Watch Where You Put Your Fingers!

This is good advice in any situation but especially for realtors. I just sent my husband over to my newest listing to put a sign in the yard, to take a couple of pictures and to find the key that the sellers said was hidden.

I told him not to feel around on the ledge "near the door there, to the left." I try to carry in my car all the items that I might need to work as a realtor, including a small ladder, gloves and a flashlight...for just such an occasion!

I am TERRIFIED of spiders and have NO INTENTION of sticking my fingers up onto some dusty ledge or into some light fixture or some exterior breaker box and feeling around for a key. Oh, no! No! No!

This is Brown Recluse country and as you may know, the bite is extremely nasty. The Brown Recluse is perhaps the most venomous spider in the U.S. As its name indicates, it tends to hide in and around homes, in the darkest and smallest places it can find. The spider commonly lives in basements and garages of houses and often hides behind boards and boxes. Bites often occur when the spiders hide in towels or old clothes left in those areas. It is not aggressive but will bite when threatened or accidently touched. Brown Recluse spiders are found primarily in the south and in the midwest, with many cases of bites reported in Florida, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

Generally, the bite produces a reaction that is very severe. Often there is a systemic reaction within 24-36 hours characterized by restlessness, fever, chills, nausea, weakness and joint pain. Where the bite occurs there is often tissue death and skin will turn black as cells die. This skin is sloughed off and, eventually, the necrotic core falls away, leaving a deep pit that gradually fills with scar tissue.

Better safe than sorry, so BE CAREFUL!