Booby Traps

The house looks like we have a mysterious, insanely large spider crawling about starting to spin a web and then abandoning it, only to retry again in some other spot. This “spider” seems to have a preference for doorways and other portals for passing from one room into another. Typically, the web is attached to a piece of furniture on one side of the opening and then runs across the opening. Where possible, the web is wrapped around something as a form of attachment. Otherwise, a piece of tape is used to attach it.

The boy and the lass have been fascinated with the notion of “booby traps.” I think it’s because of all the Scooby Doo episodes they’ve taken in recently. It’s a newer version and the Fred character is obsessed with setting traps to an extreme.

Unfortunately, most of the boy’s traps are, well, anything but. Since they’re usually strung across the middle of the doorways, they aren’t even trip lines. Which, actually, is a good thing for him. How long would he survive if I and the Wife were tripping our way through the house?

The best one they’ve set so far is what I’ll call an “ankle trap” they set outside. It’s a shallow hole that the boy dug and then covered over with leaves to hide. It’s perfect for breaking some poor sap’s ankle. Fortunately, he dug it in an out-of-the-way area of the yard; otherwise, someone likely would have broken their ankle. I told the boy to fill it in before that actually happened.

Innocent as it all is, this whole episode isn’t without its casualties. The Wife’s supply of cooking twine has taken a pretty severe hit. So too has my supply of duct tape.

I have gained some insight from this whole thing. Originally, I assumed the “booby” in “booby trap” referred to the people the trap was sprung on. Now, I know differently.