I stepped out of the house this morning behind Matt and Penny, and turned around to close the door. As I followed them down the steps, I noticed a heavy black bug clinging to a weed in my mulch bed beside the house.

Beetle, I thought, and continued on toward my car.

Then I re-considered that thought, and went back for another look.

Yeah, I should've just kept going. Too shiny to be a wolf spider, but - oh, hell, I've seen that spherical abdomen before. I edged around until a glimpse of red confirmed my suspicions: black widow spider.

On a blade of grass. Right up next to my house.

Options?

Flee and make Matt come back and kill it. Except he's right in the middle of getting Penny in her carseat.

Ignore it, and go on about my business. That's not really an option. If it's gone when I get home in the evening, I'll fret about where it might have gotten to; if it's still there, I'll just obsess about it some more. Best to take care of these things immediately.

Well, then, that only leaves: Kill it now. Myself.

A swipe of my shoe knocked it to the sidewalk; a good stamp-and-drag smeared it into oblivion. I never saw it move, but I was trying not too look too closely, so I don't know if I just destroyed a corpse, or what.

That's the second black widow I've seen - the first was less than a year ago, and it was definitely DOA. This one was even smaller than the first, the little body no more than a centimeter in diameter.

But on the other hand, I've seen two black widows in less than a year, right up next to my house. My house where I let the baby run around barefoot.

I'm a little creeped out.

--Liz