana again.

(i find myself fortunate, because I don't like banana's. While I'm not nearly as phobic about spiders as she is, I draw the line at having tons of the little buggers explode off my fruit snacks)

I have to eat a banana every day due to dialysis (It literally sucks the potassium out me and if I don't get enough, I get really bad leg and arm cramps).  However, I'm very careful when I pick them out at the store.


I seem to recall MrsSmith's posting not to long ago about trying to squish a spider only to have all the "babies" it was carrying abandon ship and scatter to the four winds, walls, and walkways.    Hence the Raid shortage in every hardware store in the US. 

[230RN]

Munch on a little black powder?  I'm sure there are no spiders in it.

E-vvvvvar.

[RoadKingLarry]

I actually had a tarantula crawl up my leg this afternoon. It was hiding in my shop and I almost stepped on it.

[Regolith]

I actually had a tarantula crawl up my leg this afternoon. It was hiding in my shop and I almost stepped on it.

Tarantulas are Mostly Harmless, though; not so much with Brazilian Wandering Spiders.