u/Adventurous-Brain-36

I am an admirer, but not very knowledgeable in this context. I had some dishes in my sink this morning and washed out a cup, only used cold water. I noticed right after that there was a beautiful wolf spider in there. I very carefully removed any dishes and she/he was trying frantically to climb out, but couldn’t.

I put a large piece of cardboard next to her/him hoping it would climb on so I could then move it back outside to a safe area. It made a threat display (moving its abdomen up and down several times) and then went very still with its abdomen still upraised and its legs splayed. I thought it might be dead or playing dead at that point and left it alone for a couple of hours. I checked again after and it had moved its abdomen back down and brought its legs in to a more normal countenance and I was so hopeful.

I left it alone until dark knowing they’re nocturnal. It still didn’t move and didn’t react in the slightest to gentle stimuli (blowing on it, very delicately nudging a leg). I very sadly assumed it was dead and used paper towel rolled up to gently put each leg and then its torso carefully on the cardboard, in case by some chance it was still alive, and moved it outside. I put it in a very shaded, pretty hidden spot on a deck with a wide, opaque mug over it propped up on one side for airflow.

Then I read that they can go pretty much unresponsive when moulting and seek out humid places?? Legs were not curled in tight at all, just normal looking. Should I not have moved it? Should I move it back? Apparently it’s dangerous for them to move them when they’re moulting? It’s also quite humid outside. I just feel awful and don’t know what to do; if it is alive, I want to give it the best chance of survival.

I’ve recently come across a theory that the culling of cats during the period directly before the Black Plague, due to the belief that they were witches pets, contributed to the severity and devastation. The claim is that had there been more normal amounts of both house and street cats during that period, they would have killed many of the rats carrying or able to carry the diseased fleas.

Is this a well researched theory?

Rant? Discussion? Both? I am currently on book 5 of the Tairen Soul series. It’s a great story. Lovely prose. Very good world building. Lush descriptiveness, which I quite enjoy. Characters that I’m invested in, many I want to see climb and achieve greatness and joy, others I hope are smote unto the fiery pits of hell.

But. My god. I am more and more convinced that any 4+ book continuous series (with only one exception that comes to mind) could have been made much better by condensing it into a trilogy. I really like this story. I’m also really over it at this point and it’s tainting the experience of the grand finale.

If Tolkien can achieve such utter magnificence in a trilogy, others can certainly cut out the inconsequential fluff to get their series down to three books, too. Enough with the 5, 6, 7+ continuous series when it’s not warranted. I really don’t want to dnf on the fifth and final book, but I also kinda want to.

Who would like to join me in raising fists and yelling at the sky?