Live-and-let-live policy

To the editor:
    A nature photographer said recently that every living thing is in some kind of danger. He has traveled clear across the country to get a photo of a fly. When the fly — and other creatures — become extinct, only photos will remain.
    At the cottage at Nickerson Lake when Leonard and I were young, Ina told us not to touch a big web covering the lower half of a porch window. From inside we could watch the spider working on the intricate pattern. As for the big black spiders that hung out under the wharves, a live-and-let-live policy worked fine.
    Now, far away from that world in both time and space, two black spiders are among my creatures. Every spring a spider takes up residence behind the mailbox near the side door. It spins a web from the house to the left front corner of the lid on the long black mailbox. There is just enough slack in the thread to allow for opening and closing the lid. Should it break, it is replaced, and reinforced so often that it becomes very thick. This year it was the thickest ever.
    From reading “Charlotte’s Web” and seeing the movie, I assume that our spider must be a female and call her Charl. Once the entire triangular web is finished, she remains hidden down behind the bottom left corner of the mailbox, coming out to clean debris from the web and to collect her prey. I have seen her come clear out only twice, but others have seen her. Back in her lair, her legs are always visible.
    The second spider appeared last Halloween early in the morning — in the thermostat, on the left side under the round plastic piece that turns. It must be dead, I think, but no, when I turn the indicator around completely, it moves. Its body measures one-fourth inch; one-half inch with legs included. It is smaller than Charl, who was all tucked in when I went out to get the paper. The next morning Thermie was on the exact opposite spot, and still moving. By evening he had left.
    A month before these visits, the heat had come on unexpectedly. When the furnace company could not explain it, I considered a new thermostat, but it never happened again. Now, I call the thermostat manufacturer. Yes to my question, a spider inside can affect the wiring and even cause the thermostat to stop working.
    More recently, a New Zealand spider made the news when it triggered a motion detector and set off a burglar alarm. Eventually, I will have the thermostat checked. Meanwhile, I have photos of both Charl in her web and Thermie inside the thermostat.
Byrna Porter Weir
Rochester, N.Y.