A Circle C Adventures story about a . . . spider? For real? Well, yes. I couldn't help it. Never in my life would I have believed it possible that I would come to like the adorable California foothills tarantulas. Being from Washington state, I'd never seen a spider much bigger than the garden variety, but when the family moved to the Sierra foothills (Andi Country), I came along to help out with settling into their new mini-ranch.

The first thing I saw when I stepped out of the van was a gigantic blond tarantula smack in the middle of their gravel driveway! I was taken aback (wouldn't you be?), but then I bent down to snap this photo. I've never seen a blond tarantula since (the foothills variety being "ebony" like the ones Andi catches in the story). But I thought this creature God made was very pretty.

Since then, I've let them crawl up my arm and have enjoyed seeing signs on the county roads in October to "Watch Out for Tarantulas." (In other words, please don't run over our tarantulas!)

Tarantula . . . Trouble?

In the story, Andi is determined to keep a fuzzy tarantula as a pet. This story is set in October, right after Dangerous Decision and before Family Secret. Andi is twelve years old and figures now is a good time, since she's old enough and has proven herself a good caretaker of her other creatures, like Pickles the blue-bellied lizard.

Andi knows a great deal about tarantulas--how long they live (females up to 30 years; males about 10), how harmless, fragile, and quiet they are, and why the males come out all at once every October in the Sierra foothills. However, there is one important fact about these gentle giants that no one bothered to tell her. Tarantulas are exceptionally good escape artists! Andi finds this out the hard way in this humorous story as part of Andrea Carter and Other Tales from the Circle C Ranch, the brand-new book 7 in the series.

In honor of how I became enchanted with these spiders, I just had to write a story about Andi trying to keep an ebony tarantula as a pet. You can imagine how the rest of her family reacts when "Ebony" . . . well, no spoiler alerts.

Take a Look at Our Tarantulas

My granddaughter Susie likes tarantulas. Watch this short video clip of her playing around with two "friends," and then a video of my own fuzzy friend, along with a few facts. Why doesn't Susie keep one as a pet? Well, when the males come out to find a mate each fall, they do not live very long afterward, so what's the use, right?

Susie and her two fuzzy friends

Mrs. M and her fuzzy friend

I hope you enjoyed this "peek behind the scenes." You can buy Andrea Carter and Other Tales from the Circle C Ranch on Amazon. Or you can buy an autographed copy (includes a bookmark and a horse sticker) from my Circle C Store.

A Free Enrichment Guide for Other Tales

Eventually, the study guides for Tales from the Circle C Ranch (and More Tales from the Circle C Ranch--April 2025) will be added to the full Circle C Enrichment Guide (available on Amazon or as an instant download), but for a limited time, you can download the guide for Other Tales free by clicking the button or the image. Just as with the guides for the other Circle C Adventures, a daily schedule and an answer key are included.

Other Tales Study Guide

CIRCLECBOOKS.COM

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