Aracnophobe in the Caribbean

Creepy Crawler

Big hairy tarantulas have always struck immediate fear in this aracnophobe, but none quite like this Caribbean tarantula that I caught lying in wait in my yard as I left my house last Sunday.


It was at least 10 inches wide and 10 inches long - as big as a dinner plate - with 8 beady eyes watching my every move. I'm sure it was a she just after sex, looking sleepy and satisfied she moved slowly as I approached, still using her savage jaws to consume her mate - him being of no use after fertilization.  Creepy cannibals these spiders that eat their mates, no wasted romantic sentimentalism from the female arachnid. She eats her man simply because she's hungry and she can.  A life lesson I might well consider.

In other news, one of the projects I'm working on is generating a lot of interest.  The 25 Most Remarkable Teens in St. Kitts, a program I introduced in Riverside many years ago, is well on its way to success in the Eastern Caribbean.  To market the program we had this banner made and hung it above Fort Street, the main thoroughfare in Basseterre.

Remarkable Teen Banner, Fort Street, Basseterre, St. Kitts

As of today, we've received 75 nomination forms for young Kittitians ages 12 - 19.  That's 20 more forms than we received the first year I implemented the program in Riverside - a city of 300,000 people - St. Kitts has a population of 35,000.  Now the real work begins with telephone calls to nominators, meetings with endorsers and community supporters, panels and personal interviews.  All the steps in the process of selection have been designed to find out the real story behind each of these remarkable kids. At the end of it all, recipients will be featured on a local television program produced by us and presented with their awards at a special meeting of Parliament during National Youth Month in November.  A long way to go, but a great start with the enthusiastic response of teachers, principals, parents, service clubs, and faith based organizations all submitting nominations.


It's hurricane season again in the Caribbean.  The time when exceptional weather creates an unstable atmosphere with the convergence of warm moist air and other stuff to produce the greatest storms on earth.  While the real threat of hurricanes doesn't usually concern locals until late August, I'm already rehearsing my landing for when my roof flies off my house and I end up back in Kansas with Dorothy.   Random thunderstorms displaying the frightening sounds and sights of thunder and lightening were the highlight of my weekend and it's only the beginning of July.  I looked up the names of the projected Atlantic hurricanes for 2011 and found Arlene is expected to be the first, followed by Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irene, Jose, Katia, Lee, Maria, Nate and Ophelia  - the tragic madwoman of Hamlet. Yes, I think I'll stop there. Ophelia will be the one to unleash her fury on my little tropical island, another adventure. 


Do you know you can actually make mock bets on which hurricanes will hit land?  There was a report on ABC News last year about Ken Horowitz, a man initiating such a platform.  Traders would buy and sell Hurricane Risk Landfall Options that represented different regions of the Atlantic coasts.  If a hurricane hit land in the region that corresponded to your option, you would split the payout with others making the same bet.  If it's still available, the website is called Weather Risk Solutions and it's headquartered in Palm Beach, Florida. I'll put my money on Ophelia.

Before I close, a comment.  News reports this morning said that the Marist Poll shows that only 58% of the Americans surveyed knew when the country declared independence and only one in four knew which country we gained independence from. Troubling.

And so it goes, on this our country's birthday.  Happy 4th of July.