The Mormor Stories: Mormor Loses Her Marbles

(Photo stolen from this site)

It's Halloween week.  YOU may be thinking of ghosts, or monsters, or Vlad the Impaler, or maybe even Larry King, though really?  I doubt it.

I'm thinking of the thing that scares me the most, OTHER than Larry King.

No, not wearing two different shoes to work, but thanks for that; now I'll have nightmares.  No, the thing that scares me the most is the focus of this short little Mormor story, just in time for Halloween.

When we first moved to Camp Grant I found a cigar box in the house that was full of assorted marbles, which I really didn't much enjoy as there rarely was another child about with whom to play.  One day, while I was at school, my little brother found the box and proceeded to drop the marbles, one by one, through the many knotholes in the floor of the wide porch that ran around three sides of our home.

Several days later it came out what had happened to my marbles, so I crawled under the house to find them.  The light that filtered through the knotholes made the spots where the marbles lay easier to find, but the six inches or so of powdery dust didn't help a bit.  I finally found about one half of my original store and, anyway, I was getting tired of dust and cobwebs, so I crawled out.

My mother, who knew nothing of this, was shocked at the appearance of her dusty, dirty daughter, so I was stripped and given a bath post-haste.

I guess the good Lord had work for me to do as black widow spider webs were all over under the house, but I wasn't bothered.  Maybe the unusual invasion of their privacy frightened them away.

(Photo stolen from this guy)

Yes, that's right.  I'm afraid of dust.

Comments

[lisa mertins]

that's a good story! here's what stopped me from being terrified of black widows. they're easy to find and kill. and what a satisfying splat they make. i live with many and i used to be terrified of them. but not anymore due to the killing and the splatting. now dust, yeah that scares me no end...

[Liz Jones]

I hate black widows. If you get bit once, there's a serum. But it doesn't work twice. We have them here also. We also have Brown Recluse that refuse to be reclusive. I'm just going to start referring to them as Brown.

[Five-Skin Poots]

You G.D. Butcher Mel.

[Melanie @ MelADramatic Mommy]

I hate to tell all these spider lovers how many I've killed recently. They creep me out too much. Blech!

[San Diego Momma]

Oh sweet Lord in his heaven.

THAT is exactly why I do not retrieve marbles from dark places.

[Fancy]

I seriously don't like spiders! I get all itchy just looking at the pictures.

[Rubbin it with some Lemon Pledge]

Skuze me while I dust dis thang off.

An while I dew dat, ch'all can kin play wits ma marbles.....

Ahhh.. hea tiz, awl nish an shiney fo awlya'll.

[Rick's Cafe]

Kyddryn -

Thank goodness someone has some sense about themselves in dealing with spiders. The spider is a homes best line of defense against bugs that are really bad.

The giant mutant spider that attacks whole towns only exist in the movies....for the sole purpose of giving a girl the excuse to snuggle closely with her beau.

.....oh never mind, I figured it out (finally). Anyone want to go to the movies? :)

[Kyddryn]

Oh, my, what a beauty!

I won't let anyone kill spiders 'round here - I pick them up and move them. Yep, even Brown Recluse and Black Widow spiders.

I don't mind if someone displaces the dust, though...they're welcome to it.

Shade and Sweetwater,
K

[Bob Cleveland]

A nice layer of dust give furniture a nice sheen .. kind of like the patina that years of use gives to fine silverware. I've even heard it increases the value.

Also, from dust we came, and to dust we shall return. I don't want to stir up Aunt Marcella.

The only thing disturbing about that: I REALLY think there's somebody either coming or going under our bed.

[Tammy]

OMG - you have to check out the huge sucker of a black widow I found on MY house last month. I had never seen ONE in my whole life in person... and this has an egg sac... got great pics of it before it was destroyed with glee.

http://thecolorofhome.blogspot.com/2008/09/get-load-of-this-sucker.html

[Chesapeake Bay Woman]

Hey, dustophobia is a very real, valid fear. I have a similar ailment; its unofficial name is Domestic Disability which causes dust and spider webs to accumulate until it's nigh on impossible to discern whether you're inside a house or inside a barn.

[Da Goddess]

I'm afraid of marbles. Losing them, that is.