Well, my son wanted to know if it was indeed a spider. I didn’t think so, but the internet was right in front of me, so I Googled “tiny red spider”.

I don’t normally get my information from Yahoo! Answers and clicking on it today reminded me why. The link was to the question:

What’s with these teny-tiny red spiders?

blah, blah, blah.

The first few answers were pretty accurate (they are mites, by the way, who probably latched onto our clothing as they eat plants). Now, I have heard the myth that they are red because they suck blood (like lice), but I had not heard this one before:

in the UK they are called Money Spiders and they mean you are going to come into money. So keep an eye out!

Money? Because you see a spider?

What baffles me about superstitions like this is the complete and total lack of connection. I mean, they aren’t even green. Maybe because they live on green leaves?

?