Not for the Squeamish

Yesterday I came home and Middle Child announced he had killed a Black Widow Spider. "No, you didn't." "Yes, I did, Mom!" "How did you know it was a black widow?" "It had that red hourglass on the tummy." "You didn't see the tummy." "Yes, I did."

Then I flashed back to Mesa Verde when he found a rattlesnake and I didn't believe him. Here is the proof.
Yes, that's a nasty rattlesnake. Middle Boy has the unfortunate luck of running across things that I wish the kids wouldn't find. Worse yet is that I don't usually believe him! With the Black Widow I caught myself. I realized he had the bad luck and decided that I better check it out before dismissing him with the wave of my hand. Turns out, we did have a Black Widow in the house and he did kill it. Here's that proof:

Notice the tell-tale red spot in the middle.
Why is it taped up? I had the same question. Apparently he knocked the spider outside after killing it. Then he realized that Boomer the Basset Hound might eat the dead thing. In order to protect his dog he taped the horrid thing down. Now Boomer the Basset Hound will not die of Black Widow Spider poisoning.